Town's £10m central library opens

The building won a national environmental award

A new library which cost £10m and was completed within its two years deadline is opening in Wiltshire.

The Central Library in Swindon contains 77,000 books and more than 60 free-to-use computers and will be open to the public on Sundays.

The library is attached to the back of the old Victorian Town Hall. It has solar-powered water heating.

It has a cafe and a central courtyard which will be open on dry days for visitors to sit, read and relax.

'Energy-efficient'

Construction started in January 2007 and Swindon Borough Council said that it had "come in on budget and on time".

The building, designed in-house by the council's architects, won a national environmental award from the Building Research Establishment last year.

Councillor Roderick Bluh, of Swindon Borough Council, said: "Swindon now has one of the best public libraries in the country.

"The design has completely fulfilled the original brief, which was to create a thoroughly modern energy-efficient building, but one which complemented the classic grade two listed brick-built Victorian town hall it's attached to.

"We promised we would deliver a new library in 2008, and we have."

The new Central Library opens to the public on Monday, 20 October at 1400 BST.