Reports

Second-stage Report of the Council on the construction of an off-site storage facility for low-use library material

The Council begs leave to report to the University as follows:

1. A First-stage Report on the construction of an off-site storage facility for low-use library material was submitted to the Regent House on 22 June 2016 (Reporter, 6431, 2015–16, p. 696) and approved by Grace 5 of 13 July 2016. This Second-stage Report is to inform the Regent House about further development of the scheme and to seek approval for construction to proceed.

2. The capital and opportunity costs of continuing with a policy of on-site storage for all of the University’s printed library materials were articulated in the First-stage Report. Detailed migration plans for the transfer of appropriate material, informed by previous consultation with Faculty and Departmental librarians and in the University Library itself, are in preparation. Material held at the off-site storage facility will remain available to staff and students via a regular retrieval service, which is expected to run daily.

3. The facility will be constructed on a site at Lancaster Way Business Park, Ely. It will provide storage for up to 106,000 linear metres of unique but low-use printed library material and will comprise a gross internal area of approximately 5,000m2, incorporating a main book storage hall and ancillary accommodation. The facility has been designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating and incorporates photovoltaic panels and a low energy strategy.

4. The Full Case for this facility was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 24 June 2015. At its meeting on 22 June 2016 the Committee agreed that the project could proceed within a budget of £17.1m, including land costs. £12.8m is allocated within the University’s Capital Fund. The balance of funding will come from the University Library.

5. The project will follow a single-stage ‘Design and Build’ approach. A contractor has been appointed to develop the design and prepare drawings for the planning application, which was submitted to East Cambridgeshire District Council in September 2016. The project is planned to start on site in February 2017 and to be completed so that the new building is operational by May 2018.

6. Drawings of the proposed scheme are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade, and are reproduced online at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/offices/planning/building/plans_and_drawings/. A plan showing the location of the proposed new building is shown below (p. 51).

7. The Council recommends:

I. That approval is confirmed for the construction of an off-site storage facility for low-use library material as proposed in this Report.

17 October 2016	L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor	Amatey Doku	Mark Lewisohn
	Chad Allen	David Good	Susan Oosthuizen
	Ross Anderson	Nicholas Holmes	Rachael Padman
	Richard Anthony	Alice Hutchings	Shirley Pearce
	Jeremy Caddick	Fiona Karet	John Shakeshaft
	R. Charles	Umang Khandelwal	Sara Weller
	Anne Davis	Stuart Laing	I. H. White

Location plan of the proposed off-site storage facility for low-use library material