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Mr. Nicolas Dépret, President of the Management Board of Warbud SA and Mr. Lech Wąsowski, Director of the company’s Region South, signed a contract for the rebuilding of the Main Library of Marie Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin. The Client was represented by prof. Arkadiusz Bereza, Vice-Rector for General Affairs of UMCS. The contract was concluded on March 28, 2024. The symbolic transfer of the facility to our company took place in the presence of University representatives - Ms. Grażyna Elżbieta Fiok, Chancellor of UMCS and Ms. Małgorzata Stręciwilk, Deputy Chancellor for General Affairs of UMCS and representatives of Warbud - Mr. Jacek Kwaśny, Director of the Contracts Group and Mr. Krzysztof Siemionek, Head of Tendering Department. 

This is the second project we are implementing for UMCS. In 2019 Warbud completed new buildings for the Faculty of Political Science and the Institute of Psychology.

The Main Library of UMCS is an iconic building designed by Lublin architect Tadeusz Witkowski. It presents great architectural value and is an example of post-war modernism in Lublin. It is the only library facility of this size in the Lublin region. It has a book collection of over 1.8 million volumes, of which 280,000 items constitute special collections. A thorough modernization of an institution housing such numerous and valuable book collections is a very complex operation in terms of logistics. It is a real challenge considering that the building's area is approximately 15,000 m² and the volume reaches 50 thousand m³.

Scope of rebuilding and modernization work

According to the project assumptions, the infrastructure of the Main Library building will be modernized and adapted to modern standards applicable for public buildings, also in terms of the needs of people with disabilities and fire safety requirements.

• The rebuilding work will cover five floors of book storage areas and the entire space will be equipped with modern library racks.
• An additional space will be created, making it possible to purchase and share more volumes.
• The process of digitization of library resources will be expanded and improved.
• A completely new ICT infrastructure will be installed, thanks to which the university will gain a modern, integrated library system.
• A book machine will be installed allowing library users to return and borrow books outside the institution's opening hours.

The modernization was planned in a way respecting the architectural value of the building. The rebuilding works will be carried out in an operational facility - the library will reduce the scope of its services but will still remain open to readers.

The contract team will execute the works on this unique project within 21 months.