The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) was originally conceived in 1991 with an international working group set up in 1993. This led to the signing of the first Memorandum of Agreement in 2000. Considerable early development work then followed. This culminated in the commencement of PrepSKA in 2008 leading to a full SKA design in 2012. Construction of Phase 1 will take place from 2018 to 2020 providing an operational array capable of carrying out the first science. Phase 2 will then follow for completion in 2025 providing full sensitivity for frequencies up to at least 14 GHz.