OMI Architects has won planning to convert Liverpool’s abandoned Grade II listed Carnegie Library into a new Carnegie Community Hub in the Tuebrook area of the city.
The £3 million project is due to be complete in 2018 and will restore the decaying structure which opened to the public in 1905 and closed just more than 100 years later.
The Lister Drive library was donated by Scottish American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and designed by Liverpool city surveyor Thomas Shelmerdine.
The library was one of several facilities gifted to Liverpool by Carnegie at the turn of the last century.
Following its closure in 2006, problems with the Lister Drive Library began to emerge and showed that the building had suffered from dry and wet rot.
One year ago, OMI saw off competition from Griffiths Thompson Partnership, Harrison Stringfellow, Purcell and Halsall Lloyd Partnership to win the contract which is estimated to be in the region of £100,000.
The proposal for the studio will include the introduction of heritage activities, hot desking, rentable meeting space, new childcare facilities and an events venue alongside other training and volunteering opportunities.
The project will deliver a number of insertions within the volume of the existing reading rooms to create the subdivisions necessary for the wide range of uses proposed.
Nick Berry, Director at OMI Architects, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to bring a building, which was once the corner stone of the local community, back into everyday use.
“We have a history of working successfully with listed buildings and saving them from the risk of serious decline.”
The Lister Steps charity was set up 18 years ago to provide childcare services and is currently based in a number of portakabins.
OMI won a separate contract in April to restore Liverpool’s Grade II listed Wellington Rooms which had previously shut down in 1997.
