We’re very pleased to announce that Levenshulme Old Library has been awarded a Project Viability Grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund, supported by UK Government funding.
The grant marks an important step towards our long-term ambition of bringing the Old Library into community ownership and securing its future as a community arts and cultural space.
For nearly ten years, we’ve been running Levenshulme Old Library as a community venue without actually owning the building. During that time, thousands of people have come through the doors for gigs, theatre, exhibitions, workshops, children’s activities, community groups, art clubs, radio, performances and much more.
We’ve also done a huge amount where possible to look after and improve the building. But there are limits to what we can achieve without being able to properly plan and invest in its long-term future.
So what happens next?
The AHF funding will allow us to commission a professional feasibility study looking at what the next chapter of the Old Library could be.
Architects will spend time in the building, look at how its different spaces currently work and develop options for how it could be improved and adapted. The work will include outline designs, costs and a roadmap for how improvements could eventually be delivered.
Most importantly, we want the people who use the Old Library to help shape those plans.
Over the coming months, we’ll be talking to building users, local residents, community groups and others about what they want from the Old Library in the future. There’ll be opportunities to share ideas online as well as some consultation sessions taking place in the building itself.
Those conversations will help inform a number of potential options before we agree a preferred long-term plan.
By the end of the process, we want to have a clear vision for what the building could become, what it would cost and how we could make it happen. That will put us in a much stronger position to move into the next stage of development and seek the major capital investment needed to carry out the work.
More than a building
This is great news in itself, of course, but it’s not just an investment in a beautiful old building. It’s recognition of what the community has already created here – and an opportunity to build on it for the future.
We’re enormously grateful to the Architectural Heritage Fund and UK Government for supporting the project and our community for all of their support. We are also grateful to Manchester City Council for working with us towards our ambition of bringing the Old Library into community ownership.
There is a lot of work ahead, and we’ll be sharing much more as the project develops.
In the meantime, start thinking: what do you want from Levenshulme Old Library’s next chapter?