Renfrewshire Council

The new home of Paisley Central Library is set to open its doors on the High Street later this month.

The learning and cultural hub is a modern facility which brings a formerly vacant unit back into use and offers a whole new space for people of all ages to go to learn and be inspired.

It's part of a much bigger programme of investment we have made in the town's cultural venues, including the transformations of Paisley's Museum, Town Hall, and Arts Centre, aimed at giving people new reasons to come in to visit the town centre.

Our building contractors finished their work a few weeks ago, and since then our OneRen libraries colleagues have been getting it ready to welcome the public. That includes installing furniture, IT equipment, and—of course—bookshelves.

We caught up with programme manager Jack Lochans to find out more about what people can look forward to in the new library building, and how the project came together...

What's your favourite feature of the new hub?

"Each floor of the building brings something different while combining digital connectivity and traditional library use, but my favourite feature has to be the children's play structure - it's just fantastic! Families can bring their children and let them learn in a fun way while the parents can enjoy a coffee from our new coffee machine."

What else can we look forward to in the new library building?

"There are lots of cosy book nooks on the upper floors where people can relax and enjoy the views out over the town. The dedicated IT suite on the first floor offers free computer access for all in the heart of the High Street, there's a lovely outdoor terrace at the back of the building as well as a quiet space on the third floor mezzanine. All of this is fully accessible and there's a new lift installed too."

A project like this involves lots of different teams and external partners. Who are they and how did you bring them all together?

"This has been a project with many excellent people involved over the years, both internally and with our contractors and consultants. The construction project was managed by our City Deal and Infrastructure team within the Chief Executive's service, and—as with all our leisure and cultural venues—the library will be operated by OneRen.

"We've shown real collaboration and best-practice project management. My role was to ensure we had the correct people and processes in place to deliver what was a very complex construction project. To that end, this deserves a special mention to our project manager, Alan Pearson, who oversaw the detail of this project."

Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the unveiling of Paisley's transformed Town Hall last month, we are sure that colleagues, residents and visitors to the town will be impressed with the results of all the hard work and collaboration that's gone in to creating this new state-of-the-art hub.

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Published on Friday 03 November 2023