Launceston’s old Barclays bank moves closer to library hub

The old Barclays Bank building on Broad Street has stood as a familiar but empty landmark for a while now. That is starting to change, with Launceston Town Council confirming the team who will turn the Grade II listed building into a new library hub for the town.

📷Concept illustration of the Library Hub building. Credit: Launceston Town Council

From bank counter to library hub

Following its purchase of 6 Broad Street, Launceston Town Council ran a tender process to appoint architects to draw up plans for the conversion. That first stage asked the winning firm to take the project all the way to full planning permission, including Listed Building consent, given the building’s protected status. That stage has now succeeded, with both planning and Listed Building consent secured.

Assembling the professional team

With permission in place, the council launched a second tender for a professional team to carry the project through to completion. Led by an architect, the team also includes structural engineers, building services engineers, a quantity surveyor, a principal designer and specialist consultants for fire engineering and building control.

Their job is to review the design work already carried out under RIBA stages 1 to 3, the process that delivered planning and Listed Building consent, before moving on to three further stages:

• RIBA 4, design development covering building regulations, tender documentation and appointing a main contractor
• RIBA 5, construction
• RIBA 6, the defects period once building work is finished

A separate tender process ran alongside this one, to appoint a project manager to lead that professional team through design and quantity surveying.

Under the spotlight

Every tender received was scored and shortlisted, with the top three companies for each role, architects and project management, invited in for interview. The council said the process was there to get a proper feel for each firm, checking that their approach and ethos suited both the project and the council itself.

The interview panel was made up of Cllr Gilbert, the Mayor, Cllr Lankston, the project lead, professional advisor Trevor Humphreys and the Town Clerk. Companies were given between 45 minutes and an hour to present, covering their team’s background and relevant experience, their methodology and approach to programming and cost control, the risks they had identified and how they would manage them, the resources they would commit to being on site during construction, and what drew them to the project in the first place.

The winning bidders

Hayhurst and Co Architects and Ravenslade Project Management came out on top. Both have now submitted draft contracts for the work, and meetings are being arranged to work through the next phase of the project and agree timelines.

Once those are in place, the council says it will provide further updates and carry out further public consultation as the works progress.