Tuebrook community hub secures £3.9m Lottery cash

The redevelopment of the Grade II-listed Andrew Carnegie Library in Tuebrook, Liverpool is one step closer following the Heritage Lottery Fund’s confirmation of £3.9m in grant funding for the project.

The HLF input will be topped up by childcare charity Lister Steps and Liverpool City Council, which in October became co-applicant for the project, which is estimated at a total cost of £4.6m – initially, the bid was for £4.1m.

Facilities at the Carnegie Community Hub will include event space, meeting rooms, hotdesking facilities, childcare facilities, heritage activities and training and volunteering opportunities. Tuebrook is among the 1% most deprived wards in the country.

The project will now proceed to tender stage, with a view to starting onsite in October 2017 and completing the following year.

The main feature of the scheme, designed by OMI Architects, is a series of insertions into the main reading rooms, creating subdivisions and taking the overall usable space from 7,800 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft.

OMI director Nick Berry said: “This is a great opportunity to bring a building which was once the cornerstone of the local community back into everyday use. This project is important to us as a further example of how radical conversion can transform a heritage building and give it new life.”

The professional team includes specialist historic biding surveyor Alan Gardner Associates and landscape architect Camlin Lonsdale.