- The Noyaa School in Accra needed repairs to its leaky temporary building to improve conditions for students. - An NMS project replaced over half the roof, added gutters and a concrete apron, partitioned a classroom, and repainted walls. - Work was completed by volunteers in early August 2016 under budget despite some procurement issues. The improved school provides a better learning environment for students.

1. Author and Site Manager:
Tom Vaughan
Intern, summer 2016
Noyaa Project Report
11/8/2016 – 15/8/2016

2. Background
In the autumn of 2012 Noyaa School in Jamestown, Accra (meaning “moving
forward” in Ga) was constructed as a temporary building to teach underprivileged
children. However this structure has now become the permanent building for the
school due to governmental intervention in 2015 preventing the development of
a permanent structure. This resulted in the decay of the building because the
initial design was never meant to last so long, therefore it was in need of a new
roof for 55% of the building (last year some work was carried out to replace 45%
of the roof). NMS has been supporting this school for a number of years so
agreed to carry out somemaintenance work to stop water inflow into the building
and to make it a better learning environment for the pupils.
Top left: The school a few years ago.
Bottom left: The school in the rain, you can see how heavily the rain comes down!
Right: The old roof, notice all of the holes!

3. Summary of the project
 The pupils now have a much more suitable learning environment.
 Project was completed with only 52.21% of the original budgeted funds!
 The project was completed one day after planned finish due to unforeseen
reworking.
 All volunteers added an immeasurable physical and spiritual element to the
success of the project.
Introduction
The main aim of this CSR projectas requested by Rachel, the headmistress, was to
make Noyaa school watertight. Being a temporary and cheaply build structure,
rain water could enter the building through a variety of means – holes in the roof,
holes in the wall or leaking through the bottom of the wall. These problems were
solved by replacing 55% of the roof (as 45% was replaced last year), adding a
gutter and constructing a concrete apron along the right hand side of the building
to encourage water to flow away from the building instead of resting against the
foundations and leaking in. Although the aforementioned activities made up the
primary scope of works, NMS endeavored to achieve more than just water
proofing. We made a partition wall using recycled materials from the Dodowa site
in order to separate one big classroom
into two to allow for an extra
classroom for the oldest students in
year 4. We also repainted nearly the
entire inside of the school and 3 out of
the 4 external walls so the school really
stands out in Jamestown and the
indoor class rooms are now a lot
brighter and inviting making a more
suitable environment in which to learn.
Mc Carthy and Isaac, the carpenters hard at
work building the wall.

4. Starting Phase
The starting phase consisted of:
 The initial site visit
 Conducting the site survey
 Drawing of the designs
 Putting together a work plan and a cost plan
The initial site visit was made by Tom Vaughan on the 12/7/2016 to receive a full
brief by Rachel of what needed to be done. She stated that the priority was to
replace the roof because whenever it rained, water would come gushing through
the holes in the roof and would prevent the teachers from carrying out their
classes. The main area of the roof to attend to was a part where the roof divided
into two separate structures on different levels. This meant that there was a large
gap between the two levels which had received a poor attempt at being covered
up by rusty corrugated metal sheets and therefore let in a lot of water (see
images below).

5. The initial visit also allowed for Tom to meet most of the 97 children who attend
the school as they still had 4 weeks until the end of term.
The site survey was carried out on the 14/7/2016 by Tom who was assisted by
Peter, his driver. Between them they measured all of the dimensions of the school
and in particular, the dimensions of the section of roof to be replaced.
They also measured
the cubic meterage of
the concrete apron
(0.59m³) and the
dimensions for the
partition wall which
had an area of
11.54m².Bird’s-eye view of the building. Note the green area to be reroofed and the
orange area that was replaced a year ago.
The total area of roof
to be replaced was
123.88 m² or 54.68%
of the whole roof.

