Work is progressing well with the upgrade of the playing surface at the Warrnambool Hockey Centre, with the new synthetic pitch beginning to be installed this week.
This follows the removal of the old surface and the installation of the rubber base material prior to Christmas.
The funding for the pitch replacement project consists of up to $800,000 from Council and $200,000 from the Warrnambool Hockey Club.
The project is expected to be finished ahead of upcoming hockey season.
The result will be a new synthetic surface of a very high standard – very similar to what is being used at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Ben Blain said that he was excited to see the project progress.
“Looking at what we had before to what we are going to have now, it’s chalk and cheese,” he said.
“It’s going to be really great for hockey in the whole region and I’m really looking forward to seeing it completed.”
South West Hockey President Mark Bridge said that the new pitch was state of the art.
“We can host international games here if we wanted to, hopefully one day, and we can absolutely host State League One games from Melbourne and Premier League teams, they could come down.
“As an association and a region we’re super excited to have it.
“A huge thank you to Council, the Councillors and the staff behind the scenes who helped us to get to where we are now.”