Design team appointed for library revamp
Blackpool Council is to spend £3m, including £2m from the Big Lottery fund, redeveloping the town's main library.
Architects Bisset Adams and building contractor Carefoot have been appointed to deliver the project.
The council said it was "looking for something exceptional from this project to set an example, at a national level, of the innovative design concepts and modern service offer that can be applied to a traditional Grade 2 listed building".
As part of the project, lighting artist, Nick Robertson, who has worked with musicians Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, will make "an innovative visual connection between the Central Library and Blackpool's history of Illuminations".
The team is aiming to complete the design work by the end of June to allow work to commence on site by September 2010. The redevelopment work will require closure of Central Library for up to a 12-month period, reopening the building in September 2011.
Meanwhile, Bispham Library will be replaced by a new library that will be located in the Moor Park Primary Care Trust and Leisure development. Work on the new build has now commenced on site with a target opening date of April/ May 2011.
- Follow the Blackpool Central Library project blog at http://blackpoolcentrallibrary.wordpress.com/
