There is something satisfying about handing a library back to the people who use it.
Chislehurst Library reopened this summer, following an eight-month refurbishment by CGA on behalf of the London Borough of Bromley. It is the fifth Bromley library to reopen under the council's £11m modernisation programme.
Libraries accumulate deferred maintenance. They are busy, well-loved, and chronically under-resourced. When a refurbishment programme eventually arrives, it has to work across many trades and a lot of ground.
At Chislehurst, the work started with asbestos removal and a full internal strip-out. Window and door replacement, roofing works and brickwork repairs addressed the building fabric. New ceilings, partitions, upgraded mechanical and electrical systems and a new fire alarm installation brought the infrastructure up to standard. Internal redecoration throughout finished it off.
The building feels renewed without feeling unfamiliar. Accessible, properly equipped and ready for another generation of use.
CGA has delivered many public sector and education refurbishments across London and the home counties. Occupied buildings, tight programmes, multiple trades working in sequence: it is work the team knows well.
