Regina Public Library board recommends complete rebuild of central branch

Some Regina residents are speaking out against the future plans for the Regina Public Library (RPL) central branch.

The RPL board is recommending its central branch, located on the corner of 12th Avenue and Lorne Street, be demolished and rebuilt on the same site.

“This building was built in 1962 and it has a myriad of problems,” said Sean Quinlan, RPL board chair.

Quinlan points to accessibility issues, building code discrepancies and aging electrical as just some of the issues that need to be repaired.

A report from February 2015 suggests long-term renovations would cost $28.5 million. However, due to inflation, Quinlan estimates it would now cost at least $50 million to get the building up to code.

“That’s just keeping the doors open,” Quinlan told executive committee. “An investment of this magnitude for a building that old and that small is not a practical investment.”

In the last decade, he said they have spent $3.2 million on necessary building maintenance.

• Download the CTV News app to get local alerts sent to your device

He said the RPL board considered seven options, including keeping the building status quo, building it to code, expanding on site, rebuilding at a new location and rebuilding at the current site.

Expansions would cost as much as a new building, according to Quinlan. He estimates that a brand new library will cost at least $100 million depending on size and design.

“The evidence is clear,” Quinlan said. “The best way to renew Central Library is to replace it with a new one.”

The central library is about 75,000 square feet and the board would look to double that with a new design.

Joanne Havelock, a member of the group Friends of the Regina Public Library, said the seven options were never put forward to the public for consultation. Havelock wants the board to release all of its documents from the consultation process in order for the public to be well informed about the decisions.

“Show me the facts and figures, this is a number drawn out of a hat as far as I’m concerned,” she said.

Aside from more transparency, she wants the board to consider other options that would preserve the modernist architecture of the building.

“Central is an excellent example of modernist architecture. We really believe that this building is something that should be preserved,” Havelock said.

“It’s a symbol of an era where they moved away from the values of the 19th century.”

The new central library would have a section dedicated to the history and heritage of the building, Quinlan said.

“Our heritage is what we’ve done. It’s not necessarily a brick and mortar building,” he said.

According to a report from RPL, the central library has 470,000 visits each year. Quinlan said those visits will increase by 250,000 each year with a new building.

“The evidence we’ve seen from comparable sized cities like Halifax, larger centres like Calgary, and a variety of examples in Europe and across Canada suggest that these new revitalized libraries boost attendance, activate communities, provoke development in surrounding areas,” coun. Andrew Stevens said.

“In other words, they are unmitigated successes.”

The RPL board is expected to vote on the recommendation at its Sept. 27 meeting that is open to the public.

If the recommendation to rebuild passes, the library administration will begin the process of an international design competition. Once designs are narrowed down, Quinlan said the public will have a chance to weigh in on the options.

Coun. Bob Hawkins said the city’s new catalyst committee will help play a role in determining how the future of the central branch will help drive growth in the downtown core. The committee is expected to begin consultations in October.

“As long as I’ve been on council and I believe a long time before that, there’s been talk of renovations or a new Regina Public Library. We’re now decades beyond that and we’re not much further advanced beyond that,” Hawkins said.

“I feel there is now some urgency about this, some real urgency.”