Mayor Justin Lester says the new Community Hub will make a real difference to the northern suburbs. "A new library is an important investment in the local community. But we now have an even better design that will be a strong boost for the local area."
Councillor Brain Dawson, the Council’s Social Development Portfolio Leader, agrees, saying the extra funding will allow the area around the new library to be transformed into a “coherent and user-friendly campus” that will serve the rapidly-expanding northern suburbs.
The Community Hub will feature:
- The new and bigger library, featuring a café and a kindergarten on the top floor
- A combined atrium entrance for people using the library and the adjoining Keith Spry Pool and the Community Centre – with the main access off Moorefield Road
- A redeveloped and reorganised outdoor area with a courtyard that connects to Memorial Park
- Traffic lights and reorganised vehicle entrances in Moorefield Road to improve safety and accessibility to both the Community Hub and the Johnsonville Mall across the road
- A reconfiguration of the swimming pool access – moving from Frankmoore Avenue to a covered pedestrian path between the new library and the pool.
- Public toilets accessible 24/7.
Northern Ward Councillor Jill Day says the site incorporating the Council facilities are currently “a bit hotch-potch and can be greatly improved.
“We aim to turn the general site into a community campus – a kind of one-stop civic shop - that will serve the needs not only of people in Johnsonville but also the wider northern suburbs.”
“The mall development is planned to include around 200 new park-and-ride car parks which will help take the pressure off surrounding car parks as well.”
The cost of the new Hub will be offset with the sale of the existing Johnsonville Library site in Broderick Road.
In June the dedicated website will be updated and a new survey will be released to gather community feedback on internal features and also touch on wider issues relating to parking in the area.
Construction work on the Community Hub is expected to begin this November and is set to be completed by February 2019. The finishing touches such as landscaping and removal of the existing kindergarten are planned to be completed in April 2019.
To be kept up to date on the latest Johnsonville hub news visit http://www.newjohnsonvillelibrary.co.nz/