New City Library Opening Postponed to Summer 2025

The inauguration of a new library, initially scheduled to welcome its first visitors this summer, has been delayed until 2025. Nottingham City Council had previously adjusted the projected opening for the new Sherwood Library on Spondon Street to the end of 2024, following the commencement of work to rectify 130 defects within the structure. These issues encompassed problems with a living wall, fire safety concerns, and a significant leak in the building’s atrium. However, on Friday, a spokesperson for the authority informed the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the library service is now “working towards an opening date of summer 2025”. In September, Sam Lux, the council’s executive member for leisure and culture, stated her hope that the problems would be resolved within a month. Nevertheless, the LDRS reported that the authority admitted issues were still persisting in October. Campaigner Des Conway characterized the management of the Sherwood Library project as the “nightmare on Spondon Street”. He further added: “It means we’ve not had a library for four years and that’s totally unacceptable.” The former library building was deemed unfit for purpose in 2017 due to its poor state of repair. By 2020, a plan was devised to demolish it and rebuild the library, incorporating additional commercial space and housing. The council sold the site to local developer Hockley Developments, with an agreement that the library would be constructed at no capital cost to the authority, and a 125-year lease would be established at a nominal rent. While Sainsbury’s has since opened in the commercial area, the library’s doors have remained closed. The scheme’s previous contractor, Dako Construction, entered administration, which hindered the project, according to the LDRS. A new contractor was subsequently secured, and the building was returned to the council at the end of 2023 for the final fit-out, at which point the defects were discovered. The handling of the situation drew criticism from councillors during a communities and environment scrutiny committee meeting held on Wednesday. Hockley Developments stated that the council’s newly announced opening date contradicted the information the firm had been given. In a statement, the developer commented: “We cannot control when tenants move into any property – but our understanding is their interior designers aim to start their works in January.” For updates, follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Submit your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp at 0808 100 2210. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.