National Library of Australia

Staged works minimise disruption for staff and visitors at National Library.

The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library in Australia. Under the terms of the National Library Act, it is responsible for developing and maintaining a national collection of Australian library material with its invaluable collection currently sitting at over 10,400,000 items.

Since 1996, Benmax has undertaken numerous projects within the Commonwealth heritage library. Our work has included projects such as heating and chilled water upgrades, air handling system upgrades, upgrades to the buildings critical pressurisation and smoke exhaust systems, as well as minor works projects.

The Benmax team is currently working with builder Manteena to deliver the mechanical services for a major upgrade of the HVAC systems at the site.  To be delivered in staged works to minimise the disruption to the library’s operations and visitor experience, the work will accommodate internal alterations to the building, as well as the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing HVAC systems across all eight floors of the building.

The program requires the demolition and removal of many redundant plant and equipment items and significant consultation and ongoing planning has been required with the builder and library staff to ensure the library’s contents are adequately protected during the planned stages of work. This collaborative approach has also been critical in ensuring the building’s humidity control systems remain constant during works to ensure the integrity of the library contents are not jeopardised.

Works on the project are expected to run progressively over several years with staged handovers planned along the way. To date, Stage One and Stage Two project works have been completed with Stage Three soon to commence.