The refurbishment of West Wickham library is expected to start soon, alongside the construction of new Bromley homes for Bromley people at the adjacent car park site.
The refurbished and extended library will provide an improved library space with additional children’s learning and reading areas, new community hire spaces, changing place toilets and a modern café with sheltered outdoor seating.
To allow works to begin on improving the library, the service will be temporarily relocated from 1 April to a Grade II listed Art Deco building near Coney Hall.
The new housing being built is a mix of mews housing and apartments with bike and car parking, providing 26 new homes in total for Bromley residents. There will be a mix of affordable and private housing on the site, with this arrangement being brought forward to support the investment of refurbishing the library.
Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), the charitable social enterprise who operate Bromley’s libraries, are working in partnership with the council to temporarily relocate the library with minimum disruption to customers.
The under-used car park has now closed so that this new housing can be built, with three alterative council car parks within a ten-minute walk of the library.
Councillor Yvonne Bear, Executive Councillor for Renewal, Recreation and Housing said: “It is great to be moving forward with this project, which will see new state-of-the-art facilities provided in West Wickham for local library users, while also delivering more Bromley homes for Bromley people next-door to contribute to the borough’s affordable housing supply. I want to thank GLL for their support with the temporary relocation while we improve the library, with these works representing a significant investment in the borough’s outstanding library network.”
Diana Edmonds MBE, National Libraries Director at GLL, said: “We are looking forward to moving back into a great new refurbished library in West Wickham next year, but also for our time at this interesting temporary site near Coney Hall. The building has a great Art Deco history that we will be sure to make the most of while we are there and I hope many of our service users will join us there temporarily or will make use of one of the other nearby libraries, such as the one in Hayes.”
The West Wickham library service will move temporarily to 77 Addington Road, an Art Deco building designed in 1934 by Leslie Kemp and Tasker, which sits within one mile of the current library with plenty of parking space. This site will be used until the West Wickham refurbishment is completed, which is expected in 2024. The temporary library is served by the 119 bus route from West Wickham, which stops right by the temporary site after just 5 minutes.
There are 13 other libraries in the borough that customers can also use during the refurbishment. The nearest alternative is Hayes Library which is 1.8 miles away and is also served by the 119 bus route, taking around 13 minutes. Central Library is also served by the 119 bus route and is 2.8 miles away from the current West Wickham site, usually taking less than 30 minutes.
The Home Library Service is also available for customers who would prefer items to be delivered to them at home. Find out more about the Bromley Home Library Service.
We hope that our valued West Wickham Library users will come and visit us in our temporary location or use one of these alternatives during the works.
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact James George, public affairs, on 020 8313 4565 or email james.george@bromley.gov.uk