GYMNASTICS: Warwick Gymnastic Club may only have a block of concrete finished on its new international facility, but the club has already set a date to use the extension for the first time.

President Coby Walker said the club had been granted $103,984 from the Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing under a Get Playing Places and Spaces grant for the construction of the building.

"The 530sqm extension will double the size of the building,” Walker said.

"The international- standard floor will be to the east of the existing facility and new office areas and grandstand seating on the northern side.

"One of the criteria for the project is we must get local tradesmen.”

Brendan McNicol from McNicol Concreting had two extra teams of concreters on site to lay 66 cubic metres of concrete.

Builder Glenn Eastwell from Ranbuild Warwick said the building would be energy efficient with state-of-the-art insulation.

Walker said he hoped the building would be up by the end of September so it could be used as a presentation area for a competition already organised for October 14.

"The club has applied for more funding to complete stage two, construction of a JF floor, which will take the cost of the project to $360,000,” he said.

"We hope to run our first sanctioned event in March next year and will have a complex as good as any in the region.

"We will be applying to host the Darling Downs regional gymnastics championships next year and will be also aiming to host state championships.”

The gymnastic club will be available as an international training facility for any countries keen to train in south-east Queensland in the run-up to the April 4-15 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast next year.

The Warwick club currently has coaching six days a week. It has 175members and Walker believes when the extension is completed, club membership numbers could rise by another 30% in years to come.