Bessbrook Library, Co Armagh, has received a half-million pound highly sustainable refurbishment, courtesy of Libraries NI and Hamilton Architects.
The old library, built in the 1990s, was in urgent need of updating to EnerPHit standard to enable it to continue delivering vital services to the local community.
EnerPHit is a new Passivhaus Trust standard which guarantees the economically and ecologically optimal energy retrofit of older buildings that cannot achieve Passive House Standard with reasonable effort.
Bessbrook is a unique and historically significant village. It was founded by a Quaker linen family in 1845 and provided a model for the famous ‘Bournville’ village later established outside Birmingham by the Cadbury family.
Project works included installation of improved roof and wall insulation, the fitting of new energy efficient LED lighting, Information Technology installation, new ceilings and floor coverings, new heating system, and re-decoration of internal walls.
Project Architect Brian Widdicombe said: “The village is unique. It boasts two greens and its architecture is distinctive for its horizontality of composition. I took that emphasis and represented it in a modern idiom in delivering the refurb.
“We took away all the old fascia and gutters, replaced the roof with new insulation and plasterboard, and fitted a new rooflight which admits lots of beautiful natural light within a striking white interior palette.
“There is nine inches of insulation round the outside of the building, which is clad in strips of rock panel interspersed at the joints with polished stainless steel strips to create an active exterior façade in the sunshine.
“The library has a very simple internal layout – facilities include kitchen, WC, storage and boiler room. The real strength of the building lies in its function as a valuable community hub which actively engages with young families, teenagers and the elderly.”