Onward and upward

The final, defiant roots of the Macrocarpa, grubbed up and shoved ignominiously out of the way

These walls will be waterproofed and then covered by soil; this part of the house is effectively underground. The builder is standing on the ground floor.

In the background, the builders are making the gabion cages

This man was determinedly brushing away the rainwater which was collecting as fast as he could work

We attended a meeting in early July and then went over to see progress on site. Now that the slab was laid and the footings (deep, concrete "slices" cut down into the hillside, to act as anchors and stop the house sliding down), were in place and back-filled, the next step was the back walls, which will be carefully waterproofed. This co-incided with some rotten weather, which delayed proceedings somewhat but as the chief builder said, better to take the time and get it right than risk allowing water in through areas that are going to be effectively underground and inaccessible from now on. We agreed, fervently.
Interestingly, at a design meeting about 2 years ago (yes, this has all been going on a very long time), the structural engineer pointed out that the wonderful ruberoid rubber membrane that is wrapped around the structure would act as a grand sheer layer and there was the possibility that without some very careful design, the whole house would sledge down the hill. Hmmm. He re-drew it so that the membrane is wrapped around the anchors to prevent this. Jolly clever stuff.
The builders improved the shining hour whilst it was raining by making the galvanised wire gabion cages, under a makeshift shelter. The gabions are to support the bank at east and west of the house and will be filled with local stone. We also talked with the foreman about the slope immediately below the house. He agreed that it'll make a good vegetable garden and we'll enlist their help to level a wide terrace and help us to build raised beds. After all the angst about the original well, we realise that we'll end up with a well upsides of the house which can gravity-feed a pond via a rill ( always wanted a rill!). That well will need to be pumped out several times in the next few months, to allow the contaminants to wash out. It will never provide an adequate domestic supply, though.