Connah's Quay Library and Learning Centre

The original library is situated on the eastern 'corner' of the town, on a busy T-junction marking the bounda'y between Connah?s Quay and Shotton. At 378 square metres in area it was the smallest of Flintshire's 'big five' libraries (Buckley, Flint, Holywell, Mold and Connah's Quay) whilst having the largest catchment area of 16,500 in the town of Connah?s Quay alone (the library also serves the western area of neighbouring Shotton). This situation was exacerbated by the fact that the reference library/ study area is on the first floor which could only be accessed via a staircase, with no staff supervision.

The library is a 1960s building over two floors - adult and children's library on the ground floor, with a reference library, toilets and staff areas to the first floor.

Main aims/achievements of the project were:-

upgrading customer facilities by installing a lift, making the public facilities on the first floor accessible to all users, and creating a disabled-accessible toilet.

Improving the ground floor layout by removing a wall separating the adult and children?s library and relocating the control desk to create a more flexible layout, and the creation of a fire exit.

Re-siting the children's area to improve supervision and make it easier for parents/carers and children to use the library together.

Increasing overall useful public space by constructing a new foyer from an open canopy allowing the existing foyer, which presented an unwelcoming image to people entering the library, to be integrated into the body of the library.

Refurbishing internal walls and stairway to present a more welcoming transition to the upper floor.

Replacing original metal framed windows with double glazed sealed units.

Increasing the number of public access pcs in the community learning area to 15 (plus 6 laptops, making it a more viable learning space for external providers.

Awards

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