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In a boost for the planet and for the community, two light truckloads of excess timber from the Val Bertrand Stadium renovations have been donated to the Warrnambool Men’s Shed.
The stadium, which pre-dates the Warrnambool Stadium complex on Caramut Road it has been incorporated into, is in the process of a flooring upgrade.
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Ben Blain said that rather than the old floor, it was in fact the packaging timber that came with the new floor that presented the opportunity.
“While the old surface served the city well as a sports court for 35 years, the construction method used at the time meant that material could not be salvaged,” he said.
“With the delivery of so many new floorboards and other construction items, they came with a lot of useful packaging timber and the very clever people at the Warrnambool Men’s Shed will make sure that it’s reused in all sorts of different ways.
“There are also offcuts from the new Tasmanian Oak floor that the Men’s Shed will make very good use of.
“As a Council, it’s so exciting to be able to deliver an upgraded sporting facility like this while also minimising waste and supporting the valuable work of the Men’s Shed.”
Warrnambool Men’s Shed founding member Phil Pettingill said that the group was delighted to receive the timber.
“We’re putting it through thicknessers and it’s coming up beautiful,” he said.
“There’s hardly any knots in it and we’re using it to make some benches out of and we’ll come up with other projects as we go along.
“The short pieces which are about 160mm long, which are offcuts from the flooring, which is once again beautiful timber, we’re making benchtops out of it and we’ll also use it for making toys.
“There’s a lot of time that goes into recycling timber, but we’ve got plenty of time.
“We get a lot offered to us, but this timber is the best of quality in terms of timber.”
The Val Bertrand Stadium flooring project is on-track to be completed by the end of February.
The first major event in the new stadium will be the Seaside Volleyball tournament held over the 2025 Labour Day long weekend.