South Library and Beckenham Service Centre re-opens

South Library and Beckenham Service Centre re-opened this morning following temporary repair and strengthening work.

The library and service centre in Colombo St opened at 9am after work was completed to strengthen the building to 34 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS), allowing it to re-open under city council occupancy guidelines.

The work included the installation of steel propping and additional beams and plates to strengthen the building.

It will allow the building to operate as it is for three years. Investigations into long term solutions for the building are continuing.

Unit manager of libraries and information Carolyn Robertson says staff are looking forward to welcoming customers again.

"Customers won't be able to miss the bright red steel bracing that has been put in place on the outside of the building to strengthen it.

"We would also ask for the public's understanding as some of the temporary repairs inside the building are also visible," she said.

"Before it closed, South Library was the most popular community library in the city - and the service centre was also one of the city's busiest - so the facility has certainly been greatly missed.

"It's wonderful to be able to open our doors again just in time for Christmas."

The library will be open on weekdays from 9am-7pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm.

The service centre will be open from 9am-5pm from Monday to Friday.

The city council closed the building in July after receiving the results of a Detailed Engineering Evaluation (DEE) which showed the building had a seismic capacity of between 10 and 20 per cent of the NBS.

It has agreed to close all buildings that have a seismic capacity of below 34 per cent of the NBS.

The city council has carried out the temporary repair and strengthening work on the library and service centre as part of its Facilities Rebuild Plan project.

For more information about the project, visit www.ccc.govt.nz/facilitiesrebuild