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Queenstown's Women’s Shed Aotearoa is gearing up for the official opening of its new base at Frankton’s Country Lane on Saturday.
Founder Alex van Dam says the 12-week build of the 80sq m shed went relatively smoothly.
"It’s gone up pretty fast, but there’s been a few learning curves ... I’ve never managed or designed a project this big before."
It’s the culmination of about 18 months of planning by Van Dam after she realised the popularity of her carpentry workshops for women meant the non-profit was outgrowing its original home at MenzShed Arrowtown’s Preston Rd premises.
"Quite early on, I realised we were going to need a much bigger space, or a space purpose-built for what we’re doing.
"We have eight to 10 women in the workshop at once, whereas the MenzShed was designed for three or four, tops."
Grants from community funding bodies, crowd-funding, and discounts and in-kind donations from local companies meant the $220,000 build cost ended up being less than she anticipated.
The first workshops in the new shed started last month, and she’s now taking bookings for the next round of workshops starting next week.
"The next challenge is keeping it operational, so we’ll be doing a lot of fundraising and grants [applications] to help keep the doors open."
The opening day, which includes a BBQ, tool demos and giveaways, runs from 1pm to 3pm.
