Central Library re-opens Group Study Space
A brief timeline of the Central Library's recent refurbishments
The Group Study Area on the first floor of Central Library has reopened after refurbishment began in mid-October. Over the past month, the Group Study space has been re-carpeted, furniture has been installed, and power has been brought to all desks.
The refurbishments is the latest stage in Central Library’s Building Project.
Phase 1 of the Building Project was completed in late 2008. Two years of renovation on the ground floor introduced individual and group study spaces, the Wolfson IT Learning Suite, and the opening of the Library Café. Prior to Phase 1, the ground floor had housed a Waterstones, the Science Museum Library, and the Haldane Collection (the Central Library’s humanities collection). The Science Museum Library was moved to level 2, but was eventually evicted in 2015 after a Level 2 Development project that created new student study spaces.
Temperature control has been a long-standing issue for library users. Students repeatedly complained about the lack of ventilation in the library, a matter that became especially pressing during summer exam seasons. Amid declining NSS ratings, the College began Phase 2 in July 2017, to address these issues.
In November 2017, the library installed new cooling systems on levels 4 and 5. Floors were refurbished and power sockets added to all desks. The construction work was handled by the College’s Estates Development & Projects team, which also managed construction of the Prince’s Gardens residences in 2009 and the Putney Boathouse in 2014.
This summer, climate control systems were brought to levels 2 and 3, along with floor refurbishment, power at all desks, and new PCs and furniture. The Central Library now houses over 350 student-use PCs.
In June 2017, Felix revealed that the new cooling system installed in the past two years cost £11 million, the Central Library’s single largest expenditure in over a decade. The Phase 1 refurbishments cost the Library £10.4 million; this was funded by College, the Wolfson Foundation, and the Lund Trust, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
