The Hradec Town Hall will begin preparations for the transformation of the factory into a library

HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ - The Hradec Králové city hall wants to prepare the documentation needed to start the reconstruction of the former Vertex factory in the city center into a municipal library. The construction is expected to cost around 200 million crowns. However, the decision to start the construction will likely be made by the council that will emerge from the 2006 elections, Deputy Mayor Josef Malíř told reporters today.
"The council recommended preparing documentation for the zoning decision, which should be completed in the first half of next year. The implementation of the project will concern the next electoral period," said Malíř. The city hall bought the unused production area of Vertex, located right next to the headquarters of the Hradec Králové Region, in 2003 for just under 30 million crowns.
The municipal library in Hradec Králové is currently, according to Deputy Mayor Martin Soukup, located in inadequate premises and stores books in several different locations. Currently, for example, the library offers only about two percent of its entire book collection at its location; in the reconstructed factory, readers could choose from up to 150,000 volumes. By relocating the library to a single building, the city hall also aims to reduce operating costs.
In Hradec Králové, builders are also working on the construction of the Library and Information Center, which will house the Study and Scientific Library. The X-shaped building, which will cost over 300 million crowns, is expected to welcome its first readers in 2008. The new library building will have a capacity of approximately 800,000 books and will also offer study rooms, electronic databases, a conference hall, and a literary café.