6. From these measurements the drawing of the designs could begin. Tom does not
claim to have any architectural flare whatsoever however he drew up 6 designs in
total to demonstrate to others how he visualised the lay out of the roof (see
above), concrete apron and partition wall. He then went over the designs with
Francis Yore (site manager in Kumawu and Abetiffi) to ensure that what he was
planning to construct would in fact be the correct way to fulfill the brief given to
him by Rachel.
The final step of the first phase was to put together a work plan and a cost plan
based upon the data and measurements Tom had made over the previous few
days. The work plan changed quite a bit throughout the project as learning curves
and unforeseen events meant that slight adjustments had to be made to the
programme of works, scope of works and materials and tool lists along the way.
This included the idea of repainting the school, installing a gutter and changing
construction materials from screws to nails just to mention a few examples.
Safia Wahab worked with Ebenezer Anum to put together a cost plan upon which
the budget for the project was based. We had a few issues with this due to the
fact that we had planned to recycle some materials from the Dodowa site such as
the corrugated metal roofing sheets, plywood boards, 4”x2” beams and the roof
caps. However a miscommunication error led to of all the above materials being
included in the cost plan which added an extra GH¢5449.90 to the budget.
Unfortunately the recycled roofing sheets were deemed unsuitable for roofing
and were too few in number so we did in fact end up purchasing all of the roofing
sheets albeit at under half of their original budgeted cost! However this
miscommunication error led to us having a large contingency budget which led to
the decision to carry out further work to the school. This was the origin of the
idea to repaint the school and to install guttering as we had more than enough
money left over for this. Tom still tried his hardestto keep costs as low as possible
as all of the funds for this project did come out of a charity kitty. He achieved this
with the help of his purchasing colleagues in the market. Safia, Ebenezer and
Frank Asiedu bartered hard and succeeded in making significant savings!
We made savings of GH¢ 3,466.89 from the original budget!

7. Middle Phase
The middle phase consisted of:
 Sourcing recycled materials from Dodowa
 Procurement
On the 14/7/2016 Tom headed up to the now complete Dodowa site to
source the recycled materials we used for the Noyaa project. Tom and Ben
Darko walked around the site and selected the 4”x2” beams, roof caps,
plywood boards and corrugated metal sheets that were planned to be used
in the renovation of the school. The metal sheets, beams and roof caps
were then transported to the Tema warehouse for storage until we
collected them on Friday the 12/8/2016. The plywood was transported at a
later date.
Left: The roof caps were left over from the Dodowa
hospital
Top right: the corrugated metals sheets were
previously used for fencing around the Dodowa site.

8. As mentioned above, unfortunately we ended up not using the Dodowa metal
sheets as after a second inspection by Frank Asdiedu at the Tema warehouse they
were deemed unsuitable for roofing material due to the holes and dents made in
them when they were used as fencing. This was a shame as it then meant that we
had to purchase all of the roofing sheets which increased the cost of the project.
However as stated before, we still saved huge amounts and actually ended up
buying a better quality roofing sheet than what the recycled sheets would have
provided with an approximate life span of 30 years.
The procurement stage was not the smoothest part of the project as
unfortunately it was a bit of a last minute rush given that Tom was not around in
Accra for the weeks running up to the project and Safia had fallen ill the week
before hand. However thankfully Ebenezer was at hand to save the day and
finalised the cost plan in time to go purchasing the materials on Wednesday the
10/8/2016.
We had a few issues with purchasing the sheets as a miscommunication error
between Ebenezer and Domod roofing Ltd. meant that the quote Domod had
given us was only for 60m² of sheets instead of the 160m² we required. The next
quote they gave us for 160m² was way over our budget so we headed to the
timber market in Accra and managed to buy all of the sheets we needed for GH¢
1920.00 instead of the GH¢ 4,136 we originally budgeted for. We sourced many
more of our materials from the timber market and went back their a few times
during the construction phase for a few extra materials and tools as the market is
situated very close to the Noyaa site.
Despite these setbacks we
encountered during procurementwe
had all of the materials on time and
came in significantly under budget as
mentioned previously, largely due to
the bartering skills employed by all
members of the procurement team.

9. Final Phase
The final stage consists of:
 Construction
 Unforeseen issues
The construction phase was the greatest success during this project. Safia and
Tom were joined by three labourers (two carpenters and a mason) from Dodowa
kindly recommended to them by Francis Yore to start construction on Thursday
11/8/2016. Theconcrete apron was the first part of
the scope of works to be constructed and was all
done before lunch despite a burst water pipe (see
“unforeseen issues”). Having finished the concrete
works before anticipated, we started work on the
partition wall and were able to complete the frame
for it before we packed up and finished at 4pm.
On Friday we completed the wall by nailing the
plywood boards to the frame.
Top left: Laying the concrete for the apron.
Bottomleft:Puttingthe plywoodboardson the frame for
the partition wall.
Right:Partitionwall completeandawaitingalick of paint.

10. Soon after the wall was complete we made a start on removing the old roof.
Again this was done in no time at all as the carpenters were very fast and knew
exactly what they were doing. There was a bit of mild chaos when it came to
disposing of the old roofing sheets as they were in very high demand from the
locals who wanted to reuse them. We
simply put the sheets outside of the
building and let the locals take what they
wanted or rather, could carry!
Top left: Starting to remove the old sheets.
Bottom left: Nearly all removed!
Top right: Tom inspecting the work from
above.
Bottom right: New roof on half of the
building!
By the end of play on Friday
half of the new roof was
already on!

