THE grand industrial-looking building is now complete and its green and white lines stand proudly where there was once a series of red brick warehouses and a car park.

Once the glass doors open, a cafe space stands to the left while the library itself is on the right.

A reception desk will welcome visitors. It will be home to library staff and community police officers.

Beyond the cafe, a Connexions desk is being readied and two glass-walled offices will soon welcome members of the community with queries relating to Torbay Council's services.

The library opens up on to two floors. It is light, airy and spacious.

As well as the obvious book shelves, it has comfortable chairs and studious armchairs with fold-away tablets which are perfect for laptop and note-taking.

A teenagers' area is tucked in a corner and computers and game consoles have been installed.

As you walk through the library's ground floor, you come across the children's area and its "reading tower".

Features designed to intrigue and entertain youngsters have been dotted around the area.

Head librarian Katie Lusty explained how the features of the new library had been designed with the community's input.

She said: "Every step of the way we've had members of the community give us ideas of what they wanted.

"It is a library the town can be proud of and which will hopefully be used by the community."

Mrs Lusty said the consultation process on a new library for Paignton started in 2006 when the National Lottery announced it was making funds available to build new libraries.

She added: "If we hadn't seized such an opportunity then that would have been it. We wouldn't have a library now."

The library is next to Paignton's transport hub. It will be able to hold 20 per cent more books than the current 18,000 and will still employ seven staff when it opens to the public in mid-September.

Mrs Lusty said local history was a subject that a lot of people were interested in and more local interest books will now be housed upstairs along with a copy of parish records, microfiches of local newspapers and large scale Ordnance Survey maps of the area.

As we survey the quiet room in which no computer nor WiFi capability will be available, Mrs Lusty said: "It was one of the things the community wanted. Our first design was for a big open plan room but they insisted on a quiet room."

The upstairs area will be equipped with train seats from an old train which used to travel through Paignton. It will help reflect the town's heritage and industrial past.

Mrs Lusty said the artwork lighting features had been commissioned from Creative Torbay and were designed by Georgia Scott.

The autumnal leaves or shrimps hanging on crystal threads are rather striking and provide a focal point inside the library. Other lighting features look like snow-covered leaves falling down and the entrance hall is lit by lampshades which look like cotton statues.

"It definitely has the wow factor," Mrs Lusty said. "We'll stick comments people make about books on the glass banisters.

"We'll have glass cases with arts and artefacts and local artworks on the walls. We want the community to take ownership of their library."

Paignton Library will be more than just that. It will have a large meeting room which can be used for conferences or divided into three smaller rooms.

Already the cinema club and game club and other groups have asked if they can use it.

Also on the top floor, will be the offices and admin spaces as well as a media suite.

The library will open on Monday, September 13.