FAQs

The following FAQs support the information that we provided as part of our consultation with members and have since updated in response to further feedback.

Should you wish to get in touch about any aspect of the building project or fundraising campaign please email us at buildingconnections@londonlibrary.co.uk with your comments or questions.

  • The combined cost of Phase One and Phase Two, covering construction and fit-out, professional fees, contingencies and allowances for inflation, is estimated to be £7m. This is roughly split £2m on Phase One and £5m on Phase Two. Phase One is expected to be delivered within budget. Phase Two has not yet started.

  • The estimates allow for inflation to impact those parts of the project that will be delivered in the next few years and contingencies for unexpected cost increases. These sums have been calculated by our quantity surveyors who we will continue to work with throughout the project. Revised estimates will be obtained at the end of the design period and before tendering for the construction work.  

  • We have been raising funds specifically for the project. Phase One was fully funded by donations and we already have some pledges in place for Phase Two. We will not use funds from membership fees to fund this project. 

  • We are confident of raising the money to complete this ambitious and important project in its entirety. However, if we are unable to raise sufficient funds, we have the option to reduce the scope of the project.  

  • Yes. From collection care and development, to subsidised membership and programming, we rely on charitable contributions to support our work. The fundraising team is committed to strengthening the Library’s collection and services, whilst managing the capital campaign, and we are grateful to all those who choose to support us across a range of projects. 

  • We will be raising money from funders who are specifically interested in funding capital projects. This will not stop us from raising funds to support other areas of the Library's work for which the fundraising team have separate targets.

  • We do not expect membership fees to increase as a result of this project. The Library has to increase fees annually to keep up with inflation and increases in operating costs, however, we predict that the redevelopments will help us to further grow membership and income, which helps to keep fee increases to a minimum. 

Cost

  • Phase One is nearly complete. The images shown in relation to Phase Two give idea of the spaces and uses of the spaces but no design decisions have been finalised at this point.

  • To accommodate the Basement Kitchen in Phase One, we removed some shelving and relocated some of our collection to secure offsite storage. This was done in consultation with members and we were able to accommodate the requests members made to retain specific items on site.

  • We do not anticipate a change in opening hours due to the building project or provision of the new facilities. We envisage the catering in the Members’ Room being available during normal opening hours including Monday and Tuesday evenings when the Library is open late.

  • Phase One will be completed in early June 2026. The start date for the construction of Phase Two is subject to fundraising but is unlikely to start before late 2027.

  • Previous building projects have concentrated on building more bookstacks so we are now at a phase where we need to add facilities that we are missing or are very limited at the Library. Further bookstacks may be considered in future building projects.

  • While we expect the project to increase membership, it will also increase capacity, accessibility and services for our members.

  • The works will comply with all regulations related to environment, current designs include an air source heat pump for the 6th floor, maximised use of natural lighting and photovoltaic solar panels to supply electricity to the 6th floor.

  • The project has been in existence in some form for 20 years. In 2005, the Library was granted planning permission for a reading room, members' room and roof garden on the 5th and 6th floor. This has been informed by member, trustee and staff suggestions and feedback and was revisited in our 2018-2024 strategy.  Our strategy to 2030 confirmed our intention to deliver the building project.

  • The Trustees of the Library overall, the Trustees’ Buildings and Facilities Committee led by Stephanie Hall and the executive team.

  • The architects are Haworth Tompkins, previous Stirling Prize winners and specialists in buildings similar to The London Library. They have worked with us since 2004. The design team supporting the architects have been chosen for their similar experience and relationship with the Library on previous projects.

  • Yes, especially the plans on the 6th floor, terrace and lift which will all be more accessible than the current offering. The new lift will have room for a person in a wheelchair plus another person, which the current lift does not and there will be turning space on each floor. The lift will also provide a means of evacuation in the event of a fire or other emergency, which the existing lift does not. The current 6th floor offering is not fully wheelchair accessible but the redeveloped 6th floor and the terrace on the 5th floor will be wheelchair accessible. There will also be the addition of an extra accessible toilet on the 6th floor. The New Room, delivered as part of Phase One, is on the ground floor and includes an accessible toilet.

  • Members were invited to share their feedback and views during a two-month pre-planning application consultation period via a survey, by writing to us, and at our in-person consultation events. The project booklet was sent to all members in the post, and dedicated web-pages were set up explaining the plans. Please see consultation feedback here. Since then, members have been invited to share their feedback via our building connections email account and at the last two AGMs, when the project was discussed in depth. We are very pleased to hear members’ views and continue to welcome feedback.

Overview

  • Throughout the Library's history redevelopments to the building have been crucial to improving the use of the Library and the member experience. The idea of improving the Library's space on the 5th and 6th floors has been around for over 20 years, with planning permission granted in 2005. Through member surveys we know that a large percentage of members would like to have an improved space to meet with other members and benefit from a better catering offer. By providing these facilities, for those who would like them, in a distinct area of the building we will also strengthen the quiet and undisturbed nature of the other spaces such as The Reading Room. The improved space would also encourage more members to visit the building, enabling greater browsing of the stacks and engaging with the Library’s extensive collection of around one million volumes.

  • Yes. We have many years of suggestions from members that they would like a catered space so that they may stay at the Library to eat and drink, meet with other members and have a more informal space in which to read and write. Members have also expressed that leaving the Library to find a café interrupts their focus. Opinions have been given in our regular member surveys, via our building connections email account and through our consultation feedback survey (the results of which are here).

