Abergavenny Library – South Wales

Monmouthshire County Council

Abergavenny, South Wales

Bowman Riley designed a new library in Abergavenny to bring together the library functions and other council services, tourist information and coffee shop to create a community hub.

The existing library housed in the 1906 Carnegie building no longer meets the needs of the community, as it is unable to accommodate the stock levels and activities required.

The building forms part of a mixed-use development in the centre of the town on the existing cattle market site alongside a new Wm Morrison Supermarket. Bowman Riley was commissioned to design both the library and supermarket with a focus on enhancing the urban grain of the town and improving connectivity to other parts of Abergavenny.

To support the development of the brief and design, we visited new comparable libraries to incorporate best practice and consulted with various user groups including library and council staff and representatives from community groups.

The new 1000m² building will provide multi-use, open plan and adaptable spaces alongside archive and research functions. Features include enhanced IT provision to enable new technology and electronic learning tools and improvements the library’s operations with self-service book lending and an interactive video wall.

The building is designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent and an energy performance A rating with at least 15% of the energy requirements provided by renewable or low/zero carbon solutions using Photovoltaics, air source heat pumps and natural ventilation.

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