£3m refurbishment of library completed without closing main site

The £3 million refurbishment of the Edmonton Library Housing Hub, which has been in the works for more than six years, is part of Enfield Council’s ambitious plans to provide a 21st century library experience for all of its residents. The two-storey library has been carefully designed to maximise productivity and will include extra study spaces for children and students, free Wi-Fi, a customer access kiosk, as well as a dedicated local history and museum space to celebrate the area’s rich history.

Operating under Perfect Circle’s unique collaboration, we were appointed by Enfield Council through SCAPE’s Built Environment Consultancy Services (BECS) framework to provide architectural and design support, while also supporting with mechanical, electric and project management services.

Maintaining a close collaboration with Wilmott Dixon Interiors throughout, we were able to deliver the project with a highly responsive service, quickly and efficiently adapting to changes in the programme requirements during the construction. Using NEC change-management mechanisms, we were able to act cooperatively and openly to develop solutions that minimised the impact on timings and costings.

John Clarke, Pick Everard director for project management said: “We are very happy to have worked collaboratively with the wider team to deliver this new functional space for Enfield Council to support the local community in the area.

“One of the key challenges faced on this project was keeping the library operational during the refurbishment process. The difficulty of this was minimised greatly through regular meetings with the construction management team and library staff. This sustained communication, and regular feedback was key to a successful live working environment.

“Ultimately. The entrance of the library was kept open to the public, while access to the construction site was set up via a balcony window on the second floor to the rear of the building. We also completed standardised risk assessments, air quality testing, and environmental monitoring.”

Alongside the obvious benefit to the learnings of local children and students, we made a range of intentional decisions to benefit the local community. This included the employment of local people to work on the site, while the wider development team placed emphasis on education by supporting staff to develop and upskill and visiting schools in Enfield.

Furthermore, an emphasis was placed on sustainability throughout the project. All of the lighting designed and implemented into the space is energy efficient and utilises smart controls, amongst many other benefits, including automatic adjustment to suit the environment changes to stay at peak energy efficiency.

As well as this, the project ensured that existing doors were either reused or repainted throughout the development and our design of replacing the existing gas-fired heat pumps with electric heat pumps was a notable contribution regarding sustainability.

Adrian Ceney, partner at Pick Everard, said: “Communication with the site team was also vital in regard to the pre-site checks, allowing us to accurately point out existing issues within the development and address them promptly to avoid large delays in the overall programme. This pre-planning approach meant we were able to gather the substantial information needed to find the best solutions before problems arose, meaning that the initial building condition had minimal impact on the overall timescales.

“It has been one of our key objectives to ensure harmony across the site and I believe that the development team has done that. To know that we have provided an excellent learning space for future generations, while also placing a particular emphasis on sustainability, demonstrates Pick Everard’s commitment to forward-thinking.”