In 1976, St Andrew’s built a new Library, using money donated by the Beit Trust. The Beit Library has given excellent service over the years, but times change, and in order to maintain our position as a leader of education in Africa, we knew that we needed to upgrade and improve our Library for the digital age.

In 2022 we began to discuss ideas for a new Library or an extension to the existing one. We felt that the best plan would be to build an extension, and that we would approach the Beit Trust again to ask them for a grant. Here at SAIntS, we are committed to looking after the environment, and from the start, we knew that we would want the new building to be sustainable and eco-friendly. So, we took the decision to engage Alexandra Poncet as our architect. Alex is a very experienced architect who specialises is environmentally-friendly building techniques. She drew up some initial plans, and estimates of the costs, and we wrote a proposal to Beit Trust.

In July 2022, we received the exciting news that the Beit Trust had agreed to award £41,500 to fully fund our project. After further discussions with stakeholders, Alexandra then drew up detailed plans – which we all loved! The new building is constructed around 2 large existing indigenous trees, with a bamboo beam structure holding up the roof, and walls built with SSBs, Soil Stabilised Blocks.