PLANS for Calderdale’s new library and archive are unveiled today.
Calderdale Council wants the library to be an inclusive, fresh, modern community venue that will bring the very best of local heritage together.
But they also plan to incorporate old buildings as well as the latest innovations in the building itself.
The £9.25m library will be a contemporary building that will fuse the styles, tones and colours of the historic Piece Hall, Square Chapel and the former Industrial Museum buildings with a modern venue.
It will envelop the Grade II* Listed Square Church Spire in Halifax and the remaining standing archaeology of Square Church. In addition it will incorporate the remains of the church, such as the rose window, into the design of the building.
The building will have four floors.
A council spokesman said: “Each level has been carefully planned using people’s feedback and to accommodate the range of services that will be delivered – from local studies on the lower ground, adjacent to West Yorkshire Archives, through to the ground level with its welcoming reception area and the children’s library.
“The first floor accommodates adult fiction and an area for 13 to 16 year olds, alongside a digital media area.
“The second floor carries the adult non-fiction collections and offers opportunity for quiet study and use of IT on an individual or group basis.
“There will be a small meeting room in the library and more rooms available in the adjacent Piece Hall extension.”
A public space will be created between the new central library and archive and the former Industrial Museum. In addition, there is a budget set for external work to the former Industrial Museum, which will improve the facade and stop water leaking in to prevent any further deterioration of the premises.
There will also be disabled car parking spaces and a layby for use by the Access Bus in front of the building on Square Road.
Details of the plans will go on show at the existing Central Library. The council hopes to start work in Spring 2014 and have the centre open by Autumn 2015. The existing site will be sold off for development.