  • No, the 6th floor will not be open to the public. The Library’s existing rules permit members to sign in guests for a brief, accompanied visit. We do not propose to change these rules.

  • On the 6th floor, there will be a new reading room (created from back of house space) with 9 seats, a refurbished and enlarged, catered members’ room with an estimated 43 seats, three purpose-built phone booths (one of which will be fully accessible) and four new toilets (one of which will be fully accessible). On the 5th floor level, there will be a new roof garden with an estimated 34 seats.

  • We do not anticipate a change in opening hours due to the building project or provision of the new facilities. We envisage the catering in the Members’ Room being available during normal opening hours including Monday and Tuesday evenings when the Library is open late.

  • Yes, we encourage our members to take care of our books at home and in all areas of the Library.

  • Yes. We know that this is important to some members and so they would still be able to eat and drink items brought from home in the new 6th floor facility. However, there will not be facilities to make or store food and drink as the kitchen and counter will be a staff area.

  • The catering offering has not yet been decided but it is likely to include hot and cold drinks, light lunch options and cakes/pastries. We will be seeking member feedback before deciding on the exact offer.

  • It is anticipated that the catering will be managed in-house.

Sixth floor and roof garden

  • No, the Library intends to stay open to members throughout all building works as we have in the past. There may be some areas that are not accessible at some times but we will endeavour to make all of our collections and facilities available.

  • Phase One will be completed in early June 2026. The start date for the construction of Phase Two is subject to fundraising but is unlikely to start before late 2027.

  • The Library has undertaken major building works in the past, using the same architects, while remaining open to members so we are confident that we will be able to keep noise and disruption to a minimum. Contractors chosen to tender will need to demonstrate they have completed projects in similar sensitive environments, and we will work with them to enable quiet periods and aim to schedule the most disruptive work when we are not open to members. We will give members regular updates throughout the works.

  • We will use our website, newsletter and building signage to keep members regularly up to date. We will have a regular newsletter and weekly updates to our website that focus on any disruption. We will also write to members and update in our magazine with any substantial updates on the works.

  • Phase One will be completed in early June. The construction part of Phase Two is unlikely to start before late 2027 and is currently anticipated to take about 18 months.

  • We are aiming to provide additional seating elsewhere in the building for any spaces lost while works are ongoing.

  • We hope to provide the hot drinks vending machine elsewhere in the building while works are ongoing.

  • We will work closely with staff and managers at the Library to ensure the wellbeing of staff and everyone is kept well informed and able to continue to perform their roles at the Library throughout these developments.

  • We do not anticipate areas of the collection being unavailable, there may be areas for which we have to reroute the access and we will increase our capacity to fetch books for members where needed.

  • These were moved to the Foyle Lightwell Reading Room when work commenced on Phase One, with one being retained in the Issue Hall.

  • The material identified for off-site storage was foreign language periodicals and society publications, and journals that have been discontinued. We also completed the off-siting of journals that are available online. Following consultation with members, all of the Russian periodicals and society publications were retained on site, along with a number of titles in other languages that members specifically identified. All items held in off-site store can be retrieved within 72 hours for members to use. We are grateful to those members who have engaged with us over this work.

  • Just over 800 linear metres of shelving was removed, which is 2.7% of the Library’s total shelving capacity.

Works and disruption

  • The New Room will have a wide variety of uses that focus on our public benefit remit as a charity such as meetings of our Emerging Writers, sixth-form school visits, exhibitions and displays, and workshops with other charity partners. It will be used by members for our member groups, speaker events and panel discussions, and trustee meetings. The room will also be available for private hire to help the Library financially.

  • The New Room location was chosen to minimise disruption to other Library users. The room has  its own toilets and facilities for storing bags and coats, and any external users will not have free access to the rest of the Library.

  • No. The New Room is likely to be renamed in due course.

New Room

  • The existing central lift is the only lift that provides step-free access to all floors of the building and unfortunately is old and breaks down occasionally. It is not fully accessible and is not an evacuation lift meaning that in the event of a fire or other emergency, it will shut down and be unavailable for use. Although we did investigate updating and increasing the size of the existing lift it was not practicable. It is also likely that with the improved spaces on the 6th floor there will be more members using the Library and two lifts will become increasingly important to reduce waiting times and avoid a situation where the lift breaking down would render the Library largely inaccessible to those in wheelchairs.

  • The architects are working with an acoustician on the whole project and they are specifically choosing the lift for its quietness.

  • The lift will be visible from the window at the west end of The Reading Room. There is an option for this to be obscured so that it does not change the atmosphere of The Reading Room, for example by frosting the glass of one or more of the windows. The lift car will be obscured so that members travelling in the lift will not be able to see into the Reading Room. We will be discussing these aspects with our architects as the project progresses.

  • The lift will be accessed from the basement corridor, opposite the existing lift and will share lobbies with the existing lift on each floor of the Central Stacks. The Foyle Lightwell Reading Room will remain in place and the lift shaft will be clad in a way that is in keeping with the rest of the room. It is also intended to keep the bookshelves in that room.

Lift

  • Currently caterers use The Study as a field kitchen which is not an ideal food preparation space and risks damage to the historic room and collection in that area. Private hire is a successful source of revenue for the Library helping to sustain its financial future. By providing a proper space in the basement, we can continue to support these events in a more appropriate and sustainable way.

    In addition, the basement kitchen will replace a back of house kitchenette that was removed to create The New Room. and will provide storage of supplies needed to serve the 6th floor catered Members’ Room in due course.

Basement kitchen
Building Connections Campaign
Phases
Timeline

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