{"id":329339,"date":"2026-03-14T12:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329339\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:32:08","slug":"revamped-wellington-central-library-te-matapihi-officially-reopens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329339\/","title":{"rendered":"Revamped Wellington Central Library Te Matapihi officially reopens"},"content":{"rendered":"

That has meant less room for books, with Wellington City Council earlier confirming 80,000 books <\/a>from its collection<\/a> have been given away, sold or destroyed<\/a>, marking a nearly 18% drop in the number available since the library closed in 2019.<\/p>\n

More than 250,000 books on over 8000 shelves are available for loan in the new facility.<\/p>\n

\"WellingtonWellington Mayor Andrew Little cuts the ribbon on Wellington’s Central library today, saying it is a huge step forward for the city.<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s cost climbed from an initial $187m estimate to a total of $217.6m<\/a>, including furniture and fittings.<\/p>\n

Little today said construction inflation was largely responsible for the cost blowout.<\/p>\n

Integrating the likes of Capital E, the centre for children\u2019s creativity, into the building also contributed to the extra cost.<\/p>\n

Wellingtonians lined up since 8.30am for the 10am reopening, with those in the queue telling the Herald of their excitement for the new facility.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe total cost of the library’s design and build was $217.6 million. Photo \/ WCC<\/p>\n

The redevelopment project has been led by the council\u2019s head of creative capital, Gisella Carr, who said the library represents \u201cthe essence of Wellington\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been built for every Wellingtonian from 0 to 100,\u201d Carr told the Herald at the opening today.<\/p>\n

She said after years working on the project, she was thrilled to see so many people come to take a look, as lines snaked throughout Civic Square.<\/p>\n

\"HundredsHundreds of people in the capital lined up for the opening of the refreshed Central Library, with thousands expected to visit the building throughout the day.<\/p>\n

A Category 1 historic place, the 4000sq m building was originally built in 1991 and designed by architect Ian Athfield.<\/p>\n

Athfield Architects co-designed the new fit-out with mana whenua.<\/p>\n

The new cashless cafe on the ground floor, named Central Ground, is run by Sam Huy, who previously owned Clark\u2019s Cafe in the old library.<\/p>\n

The Civic Square<\/a> plaza has also reopened, with the library the first key project completed in the area.<\/p>\n

City Gallery is set to reopen in October after strengthening and future-proofing work, and the city\u2019s budget-blown Town Hall<\/a> will reopen in February 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ethan Manera<\/a> is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That has meant less room for books, with Wellington City Council earlier confirming 80,000 books from its collection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1853,13849,7559,6741,8815,1888,126472,305,670,177049,111,43,139,69,59966,1864,1854,79092,202,10505,8690,2742,2044,1865,52,15900,5977,1530],"class_list":["post-329339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-central","tag-citys","tag-civic","tag-doors","tag-explore","tag-first","tag-flocked","tag-have","tag-library","tag-matapihi","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officially","tag-opened","tag-reopens","tag-revamped","tag-seven","tag-square","tag-te","tag-thousands","tag-time","tag-today","tag-wellington","tag-wellingtons","tag-which","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}