Joint winner of the Civic Building of the Year Awards 2015
Client : Manchester City Council
Architect : Ryder Architecture
Builder : Laing O’Rourke
Value : £40 million
Panel’s Comments :
This existing building has been strikingly transformed into a series of spaces providing greatly improved circulation throughout the library. The central core has been altered to provide a new café area, stairwell and lifts. The library is now much in demand from community groups and the public as a result of the flexible use of space and the provision of conference rooms, a media area, improved archived storage and quiet locations for study and research. Overall this refurbishment has over doubled accessibility, while dramatically reducing energy costs and carbon emissions.