Watts & Hughes where engaged to complete the Design & Build of the Opawa Library.

The building consists of a main library area and reception, meeting room & kitchen off the access hallway to bathroom and store room. There is an exterior patio that is only accessed from the main library area via the external stacker slider. Total square meterage of building is 189m2.

The floor is an engineer design of a 1200mm gravel base with a 400mm concrete rib raft floor with polystyrene pods. The frame is a 150mm timber external frame wall, 90mm internal timber frame with gib lined walls except for the store room which has plywood lining.

Exterior cladding is brick and shist with Macrocarpa feature timber to the gable end of the building and back door alcove. The roof is a Metalcraft T rib 0.40 Longrun coloursteel with timber fascia and metal spouting.

The completed building is a beautiful new facility that is set to serve the community well into the future.  The new library incorporates a few homages to the original building to honor the library’s history. These features include the front signage, which is cast from the original sign, the bronze dedication plate from the building’s opening, the ‘Reading Room’ door, which is in the community room, and the mounted coat hooks from the original cloakroom.