Norton Hive Library & Community Hub has undergone a £125,000 upgrade to help make the facility more energy efficient and secure its future.

The works, which saw the library closed for two weeks, have involved new insulation being installed across the walls, roof and all through the back, new air source heat pumps and solar panels across the extent of the roof.

As part of the funding negotiations, the library's lease has also been granted securing its future until 2032.

Joshua Vale, chair of Norton Hive Library & Community Hub in Commercial Street, said the improvements had been made possible by a very generous grant from North Yorkshire Council.

"In total we secured £125,000 in funding for the upgrades, of which we are on course to spend just over £100,000. The majority of the funding came from a combination of the VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme from the Department of Culture, Media & Sport and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund's Energy Efficiency Scheme's (UKSPF).

"We also received some match funding, £2,500 from the Earl Fitzgerald Charity trust towards our new windows which will be triple glazed and incredibly energy efficient.

"The funding from the UKSPF was contingent on us having at least five years left on our lease and so I opened negotiations with North Yorkshire Council and we have fortunately been granted a lease extension so the library's future is secure until at least 2032 too."

Joshua added: "These works are all part of our decarbonisation plans and will see our carbon footprint massively reduced since we'll be getting our power from renewable sources and have capped off our gas supply so will no longer be using any gas to heat or power the library.

"We are dedicated to providing a welcoming and warm space for the people of Norton to enjoy and hopefully discover/rediscover a love of reading.

"We want to be as energy efficient as possible and have as little impact on the environment as we can, our ideal is becoming carbon neutral, and as part of that we have previously installed energy efficient lighting, used recycled paper in our printers and made sure to turn off all lights when we leave for the day.

"This is simply the natural evolution of this process and despite massively improving our energy efficiency with these works will always be looking out for more ways we can be more efficient going forward.

"We have many books in stock detailing the impact we as human beings are having on the environment and any way we can reduce our impact will, I'm sure, be welcomed by the local community. It will also save us a lot of money going forward which we can use to improve the services we offer to Norton and the wider community."