You won’t have to go far to find the chosen location for Waihī Beach’s new library, Council service centre and hub.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council has chosen a site directly in front of the existing Community Centre and library accessed from Beach Road, and will proceed to undertake the detailed design.
Deputy CEO and General Manager Infrastructure Group Gary Allis says the Beach Road/ Community Centre site checks several boxes for the community and allows Council to run a new shared operating model.
“Modern libraries offer the community so much more than a service for borrowing books. They’ve become a centre for the entire community to meet, to connect, to learn, to get inspired and to share knowledge and experience.
“And this site, positioned between the school and Community Centre, is a golden opportunity to create a modern building that puts our tamariki on track for a lifetime of learning.
“The current library only has room for one public computer and it’s just not big enough to meet the community’s needs.”
The numbers also stacked up for the Community Centre/ Beach Road site. A quantity surveyor’s report and initial architects concept scoped this site, and an alternative. The final figures showed the Community Centre/ Beach Road site had more available space on site and was the most cost effective, at $6,565,000, plus $297,000 for the required Community Centre upgrades. The alternative site at Wilson Road, Te Mata Reserve came in at over $8.6 million. These figures take into account the increasing construction costs currently being experienced in the building industry and a contingency to reflect the concept stage of design. The project estimate will be fine tuned as the design progresses.
The new proposal would see Council and the Community Centre and Waihī Beach Primary School to share responsibility for safe access to technology and resources and benefitting all parties.
Gary says, “It’s also a chance to bring some new energy to existing community initiatives, like the Community Centre’s shared working space, community space and kitchen.
“And you can expect upgrades to the centre’s toilet facilities and digital offerings to enable online hui.”
Future partnerships with other community-based groups could also be facilitated through this model.
“Initially this site wasn’t on our short list, but we’ve been encouraged by the community feedback and potential benefits of working in partnership to create something really special,” says Gary.
The next steps for the library, Council service centre and hub are to proceed from the concept design to a detailed design.
The community has already responded to Council with ideas for what they’d like to see in the new space, with suggestions including things like co-working spaces, meeting rooms and event spaces.
Tamariki of Waihī Beach Primary also had a blast building their own versions of the library in Lego. Their ideas featured high-tech libraries, including robots that gather books and deliver them to waiting patrons, multi-tiered reading hammocks, and a slide come escalator for travelling up and down floors. Self checkout was also a popular feature.
These ideas will all serve as inspiration for the team in the next phase of the project.
The community will have another chance to share their thoughts on the designs before they go to Council for sign off.
The recommendation to go ahead with the Beach Road/ Community Centre site was informed by the community’s feedback during consultation in late 2021, strong support from community groups including the community centre team and Waihī Beach Primary School, and a detailed quantity surveyor report and initial architects concept plan that revealed no major issues.
The timing of the library, service centre and community hub build will be considered by Council through the Annual Plan 2023-24 with a view to undertake construction earlier than planned in the 2021-2031 Long Term Plan (originally planned for 2028). The original budget was estimated at $2.5 million, however this figure was not intended to accurately reflect the final cost to design and build the facility, as detailed information on location and design could not be confirmed until now.
View the initial architects concept and read more at haveyoursay.westernbay.govt.nz/waihi-beach-library
