Tauranga City Council has received a $200,000 grant from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to extend the new Greerton Library.

The grant means council will extend the new library by about an additional 60m2, enabling it to make the teen area, community room and Learning Centre of the new library bigger.

An artist's impression of the new Greerton Library, which is due to open during the next financial year. Photo: Supplied.

It's less than the amount the council applied for, which if the full amount was awarded, would have extended the new Greerton library by 150m2. Council applied for the lotteries funding in February 2015.

The extra $200,000 will provide more space for people to learn about IT and technology, improve their digital literacy, hold meetings and events, and offer more space for teens to hang out and study, says the council general manager community services Grant Strang.

'Sitting alongside the Learning Centre, the meeting room will offer a modern, flexible meeting and event space for local community groups, businesses and interest groups to book, in addition to being used for regular library activities,” says Grant.

'As an added bonus, both the Learning Centre and the meeting room will be available for the community to use outside of library hours.”

The city council approved $3.45 million project funding for a 900m2 building – double the size of the present library – in its Annual Plan 2014/15.

Site preparation and demolition of the current library is expected to begin after the Greerton Village IlluminArt Festival on Friday 10 July.

'In essence, we're sending off the old library with the IlluminArt Festival, with construction of the new library to begin shortly after that,” says Greerton Village manager David Hart

'We will miss some of the Village Green while the library is being rebuilt but look forward to sharing the public space when the new building is proudly unveiled in 2016.”

Construction is expected to begin in September 2015, with completion currently expected to be in May 2016. During this time, fencing and hoardings will be in place around the construction site, including part of the Village Green.

The pathway to and from Lincoln Terrace will be closed and the footpath in front of the library on Greerton Road will be diverted during the redevelopment.

Greerton Library has temporarily relocated to 1337 Cameron Road during the library redevelopment.

Concept drawings of the new library may not have much to do with how the building itself will eventually look because the design is not finalised. Council is still working with the design and build contractor Marra Construction.

Things that will remain the same are the connection the new building will have with village green, and the large area of windows to allow natural light into the building, and clear views from outside into the building.