Newham is about to open a new library twice the size of the one it replaces, after a £6.5m regeneration project shaped by more than 1,600 local residents.
Green Street Library will welcome the public from Monday, September 28, completing a six-year programme to revamp Queen’s Market and its surroundings.
The project was led by Newham Council’s placemaking team and paid for through the Greater London Authority’s Good Growth Fund, the Government’s Levelling Up Fund and the council itself.
More than 1,600 residents helped shape the building through working groups, workshops, online surveys and interactive Minecraft modelling sessions with young people — with their feedback influencing everything from floor plans to the murals inside.
Mayor of Newham Forhad Hussain said the borough was “bucking the trend” at a time when libraries elsewhere are under pressure and closing, noting that an estimated 190 council-run libraries have shut across the country since 2016.
“Green Street represents a direct challenge to that trend,” he said. “Rather than scaling back, Newham has invested in maximising the library’s full potential, making it an essential piece of social infrastructure.”
He said the council had listened to residents — including those in Hamara Ghar, the over-55s accommodation above the new library, who wanted a visible and accessible space — and to young people, who asked for comfortable, safe places to spend time, meet, study and get online.
“This will be far from the hushed environment most often associated with libraries – it will be a new vibrant hub of community activity and engagement.”
The two-storey building will host everything from a dominoes club to yoga and Zumba classes. The ground floor holds a flexible main library space and children’s area that can be opened up or separated, while full-height windows open it to the public square outside.
Upstairs, former windowless storage rooms have become a bright open space running the length of the building, with a dedicated homework area for young people and a bookable boardroom and workspace for businesses — income-generating areas that help keep the library service financially sustainable.
The building was designed by Office S&M Architects, who subcontracted portions of project spending to local retailers. Director Hugh McEwen said: “Green Street Library shows what’s possible when a community is genuinely involved in shaping their own spaces,” adding that making sure money circulates locally means “the project’s value doesn’t stop at the front door”.
The library is the final major element of the Queen’s Market Good Growth Programme, which has also delivered upgraded lighting, a new market office, improved staff facilities, extra public toilets, new canopies and signage, and renovations to Queen’s Square.
Jules Pipe, London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service, said the library showed how investment in local communities could deliver lasting benefits — “a modern library and community hub where it is needed on the high street” — helping to build a fairer and more inclusive London.
