About the Client
The Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city’s library and information service in Manchester, England. Facing St Peter’s Square, it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the building, a columned portico attached to a rotunda domed structure, is loosely derived from the Pantheon in Rome.
The Requirement
During 2008 it emerged that Manchester Central Library was in need of essential renovation, to both repair and modernise its facilities. To achieve this the council were closing the library for this major renovation work to take place. The project was to cost £40m and the library was estimated to close from 2010 until 22 March 2014.
As part of this renovation plan, Manchester council specified that the interior should have modern facilities, a state-of-the-art library and organised archive areas.
In order to provide these new facilities the council needed to work with a company that could manufacture and install a modern, high density storage solution within its publicly accessible and archive areas. Any solutions needed to cope with the buildings unusual circular architecture.
Together with a complete redesign of the interior to ensure it was more welcoming and easier to navigate for everyone, the council needed to safely store its vast archive of millions of books, while still keeping them accessible to its staff and the public.
A Cross Section of the Manchester Central Library Building
Upper Floor Gallery
Below are images from the upper floor installation – Featuring Quantum Powered Roller Racking
The Solution
The council and architects approached Rackline as the experts in high density storage, to design, manufacture and install solutions within different areas of the library building.
The Rackline projects team worked closely with both the library and the architects, to understand the number of items in total, their sizes and weights. There was also a thorough space planning exercise across the library premises. These activities helped the Rackline teams to identify the solutions to fit the needs in terms of storage capacity and accessibility. Unlike the usual square spaces encountered in storage fitouts, the designs had to encompass the unusual circular nature of the building.
In total Rackline installed 2355 bays of racking.
Fourth Floor
The fourth floor was a publicly accessible area and the library needed this to hold a huge amount of its regular book stock. These books needed to be within a high density storage system due to limited space, but remain accessible to the general public.
To achieve this Rackline designed, manufactured, and installed a powered high density roller shelving system – a UK first. The team chose the Quantum powered solution, which features a “press and hold” safety system for moving the units. For safety the design also added an electronic torque level detector that would cut the power once the torque went above expected normal use, These additional safety features exceeded the library’s initial expectations.
In the final design, as an extra, the library requested to have esteemed historical figures of Manchester displayed on the end panels, Rackline provided vinyl wraps to the end panels to create a seamless panorama across the end of the shelves.
Archives
The lowest level of the building was to contain the library archives. These would combine old archive storage and new into one huge space. The facility needed to hold a stock of around 1 million books, and would require around 18,000 linear metres of storage to achieve it.
The Rackline team designed and installed a selection of its powered Multitrak roller racking, this was equipped with shelves, drawers and had older archive storage units placed within it. The area holds, not just books but manuscripts, boxes, and a huge variety of other items which need to be organised properly, stored safely, and kept in ideal conditions to reduce deterioration.
Archive Gallery
In the lewer floors of the building Rackline installed 18,000 linear metres of high density, electronic roller racking.
The Result
Rackline’s mobile racking solutions provided and exceeded the storage capacity required by the library. This future proofed the system for years to come.
The solutions installed within the library complement its unusual architectural designs, and allow for the fast deposit and recovery of literature. The cleverly designed Quantum roller racking system moves to ensure its inventory is kept in optimal conditions.
Overall Rackline’s racking ensures that its literature collection is accessible but kept safe for future generations.
Project Managers Summary
“The Manchester Central Library project involved months of design meetings and drawing revisions to establish the full requirements of Manchester Council. The in-depth planning and attention to detail ensured that the maximum storage capabilities were met, and vitally took into consideration user access.”
– Andy Reed, Technical Director
Find Out More
If you have seen something you like, and are looking to maximise your space, then get in touch: 01782 770144 or download the Library Solutions brochure below. Be sure to tell us what you are trying to achieve.