Christchurch City Council has been rebuilding the earthquake-damaged South Library and Customer Service Hub building, Te Kete Wānanga o wai Mōkihi, since August 2025.
“Construction has gone really smoothly, and our contractors are finishing up their work and handing over the keys today,” says Council Head of Libraries and Information Erica Rankin.
Ōmōkihi features an Auahatanga Creative Space, bookable meeting rooms, a Council customer services hub, a café, study nooks, and an exhibition area. The Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere-Heathcote Community Board also operate from Ōmōkihi.
Council Libraries and customer service staff will spend around a month setting up the site before doors open.
“We have around 43,000 library items to migrate back to Ōmōkihi, including 12,000 from our temporary library at the Colombo. On top of that is all the IT equipment, library resources, and furniture that need to be set up and tested,” says Ms Rankin.
A range of temporary “pop up” facilities were set up to serve the community during the rebuild. Starting in early November, these will start to close, and staff will transition back to Ōmōkihi.
The South Colombo Library will permanently close at 4pm on Sunday 8 November.
“Once the South Colombo closes, we encourage everyone to visit our other libraries across the network to browse or return books, pick up holds or make use of our wonderful library resources,” says Ms Rankin.
Staff from the customer service hub at Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre will shift back to Ōmōkihi on Wednesday 2 December.
“There’s quite a long to-do list, but the whole team is thrilled about Ōmōkihi’s next chapter getting underway.
“We’re busy behind the scenes planning a range of community activities and events to celebrate the reopening and look forward to sharing these details closer to the big day,” says Ms Rankin.
People can keep up to date on progress on the Christchurch City Libraries website.
Key dates
30 October: Construction finishes at Ōmōkihi
8 November: The South Colombo Library closes
9 November: Spreydon Library returns to regular hours
1 December: Customer Service Hub at Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre closes
1 December: Ōmōkihi officially reopens at 3pm!
2 December: Regular library and customer service hours start
Ōmōkihi’s next chapter starts 1 December, Newsline, Friday 30 October 2026