Revised concept plans for new Plains Community Hub

The concept includes a community meeting space, a brighter and more agile library space, and public toilets with external access.

The Plains Community Hub working party, formed to work with design experts to come up with a concept for the Ngatea Library and council service centre, presented a report to the outgoing council at the end of September.

"The concept designs in the report still need to be refined to make sure they incorporate the needs and wants of the community for their library facility," says councillor Paul Milner, chair of the Plains Community Hub working party.

"The design also needs to plan for future-proofing the council service centre function of the building."

Extensive consultation was carried out to understand what the Plains community wanted to see in their community hub/library facility and this was fed into the concept designs.

The concept includes a community meeting space, a brighter and more agile library space, and public toilets with external access. An enclosed glass lobby will connect the library to the courtyard and could provide a space for displays and exhibits with a small waiting room and a courtyard for indoor-outdoor flow.

The concept plan also has room for using recyclable materials and other environmentally sound building options.

Councillor Milner said, "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Plains community and we need to get it right so we have a facility to be proud of for the next 50 years.

"The current budget is nowhere near enough, but we knew that to be the case as a lot has changed including the scale of proposed works and inflation impact due to Covid and other factors."

The new councillors from around the district will have a full update on the project and will work with the community on progressing the project early next year. The new council will be officially sworn in at a ceremony in the Hauraki Chambers on Wednesday, October 26.