The new and improved Ashburton Aviation Museum is well underway, with the foundations set to be finished by February.

Building committee chairperson Owen Moore said a bit more money has come into the bank, which has been welcome.

“We were initially just building this to a lock-up stage, but now we’re hoping to go a bit further.”

The site held a sod-turning in late December, and building has progressed rapidly.

The dusty dirt ground has been covered in gravel and plumbing laid already.

“The foundations are nearly all done.

“We’ll be pouring the concrete in two weeks, and the whole floor will be done in February.”

Markings on the gravel reveal where the function area, bathrooms, bar and hangar space will be.

“Then there’ll be the offices, and all the other small stuff.”

So far, $1.3 million had been raised for the new building, and Moore said there’s been overwhelming community support.

“Everyone thinks it’s marvellous that we’re getting on with it, and getting it done.

“They’re surprised with the amount of money we’ve been able to raise over the last 18 months.”

He said there’s still more fundraising to be done, but no big events have been planned for the next while.

“We’ve got things pretty well under control.

“The more money we can gather, the better.”

The 2000-square meter hangar will provide ample space for the planes and little artifacts that have sat in the museum’s storage thus far.

There will be a dedicated reception, function centre and bar, and the museum team encourages the community to come make use of the space.

The building currently sees around 6000 tourists and locals step foot on the tarmac each year, so the new building will hopefully allow for more foot traffic.

2024 marks 50 years of the museum, which is located alongside the Ashburton Airfield, used to train air force soldiers during World War Two.

By Anisha Satya