The Hive, Worcester

The Hive, is a large golden-coloured building in Worcester, England, which houses the fully integrated Worcestershire County Council, City of Worcester public library, the University of Worcester's academic library, Worcestershire Record Office, the county Archive and Worcestershire Archaeology Service.

History
The Hive was procured under a private finance initiative programme and was built by Galliford Try at a cost of £60 million. The Hive's joint commissioning clients were the University of Worcester and Worcestershire County Council. Funding was also provided by the National Lottery and the British government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education. It was opened to the public on 2 July 2012 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 July 2012.

Visitors
The library houses over a quarter of a million books. According to the Annual Public Library Statistics from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), The Hive issued 903,859 books during the financial year 2013/14 and achieved 978,199 visits. This placed it in first position in the West Midlands.



Awards
Awards include:
 * Best new-build project of the year in the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Building Performance Awards 2013
 * Sustainable Project of the Year in the Building Awards 2013
 * Outstanding Library Team - Times Higher Leadership and Management Award - June 2013
 * Sustainable Project of the Year - Building Magazine - April 2013
 * Civic Trust Award - March 2013
 * Contribution to the local community through The Hive - Guardian University Award - February 2013
 * New build project of the year (value above £5 million) - CIBSE - February 2013
 * Building Excellence Award - South Worcestershire Building Control - 2012
 * BREEAM Outstanding 86.4% - June 2012
 * Best Sustainability in a Project- Public Private Partnership Awards - May 2012