HC Deb 08 December 1988 vol 143 cc254-5W
Mr. Buchan

To ask the Minister for the Arts how many seats the public auditorium in the new British Library building at St. Pancras will have.

Mr. Luce

The auditorium of the new British Library, currently under construction at St. Pancras, will contain 255 seats. Additionally, there will be spaces for five wheelchairs for the disabled.

Mr. Buchan

To ask the Minister for the Arts what was the reason for the cost escalation in the first phase of the Corn Merchant's Stores conversion at the British Library, Boston Spa, from £600,000 in November 1986 to a final cost of £2.309 million in 1988.

Mr. Luce

The figure of £600,000 to which I referred in answer to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson) on 17 November 1986 at column 30 was not an estimate of the cost of the conversion of the Corn Merchant's Stores but was the Government's earmarked funding for the project for 1987–88. This was part of a total Government commitment of £1.6 million over three years, the balance of the cost being contributed by the British Library. There was no material change in the estimated cost of the project between 1986 and 1988.

Mr. Buchan

To ask the Minister for the Arts what is the total area of office accommodation for British Library staff in phase I of the new St. Pancras building.

Mr. Luce

It is planned to build 1,839 sq m of office space in stage 1A of the new British Library building. This area includes all associated circulation space.

Stage 1A is currently under construction and will be completed in 1993. The amount of office accommodation space to be included in the completion phase is not yet known.

Mr. Buchan

To ask the Minister for the Arts when the British Library's strategic plan for business information will be published.

Mr. Luce

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) on 4 July 1988 at column469.

Mr. Buchan

To ask the Minister for the Arts whether the open access shelving provisions and reader seats for science and technology readers in the phase I St. Pancras building will be less or more than the present provisions in the Holborn reading rooms.

Mr. Luce

There are in total 144 reader desks in the two science reference and information services (SRIS) building at Holborn; this provision compares with 178 standard reader desks which will be available at St. Pancras by 1993, with some 60 additional desks planned to be available by 1996. In addition, stools are provided at Holborn, but are not yet a formal part of the St. Pancras brief.

The length of open access shelving at Holborn is approximately 11.7 km. This compares with 12.6 km which will be available at St. Pancras in 1993, with some 6 km of additional shelving by 1996.