Former South Dunedin Community Network chairwoman Eleanor Doig said the King Edward St complex would be a fitting gathering point.
The community would need all the togetherness it could get in the years ahead amid changes wrought by climate change, she said.
"We can’t emphasise strongly enough the value and importance of this community resource."
Ms Doig congratulated the Dunedin City Council yesterday on progress, including the release of an exterior design she called gorgeous.
"If we, as a city, are investing in a significant resource for the long term, we may as well make it memorable," Ms Doig said.
The project had been "30-odd years in the dreaming" and it was now coming together.
"We have been waiting a long time."
Positive Property is constructing the two-storey building until completion of the shell stage.
A report for councillors said the exterior of the building was expected to be weathertight by late December.
Initial working concept designs showed community space on the ground floor and the library on the floor above, but this had now been reversed.
"The ground floor accommodation consists of a large open-plan library space, two community meeting rooms with kitchenette facilities and toilets," the report said.
There would also be a recording studio space for music and audio production, as well as bookable meeting spaces.
Library staff were reviewing the types of services that would be available.
The floor above would include what the council described as community-focused tenanted space.
Flood mitigation was considered as part of the design.
"As a result, the building is on a slightly raised platform and all exterior doors have been designed to accommodate the fitting of a floodgate system," the report said.
The complex is due to open mid-2025 and was budgeted to cost about $22 million.
A financial update was to be considered in the public-excluded part of the council’s community services committee meeting yesterday.