11. On Saturday we had 11 volunteers from the office arrive to give a helping hand!
That meant that the pace of work really picked up! The labourers continued with
the rest of the roof and completed it by around 3pm. In the meantime the
volunteers dusted and sanded the walls in the partitioned rooms, the main
assembly room and the front hall way in preparation for repainting. Given the
pace of work and extra funds Tom decided to go and purchase more paint so we
could also repaint 3 outside walls and the big back room too!
In the afternoon Harry Oliver and Peter Marks put on a gutter which Tom and
Peter had only gone out to purchase that day as Rachel informed Tom that due to
a short overhang on the roof, rain often runs off of the roof and gets blown back
into the school by the wind through holes in the wall.
Left:Harry Oliveranda local lad paintingthe newly
partitioned room.
Right:Notice difference betweenpaintedandnon-
painted bits!

12. On Sunday we only had 5 volunteers as we had worked so quickly over the past
few days Tom didn’t see the need for 11 volunteers again. All we needed to do on
Sunday was to paint the back room (which Matt Jordan and Emmet Mullan
headed up along with some local children) and Harry and Peter carried out some
final reparations on the roof (see “unforeseen issues”), while Tom drifted
between the two tasks. Derrick Cobinah arrived at lunch time with the NMS drone
to take some spectacular aerial shots of the school!
However Tom’s estimations on timings proved to be too optimistic. By 4:30pm
we had an exhausted work force and about 2 hours of work left to do so we
decided to pack up for the day and head back home for a very well deserved BBQ!
On Monday Tom headed back to Jamestown for the morning to complete the
reworking on the roof and give the school a sweep and general tidy up with the
help of Emmanuel and a few other local children.

13. There were a few unforeseen issues that needed resolving during the
construction phase but there was nothing we couldn’t sort out.
As mentioned earlier, on Thursday the mason managed to burst a pipe when
digging down for the concrete apron’s foundation. Tomwas out at the warehouse
in Tema at the time however Safia was on site and immediately set to buying the
necessary items to repair the pipe. An hour later and only GH¢ 14.50 out of
pocket, the pipe was fixed and the concrete work continued. Rachel arranged for
a plumber to come the next day to do a full repair of the pipe; this was paid for by
the landowner.
Regrettably as well as the recycled roofing sheets, we didn’t use the roof caps
either because when it came to actually fitting them to the roof we discovered
that the gap from the purlins of the eaves to the roof cap was too far. Therefore
we decided it would simply be easier and more cost effective to cut the roofing
sheets into 2 parts lengthwise down the middle and use that as a roof cap instead
of going out and purchasing long screws and having to drill through the thick steel
of the Dodowa roof caps (see
image to the left).
However the main issue on
Saturday was when we tried a
wet test with a bucket of
water over a part of the roof
wherethe carpenters had only
overlapped the sheets by one
ridge and most of the water
came splashing through. Tom had noticed the light coming through the junctions
after just 4 layers of sheets were installed on Friday so from that point onwards
the carpenters wereinstructed to double up the overlap. However to save ripping
up their previous work Tom decided that putting a second layer of roofing sheets
over the first 4 layers would be the best way to resolve this issue. We had to
purchase a further 5 sheets but we cut them in half lengthwise and nailed them
over the existing junctions in the roofing sheets.

14. Conclusion
As a result of the work carried out on the Noyaa School for underprivileged
children, the pupils can now attend school come rain or shine with the comfort of
knowing that they shall no longer be plagued by flooded classrooms and damp
notebooks. This in turn means that their education is no longer interrupted so
they have a greater chance of learning more and eventually progressing into the
official Ghanaian education system. The creation of another classroom makes it a
better environment for the 4th
and oldest year group to learn in as there will now
be less distractions from other year groups. This is vital for them as it is their last
year in Noyaa School which is always when the most valuable lessons are learnt.
Moreover a repainted school not only makes for a brighter and happier
environment in which to learn but also really makes the school stand out in
Jamestown!
Above: Before Below: After

15. As author of this report and site manager Tom Vaughan would personally like to
extend a special thank you to Safia Wahab for being and excellent coworker and
facilitating many different parts of this project. It wouldn’t have happened
without her!
Tom would also like to thank Adrian Crowley, Ebenezer Anum, Caroline Young,
Harry Oliver and Francis Yore for lending their advice, time and expertise to this
project. Of course he is greatly appreciative of all of the hard work that all of the
volunteers put in on the weekend. They did not need to help but they deliberately
took time out of their weekend in order to make this project happen, Tom and
the rest of the Noyaa community will be eternally grateful!
Thank you all!!!