Lewisham Company receives £10 million Pay Out in Library Retrofit 

£10.7m of Lewisham Council’s budget was pledged today to company Blue Garage in the effort to renovate Lewisham Library, making it the most expensive public-funded library in London.  

The Lewisham based business describes itself as “an applied commercialisation lab” with plans including the installation of a café, “plant room” and “business floor”. 

Matt Silling, a librarian for Lewisham Council, feels optimistic about Blue Garage’s proposal. “Councils are pressured to save money on libraries, but libraries as a centre for people to come together to do things works well, it brings visibility”. 

Mr Silling lamented that: “this comes at a time when libraries across the country are closing all the time. We used to have 12 staffed libraries but now eight of them are run by volunteers.” 

This library, however, comes at a hefty cost. While the renovation of Holborn library in 2025 cost £206k and the 2024 refurbishment and installation of a similar “maker space” in Brixton Library cost £1m, the overall Lewisham Library refurbishment project will cost £17.8m.  

Founded in 2024, Blue Garage has received council funding before for their “social enterprise”, Textile Innovation Hub. A desk here costs £50 per day.

The financing for this retrofit is part of a larger £30m Lewisham Town Centre Improvement Programme that includes the renovation of Lewisham Street Market and the high street.  

£19m of this came from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund but the approval of the Blue Garage contract comes just three days after Lewisham Council’s Deputy Mayor wrote to the Prime Minister to “raise the alarm on the austerity being imposed on Lewisham Council”.