designed by Basil Spence. On opening, the library superseded Finchley Road Library as Hampstead's Central Library. Present at the opening were Councillor Luigi Carlo Denza, then Mayor of Hampstead, Basil Spence and Sir Edwin McAlpine, acting head of the library's construction firm at the time. Construction Construction was undertaken by McAlpine & Sons and accelerated by the use of a P200 Pingon tower crane, the tallest in the UK at the time. Hampstead's mayor got into a bulldozer on the first day of construction to shovel the first pile of earth. Due to heavy snow which meant additional protection was needed for the concrete, as well as building strikes, construction was delayed but eventually finished in 1964. Expansion Camden Council announced in the late 1990s that it intended to regenerate Swiss Cottage Centre, and in 2003 refurbished Swiss Cottage Library to include a children's library, accessibility facilities and the removal of asbestos. The plan, including the demolition of Swiss Cottage Sports Centre and construction of Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, designed by Sir Terry Farrell, was finished in 2007 at a cost of £85 million. Camden originally planned to demolish the library with Swiss Cottage Sports Centre, but was forced to instead refurbish it as a result of English Heritage designating it with a Grade II listing in December 1997. Following the library's refurbishment, the Council acknowledged that demolition "would have been a mistake". Later, Camden Council sued developers John McAslan & Partners for £500,000 as a result of delays in supply and a cost increase in the contract by £1.5 million. McAslan defended the delays, claiming "It was less than 10% late, which is nothing", and commenting on additional removals needing to be carried out. Architecture Built in the Modernist style of the 1960s, similar to other contemporary civic buildings, Spence took from the vast open-space and minimalism of Scandinavian libraries, visiting Scandinavia to take notes on the designs. The library measures by with three stories. Exterior The exterior of the library features 238 narrow 2-tonne "fins" made from Portland stone designed to control light whilst also serving to prevent noise pollution. These fins help prevent strong sunlight from affecting reading inside, and also resemble the leaves of a book. Commentary The library's refurbishment was acclaimed by English Heritage as "a success in both architectural and heritage terms". Historic England also commented on the refurbishment, remarking that the library was