# Canada Water Library. Cladding package. Rotherhithe, London SE16. > A four-week cladding package at Canada Water Library, the RIBA Award-winning public building beside Canada Water Basin in Rotherhithe. > HTML version: https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/projects/canada-water-library/ The team behind Dmitro Development delivered a four-week cladding package at Canada Water Library, the RIBA Award-winning public library beside Canada Water Basin in Rotherhithe. ![Close view of the anodised-mesh cladding at the corner of Canada Water Library, above angled first-floor windows](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-cladding-corner-detail-fallback.jpg) 01 · Expanded-mesh cladding at the building's corner, above the angled first-floor windows. Public library Canada Water Library's light-bronze anodised aluminium cladding, photographed from below at the building's leading corner. The team behind Dmitro Development delivered a four-week cladding package on this building for client I&W, working within the wider scheme delivered for the London Borough of Southwark by main contractor ISG Jackson to a design by CZWG Architects, completed in November 2011. ## At a glance - **Package**: Cladding package - **Duration**: Four-week package - **Location**: Rotherhithe · London SE16 - **Client**: I&W - **Building completed**: November 2011 The team behind Dmitro Development delivered a four-week cladding package for client I&W at Canada Water Library, the RIBA Award-winning public library beside Canada Water Basin in Rotherhithe. The wider scheme was delivered for the London Borough of Southwark by main contractor ISG Jackson, to a design by CZWG Architects, and completed in November 2011. [Part of: Cladding packages](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/facade-cladding/) ## 02 · Canada Water Library in daylight, its cantilevered upper floor overhanging the square. ![Canada Water Library seen in daylight, the cantilevered clad form overhanging Deal Porters Square](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-completed-exterior-daylight-fallback.jpg) The library's inverted-pyramid form: a compact ground floor with the anodised-mesh-clad upper floor cantilevering out above Deal Porters Square, adding around six metres of floor depth at the top of the building. ## 03 · The same building at dusk, its angled windows lit from within. ![Canada Water Library at dusk with the interior lit behind the angled first-floor windows](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-facade-at-dusk-fallback.jpg) Canada Water Library at dusk, its tall angled windows lit from inside, showing the incline of the facade that gives the building its distinctive inverted form. ## 04 · The public centrepiece of the Canada Water regeneration. Canada Water Library sits beside Canada Water Basin and Deal Porters Square, next to the Underground and bus interchange in Rotherhithe, Southwark. ![Canada Water Library at dusk, viewed across the square past a curved glazed frontage](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-exterior-fallback.jpg) Canada Water Library on Surrey Quays Road, Rotherhithe, seen from street level at dusk. The library was built as the first major civic landmark of the wider Canada Water town-centre regeneration, connecting the Underground and bus interchange, the basin and the surrounding homes to Deal Porters Square. ## Inside the library The team's package clads the exterior; the building's celebrated interior, organised around a helical, oak-lined stair, is CZWG Architects' design and is shown here only as context for the wider scheme. ![Bookshelves and coloured carpet around the circular stair opening on Canada Water Library's main floor](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-completed-exterior-beside-basin-fallback.jpg) 05 · Bookshelves around the stair opening on the main library floor. Photo: Southwark Council Bookshelves and coloured carpet arranged around the timber-lined stair opening on Canada Water Library's main floor. The interior is shown as context for the completed library. ![Canada Water Library's main floor viewed from the upper gallery, bookshelves curving around the atrium](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-interior-main-floor-fallback.jpg) 06 · The main library floor, seen from the upper gallery. Photo: Cmglee The main library floor at Canada Water Library, viewed from the upper gallery level, showing the curved oak-fronted bookshelves arranged around the central atrium. ![Canada Water Library's upper gallery, bookshelves beneath the raking roof structure and columns](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-librayr-fallback.jpg) 07 · Bookshelves beneath the roof structure, on the upper gallery. The upper gallery at Canada Water Library, showing the building's raking circular-hollow-section steel columns and roof structure above the bookshelves. ![Canada Water Library's entrance hall, the timber-ribbed stair drum rising through an oval opening in the orange ceiling, visitors below](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-entrance-hall-timber-ribbed-stair-drum-fallback.jpg) 08 · The entrance hall, the stair drum's oak ribs rising through an oval ceiling opening. The entrance hall at Canada Water Library, where the helical stair's oak-ribbed drum rises through an oval opening in the ceiling beside the lifts and the children's library shelving. The wider scheme ## An inverted pyramid, designed by CZWG Architects. Canada Water Library was designed by CZWG Architects, lead architect Piers Gough, as an inverted pyramid: a compact ground-level footprint expanding into cantilevered upper floors, freeing more of the site for Deal Porters Square below. Two facades incline at around 50 degrees and two at around 80 degrees, adding roughly six metres of floor depth at the top of the building. Southwark's Planning Committee considered the scheme on 31 July 2007. Construction started on 29 June 2009 and the building was completed in November 2011, opening to the public on 28 November 2011, for client London Borough of Southwark and main contractor ISG Jackson. The completed building won three awards in 2012, recognising the project and its design team. The team's own contribution was its cladding package. - 2012 RIBA Award: Winner - 2012 Civic Trust Award: Winner - 2012 Selwyn Goldsmith Award for Universal Design: Winner ## 09 · The helical stair at the heart of the library, lined with oak ribs. ![Canada Water Library's helical stair, looking down past oak-lined walls towards the entrance hall](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/canada-water-library/canada-water-library-helical-stair-past-oak-lined-walls-fallback.jpg) The internal atrium at Canada Water Library is organised around a helical stair lined with more than 2,000 natural oak-veneered ribs, covering around 600 square metres. LSA Projects delivered the joinery; the stair is part of CZWG Architects’ design, not the team’s cladding package. ## Canada Water Library, clad by the team. Rotherhithe, London SE16 - **Dmitro client**: I&W - **Main contractor**: ISG Jackson - **Architect**: CZWG Architects - **Client and owner**: London Borough of Southwark Photography: Southwark Council; Cmglee (CC BY-SA) ## Related projects - [Waterside Park. Cladding package. Royal Docks.](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/projects/waterside-park-silvertown/) ![Waterside Park's Sales & Marketing Suite building, its cantilevered white upper floor over dark timber cladding, in Silvertown, Royal Docks](https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/assets/projects/waterside-park-silvertown/waterside-park-silvertown-sales-amp-marketing-suite-building-cantilevered-fallback.jpg) Markdown: https://dmitrodevelopment.co.uk/projects/waterside-park-silvertown.md - [Hawes Down Centre. Facade panel cladding. 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