Asbestos discovered in Council owned community facilities

The main building, which was built in 1965, is next to the Silverdale Rugby Club, on Hibiscus Coast Highway and is currently leased to the Nippon Judo Club as well as the No 5 (Rodney) Squadron of the Air Training Corps.

Asbestos was discovered in April during routine maintenance checks.

Council’s operations north manger, Julie Pickering, whose team looks after the management and maintenance of community facilities, says while the main building tested positive for asbestos-containing material, this is only evident in a small area, towards the rear exterior, around the windows and ranch slider.

She says a corrugated fence, which runs between the rear of the building and the concrete block storage shed and the two bowling-green spectator sheds, toilets and fence, have also tested positive for asbestos-containing material and may be removed.

The entire rear area of the property – the rear bowling green and associated rear sheds – have been fenced off with warning signs while Council waits for the results of the main building condition survey before proceeding further.

Nippon Judo Club president Johan Boshoff says the club is glad that the issue was identified and that steps are now being taken to have the asbestos removed.

“We have requested that all the buildings around the bowling greens are removed together, rather than in stages and Council has agreed to that, in principle,” Mr Boshoff says.

The removal of the material, which is expensive (although it has not been fully costed as yet) and also requires removing contaminated soil around the site, will be conducted by an asbestos certified company and is expected to take a few weeks. However once this is complete aspects of the building may then not be habitable until they have been refurbished.

“We will be working with our community leasing team, as well as site users, to establish how we can accommodate them in the meantime,” Julie Pickering says.