BIRKENHEAD LIBRARY & CIVIC CENTRE

North Shore City is progressing with plans to build the  Birkenhead Library & Civic Centre  on the empty Nell Fisher Reserve (below), at the corner of Hinemoa St and Rawene Rd, Birkenhead.

Update May 2008

Secondary consultants have been appointed to work on the building design are as follows: Structural and Civic Design Services- Brown & Thomson; Quantity Surveying Services- Maltbys Lltd.; HVAC Services, Electrical and Ancillary, Hydraulic, and Environmentally Sustainable Design Services – Sinclair Knight Merz; Fire Engineering Protection – WAP Fire Ltd.; Traffic Management- Mc Cormick Rankin Cagney.

This group is working with the architect and project management group

Background.

By the year 2000 it was recognized that the old Birkenhead Library and Council Area Office building was not big enough and not designed to cope with the changes in library services and the future needs of a growing and diverse community.

A section of Council services had relocated to Takapuna and the vacant floor space on the top floor was inappropriate for the  library.

In June 2003 Council resolved a provision of funding to build a new library and area office in Birkenhead.
A feasibility study on the costs of a refurbishment, expansion or re-build was done and alternative site options in the Highbury shopping area were assessed and rated by a professional consulting group in  August 2003.

The report recommended the option to demolish the old library and area office building and the Plunket Rooms and re-build on the same site and this recommendation was unanimously accepted by the Community Board and Council.

	Press Release March 12, 2008
Temporary Library Decision was made to re-locate the library to the North Shore Leisure Centre Gym in Mahara Avenue as a temporary service and this began in April 2005. A failed Resource consent application and subsequent Plan Change and Environment Court appeal delayed the building process and the temporary location at the Birkenhead Leisure Centre remains until the new library opens.
Information Services Librarian Kathy Neivandt.	Kathy White & children.

The staff have been working to provide the best possible library service from this location but space is limited and regular services such as class visits, book events, and access to local historical archives have had to be cut. The CAB and Area office moved to the Rawene Community Centre in Birkenhead. Plunket services began working from the Glenfield Plunket Rooms, but later re-located to the Highbury Community House in Hinemoa St. Birkenhead.

Nell Fisher Site

The empty site today
Preliminary Site Plan
The site has remained empty since the demolition of the previous library, area office and Plunket buildings. A second assessment of alternative sites was done in 2007 as part of the preparation for the Environment Court hearing and the Nell Fisher site again was rated best option. The building will be constructed on the south side of the park within the prescribed envelope as decided by the Environment Court (diagram right). Architect, Brendan Rawson and his team from The Architecture Office, have been working on a preliminary design, according to the conditions from the Environment Court.    Project Managers from RDT Pacific   www.rdtpacific.co.nz  are working with the architect and  North Shore City project group to appoint specialised secondary consultants  to assist with progressing  the plans to detailed design.   This is expected to be presented  to Council by July 2008 for design and funding approval and construction of the building should start late 2008. The building will be larger than the demolished library and council services offices and will include Plunket and Citizens Advice facilities plus community meeting space.