WEST Devon mayor Margaret Garton this week donned a hard hat and took the wheel of a 20-tonne excavator to demolish a wall to make way for Tavistock's new library.
Work on-site at the old Carr's Garage in Plymouth Road began a week ago when building contractor EBC Construction moved in eight men to start on the £1.6-million redevelopment scheme.
The company will build a mixture of community facilities and social housing on the site including the new £500,000 purpose-built library and lifelong learning centre with computer training suite and Internet access.
Centralised office services and information on council tax and housing benefts and ten new rented homes for local people will form part of the complex.
There will be a new pedestrian walkway and a new canal bridge linking to adjacent parkland built at the same time.
Site agent George Richards said the 'soft demolition' had been completed and the masonry and steelwork should be finished by the end of the week.
'The next stage will be piling and the foundations,' Mr Richards told the Times. 'Hopefully the bricklayers will begin building in May.'
EBC will bring in a 'quiet' drill for the next stage of the redevelopment.
EBC area director Robert Wood said: 'We found very large boulders when we bored some holes so a small, quiet drill will not be too noisy when we begin piling.
'Records show the site was originally a transit yard where materials were stored prior to their loading on barges on the canal.'
Mr Wood said his company will be creating up to 20 jobs during the construction period.
'Where possible, we will be recruiting local tradesmen, sub-contractors and suppliers at all stages.'
The redevelopment is expected to take just under 12 months with completion scheduled for January or February next year.
West Devon Homes and Devon and Cornwall Housing Association are acting as the developers and the borough council is the landowner and enabler.
Architects Scarratt and Martyn of Tavistock designed the project.