Obituary for a Stairway to Heaven

Hamilton Garden Place Library will be a construction zone for the next three months while contractors remove the escalator system.

Work began on March 7 when ESN Construction removed both the ground floor and second floor escalators.

The 1993 escalator system was getting old.   “It was at the end of its life,” director of libraries Su Scott said.

The refit will continue until May, with the re-building of floors, ceilings, the replacement of linings and reinforcement with structural steel.

ESN Construction boarded up the 15m x 6m escalator bay with plywood and construction grid the night they took the escalators out.

The whole area on both floors was then wrapped with industrial-grade black polythene from floor to ceiling, to keep the dust in and members of the public out.

Due to noise and other interruptions most of the work will be done at night.

Hamilton City Council property unit and library managers consulted together on what to do with the aging escalator, Scott said.

As the library already has a lift and stairwell, it was decided to use freed up floor space to directly benefit library patrons.

The circulations desk was also going to be relocated to help with “traffic flow”.

Library users spoken to supported the change.

Paeroa resident Joe de Jong, visiting the library with his daughter and his two small grandchildren  said it was good to see the library making improvements.

University of Waikato environmental planning student Macaila Pescud thought it was a good idea to remove the escalators.

“It saves power, and there’s still the elevator for disabled access,” Pescud said.

Fellow-student Gabriel, 25, thought the escalator needed an obituary – featuring the song Stairway to Heaven he added with a smile.

Scott says she is looking forward to all the changes – moving the collections, creating new user-friendly spaces and improving accessibility even further.

“We’re really getting quite excited,” she said.