Restoration of university library is on course

A FACELIFT costing £3.4m at the University of Sheffield's Western Bank Library, regarded as one of most significant academic buildings of the immediate post-war years, will be completed later this month.

The library was opened in 1959 by poet TS Eliot. Fifty years on, the building has been restored by conservation specialists Avanti Architects.

It is Grade II listed and was designed to hold more than a million books.

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The facelift has involved updating facilities while maintaining the distinctive architecture and, in some cases, restoring features which had been obscured by other developments during the building's history.

One feature to get extensive investment is the library's marble-walled Exhibition Gallery, which has had 21st Century lighting and display technology installed, using a 184,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation, a 100,000 legacy from a former student and a range of other gifts and financial awards.

The gallery is open to the public and will display items from the library's special collections and the national fairground archive.

A better heating system has also been installed in the building, and study rooms and learning spaces have been created.

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New high-performance glass has been installed in the windows and the portland stone of the building's exterior has also been cleaned.

Martin Lewis, director of library services and university librarian, said: "It's been wonderful to see the Western Bank Library emerging from this refurbishment able to provide a better environment for our students and researchers, and yet closer to the architectural vision it embodied when it opened in 1959.

"Along with the Information Commons, we now have library facilities appropriate to one of the world's top 100 universities."