Work is in full swing to upgrade the facility in readiness for this summer, with long-time campaigner Ambrose Cashin confident the people of Ararat will have a safe place to swim outdoors when the warmer weather rolls in.

After leading the groundswell of support from the community to have the outdoor pool re-opened following its closure at the beginning of the 2011-12 season, Mr Cashin is now embracing the next stage of the project the opportunity to get onsite and get his hands dirty.

Work on the redevelopment commenced mid-June, with the Olympic Pool Committee overseeing the process.

Initial stages have included cleaning the pool and removing four years' worth of waste, a team from Farley Pools Australia cutting a channel down the centre of the pool and replacing the galvanised pipe and Marx Metal Recycling and Demolition removing all excess concrete from the shell and concourse.

"Barry Marx and his guys spent about a week here breaking up concrete, with some of it close to six inches thick," Mr Cashin said.

"We reckon overall it was something like 150 tonnes.

"It is hard to put a price on it, but the guys at Farley were saying that it cost them $90 per tonne at another job to get the stuff removed. On top of that you have your excavator driver too, so we have saved between $25,000 to $30,000 through in-kind work from Marxy alone.

"We are saving dollars wherever we can and every dollar adds up."

Mr Cashin said since getting onsite and beginning work he is starting to get an even greater appreciation of what a 'monumental job' those who built the original pool were able to achieve more than 50 years ago.

"These guys were just local blokes building a pool for the community, but they have just done it so well," he said.

"Now that the water has been drained I look at the walls and can't get over how straight they are. They have even poured the concrete on an angle for the special circulation pipe that runs up the centre. Peter Farley couldn't believe it.

"Looking at the old photos of the blokes with their picks and wheelbarrows it is just unbelievable to think how much hard work it would have taken. They had to dig deep through clay and god knows what else.

"They didn't have any of the machines we have today and to pour it all with such top quality concrete, which they mixed themselves, is quite remarkable."

Local contractor Shane Cunningham commenced in-kind work on Friday for the new plant room to be located where the toddler's pool once was, with the concrete to come from McKay Earthworks.

Bruce Hamilton and a team from KHS spent the weekend digging a trench around the pool shell, while Darren Hamilton from Stan Hamitlon and Sons will soon begin excavation work on the hill to prepare for the new child activity area.

Mr Cashin said the entire Olympic Pool Committee continued to be overwhelmed by the generosity of the Ararat community and tradespeople, with local businesses including AME and Gasons also offering their support financially. The committee is now just $15,000 short of their $100,000 target.

An advertisement for tenders of the change room/kiosk was placed in The Ararat Advertiser on Friday, which will run for about a three week period.

"That would take things through to about the end of July. Then even if you have September, October, November to build it, three months really should be all it would take," Mr Cashin said.

Mr Cashin joked that he has already teed up Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to return to Ararat in December for the official opening.

Mr Andrews was first made aware of the project as the leader of the opposition during the 2014 election campaign, which led to a $350,000 pledge one of the final pieces of the funding puzzle.

"He listened to me, he asked a lot of questions initially and it just so happened the day before it had come out in the news that Victoria was one of the worst states in the country for drowning statistics," Mr Cashin said.

"He took away all our information and he got behind it. What he was really impressed with was the fact that where else would you get a company that could take a $4.1 million project down to $1 million."