The earthquake-damaged South Library will be rebuilt.

Councillors supported a recommendation from the Community Board and decided on a full rebuild instead of a repair.

Located on Colombo Street in Beckenham, the popular community library and service centre will be rebuilt on its current site.

The concept design has been developed with input from the community and is based on the same floor area as the current facility.

It provides for the same services – library, customer services, learning centre, café, governance spaces and meeting rooms – with improved layout, functionality and the potential to adapt to changing community needs over time.

Head of Community Support and Partnerships John Filsell said the decision to rebuild is the fastest, most cost-effective and environmentally-friendly option.

The building was damaged in the 2011 earthquakes, and since then the Council has made it safe with temporary strengthening.

Construction should take 20 months.

The library and service centre will remain open until the building is demolished.

Staff are currently looking at options for temporarily relocating library and customer services while construction is underway.

The rebuild project is estimated to cost $32.75 million.

The Council currently has $22.6 million of funding put aside for the South Library and Service Centre building, so will need to confirm extra funding for the project as part of next year’s Long Term Plan 2024–2034 process, at which point the Council will confirm a timeline for construction.