Cardiff Central Library

Location
Cardiff
Client
Land Securities
Capital Shopping Centres
Value
£15.5m
Completion
2009
Size
3,200sqm of reading space
BREEAM Rating
'Excellent'
  • Winner

    Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RIBA) Award

    RIBA Awards 2010

Breathing life back into Cardiff City Centre

Cardiff Central Library is part of the regeneration of Cardiff City Centre by the St David’s Partnership, which is a consortium between Land Securities and Capital Shopping Centres (Intu). With its external envelope wrapped in brass cladding and brightly coloured curtain walling, it is a major new cultural focal point at the heart of the St David’s redevelopment. A sedum green roof completes the external envelope. Internally the project incorporates a 3200sqm reading space over 5 storeys. The main library floors have a capacity for 90,000 books, conference and ICT facilities, all enhanced to meet modern demands with online renewal and 24 hour drop-off facilities.

The library gained a BREEAM “Excellent” rating, achieving an exceptionally high score of 80.12% in its post construction review; it has surpassed all environmental goals set out at the project’s inception. The library was later judged Category Winner in the ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Public Buildings’ categories in Cardiff’s Building Excellence Awards. After two years in construction, the base build and fit out contracts totalling £15.5m completed on schedule, allowing library services to be transferred from their temporary home and into their new surroundings.