Cllr Claire Holland, the Leader of Lambeth Council, joined pupils from St Stephen’s Primary School for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday to mark the completion of the revamp work at the library on South Lambeth Road.
Improvements include a new children’s area, improved meeting and events space, new shelving and furniture, new accessible toilets and a refresh of heritage elements of the building.
The much-loved library, which first opened in 1888 is Lambeth’s oldest public library still in operation. The work also included restoring its historic features by carrying out repairs to its stonework, gutters and cleaning the brickwork. Long-overdue repairs to the drains have now been completed, and the library has previously also had an air source heat pump installed.
Cllr Holland said: “I’m delighted that this work has been completed because in Lambeth we value our libraries so much and have invested in both keeping them open and ensuring they really serve our local communities.
“I’d encourage local people to come along and see all the family friendly improvements we’ve made here. The enthusiasm of the local school children for the library who joined me at the re-open was brilliant, and I’m sure local people will feel the same.”
The library will shortly be extending its programme of children’s activities, including a Chatterbooks reading club for 6 to 11-year-olds and a new Lego club. The Institution of Engineering and Technology donated £10,000 worth of Lego to Lambeth’s libraries to allow that to happen.
The library is also home to a wide range of services and activities, supported by staff, Friends of Libraries, volunteers and local partners such as Stockwell Partnership. They include:
- English for Portuguese speakers, run by volunteers
- Social games club and knitting groups
- Weekly skills and employment sessions for young people with additional needs
- Help and advice for sanctuary seekers
- STEM club for children every Saturday
The re-opening of Tate South Lambeth follows major investment across Lambeth’s library service, including last summer’s £1 million revamp of Brixton Library, which included new meeting rooms and toilets, an extended quiet study area, and lift access the basement for the first time. Durning Library, Carnegie Library, Minet Library and Streatham Library have all also had recent improvement works completed.
Lambeth Council invests more than £4million a year in running the borough’s ten award winning libraries and home library service.
