SoftBank Team Japan, the one of the five challengers for the 35th America’s Cup, have broken ground at the site of their Dockyard base.

Work on the project that will become the team’s base for the next 21 months began last week.

Temporary structures will be built before this month’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Bermuda with larger, semi-permanent facilities to be erected in December.

“We’re operating in some borrowed space at the moment, but it will be nice to have our own base to go to work at each day,” Dean Barker, the SoftBank Team Japan chief executive and skipper, said.

“It’s important to get everyone up and running quickly because we have pretty hard timelines we have to meet. It’s going to be exciting times.”

Containers with the team’s temporary facilities and the AC45F catamaran are scheduled to arrive next week, with the team ready to start foiling on the Great Sound by October 15.

Some of the sailors and their families have completed their relocation to Bermuda.

“It’s been a bit of a process getting here and getting sorted with all the logistics,” Barker said. “But our Bermudian community have been very helpful with everything we’ve needed. The key thing is for the families to be happy and comfortable.”

Among the team’s personal items that have arrived are foiling single-handed Moth dinghies that will be used for training in the coming weeks.

Before the AC45F arrives, Barker has encouraged other forms of competitive sailing to keep the team in top shape. Members are competing in RC44 and Extreme 40 events this week and the team will also make their World Match Racing Tour debut at the Argo Group Gold Cup next week.

Team Japan also competed in last month’s Bacardi Bermuda Match Racing Championships in Hamilton Harbour, which they won without dropping a point.