Booth Street – Nelson

This former library was used by Pendle Borough Council Service Engineers from 1974 onwards.  After standing empty for a considerable length of time the building was extremely saturated when Barnfield took on the refurbishment contract for PEARL2, Barnfield’s development Joint Venture company with Pendle Council.

The library has been completely restored and refurbished with close liaison with the heritage specialist as the project received a £400,000 Heritage Lottery Fund Grant.

Restoration works included the following:

• The Mosaic is marble and took 4 men one week to restore and the repairs to the sub floor took 14 days.
• The repairs to the fruit moulding took 10 weeks; the new sections in the moulding took another 10 to 12 weeks.
• All the high level moulds in the right hand room took in total 12 weeks.
• The plaster element of the refurbishment is all lime plaster & was carried out by specialist plasterers who were on site for 4/5 months.
• The entrance foyer still houses the original oak panelling which was restored by the old fashioned French polishers.
• The oak doors were restored and repaired by our in house joiners and then French polished.
• Other main features in the building are the restored glass ceiling lights using the original glass where possible after being taken away to be cleaned, above these are new metal conservation roof lights.

The major expense on this project was the roof where it was restored to its original construction using the same materials as was used approximately 115 years ago.

The building has been left open plan on the ground floor in order to attract a variety of end users, together with a selection of office suites available on the first floor.