Library plans scrapped as Workspace pull out

Scheme to put new library in basement is dead

Hounslow Council are reviewing the original plans for Chiswick library following the decision by Workspace PLC that they will not continue their interest in a redevelopment project.

Workspace and the council had been working together for two years on plans to redevelop Sanderson House, where the library is situated, in order to improve facilities in a cost effective manner.

The announcement that the current proposals will not be progressed means that Council Officers will need to review the existing plans for smaller scale improvements to meet the Disability Discrimination Act requirements. The act lays down guidelines for minimum access standards for buildings, which are currently not met at Chiswick library.

Nick Pratt, Project Manager, said, “It is a great personal disappointment and indeed for Chiswick that workspace has now informed me that they have withdrawn their interest in this proposal.

We have needed to balance the financial risk to Workspace alongside the needs of the local community in terms of an accessible and modern library service. However the demand to provide a ground floor library against the overall costs of development has proven ultimately to be uneconomical.”

The scheme proposed by Workspace would have meant the development of a new library area for free but was unpopular with many users because it would have meant that the library would have been placed in the basement area.

Paul Lynch, Chair of the Chiswick Area Committee, said, “It is great shame that all the effort by officers and residents has not resulted in a viable scheme. The work has not been wasted, the views and ideas will form part of the forthcoming strategic review.”

Despite the abandonment of this scheme, closure of the library has been ruled out.

February 11, 2004

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