sophisticated sound effects and graphics, and others will ponder over the technology behind it. For David Braddock and his seventy-strong crew, the men who strung all the nuts and bolts together, the completion of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) leaves them with an appreciation of something, which is perhaps far greater -- a challenge well met. "I've worked on power stations and really complex jobs and, without a doubt, it's the most difficult building I've ever built,'' stressed the civil engineer. "It's also one of the most interesting.'' Built by Sea-Land Construction, with the help of many of the Island's subcontractors, completing the 40,000 square-foot museum was not a simple task. "We started in October of 1995,'' said Mr.

Braddock. "The framework of the building was relatively simple and straightforward. It's like a glorified house so it's not that special from a structural aspect -- it has a big entrance, a big foyer, a big water tank and a traditionally-styled Bermuda roof. "What was difficult were all the special aspects and the finishes; we had to make sure that all the service aspects co-ordinated with the equipment that was to be installed later. And because it is the type of museum that it is, an interactive one, we had to accommodate all the mechanics and electrical systems. So we had electronics specialists, mechanical specialists and finisher specialists.'' A civil engineer, Mr.

Braddock arrived in Bermuda in 1980. His first job, he said, was as engineer for the reconstruction of Watford Bridge in Somerset. Among other jobs, he also oversaw the building of one of the power plants at the Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO). Mr. Braddock moved to work in the United States for three years afterwhich he returned to conduct the building of the new bus garage when it moved from East Broadway to Palmetto Road in Devonshire, Westgate Prison in Dockyard and, most recently, Butterfield Place on Front Street. None of those jobs, said Mr. Braddock, were as difficult as this one which was made even more arduous as a result of changes made at the end of Island's building boom makes task more difficult subcontractors and my men (those from Sea-Land Construction) provide the know-how and the knowledge, and I have to organise them into a single body to get the job built. However, the building business in Bermuda is in the throes of a building boom. It's getting extremely overheated and more difficult because of the volume of work. "Many subcontractors are working three or four different jobs and to get them to attend one particular site and come in and do the work in a timely manner is tough and we've been working seven days a week since January -- from 7.30 a.m. until about 6 or 7 in the evening. And then there are those times when, at three or four in the morning, I would have things whizzing around in my head and would get up and go to the site because if I'm just lying there thinking about it, I might as well get it done.

Sea-Land started construction in October of 1995 and it was in November, after the building was really starting to take shape, that changes were made, he said. "Invariably, with any job this size you get changes and when you get changes on any building job, they involve a lot of extra work; extra paperwork, extra cost and extra time spent keeping everyone on the jobsite informed of the changes. "Basically we had got the building watertight and had started going for the final push when the changes came. They involved lot of service and base building changes so it was quite a task to get everything back up and running. We had to work a substantial number of additional hours with additional people to get the building on-line and open on time. But my very-able first lieutenant, John Soares, has been a great asset and the end result is that it's a fantastic building that I can drive past every day and show my daughter what her daddy built.'' PHOTO Sea-Land Construction's civil engineer David Braddock (left) and his "first lieutenant'', John Soares at the BUEI site The BUEI construction site, located on East Broadway Mounds of paperwork One way to discover the secrets of the deep BERMUDA UNDERWATER EXPLORATION MUSEUM MINI SUPPLEMENT SUP