IN PHOTOS: New €6.5 million Laois library nearing completion

The new €6.5 million library in Portlaoise, to serve as the Laois county library, is almost finished.

Our photos taken on April 17 show the exterior and new streetscape finally revealed with the hoarding taken down. However that hoarding will again be going back up temporarily. It is down while drainage channels are laid.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley from the Portlaoise Municipal District shared more photographs of the interior a fortnight before. More details below photographs.

It is 2013 since the old Shaws shop on Portlaoise Main Street was bought by the council, and plans began to replace it with a new county library.

Laois County Council gave an update last January, and said that in April and May shelving would be carried out, with the library opening  in late May, early June.

The new library is estimated to cost €6.5 million plus VAT, with that latest figure given one year ago by the council.  The Government will fund €5.687 million of the cost of the library, with the rest paid from Laois County Council's budget.

The landmark building is under construction since 2019, and was first estimated to cost €3 million not including equipment.

It was hit by delays, firstly when the actual cost came in at €4.35m and the project was shelved to wait for extra Government support. Contamination of oil on the site added another delay and half a million to the bill. Then Covid paused works for some time.

It replaces a small Portlaoise library which is on the first floor over shops in Lyster Square, as well as other administration and storage spaces used by the Laois Library Service around Portlaoise town.

The library was first expected to be finished in 2017, with several completions dates since come and gone, most recently being last winter.

Designed by Portlaoise architects McCarthy O'Hora, it offers a 1,500m² central branch library with a local studies centre, an ICT room, staff offices, events area and an exhibition space.  

It has a series of interconnecting rooms both single height and double height, lined with bookcases, reading desks and galleries, offering a combination of calm study areas and animated public spaces. The old Shaws corner pediment was recreated in the new design.