WORK costing more than £1m to return a landmark to its former glory will begin this month.

The North Hartlepool Partnership has donated £500,000 towards restoring the Carnegie building, formerly a library, on Hartlepool's Headland area.

Other money has come from Hartlepool Borough Council, which is donating £320,000, and the Heritage Lottery Fund, which has given £297,000.

Once re-opened, the building will house staff from Hartlepool council's libraries section. It will also house the authority's sports development team, which will relocate from its temporary, cramped accommodation in Wynyard House.

Built in 1903 as a public library and museum, the grade II-listed building was the gift of billionaire international philanthropist Andrew Car-negie.

It served as the Northgate branch library until 1999, when it closed. The library moved to the Borough Buildings, in Middlegate.

The work is expected to take about nine months, and will involve carefully restoring and preserving the building's original features, including wood panelling, mosaic flooring, a stained glass window and rare pitch-pine doorframes.

Keith Bartlett, the Heritage Lottery Fund's North-East manager, said: "Historic buildings tell the story of a town, making it individual and unique, and the best way to save these heritage gems is to get them back into use.

"The scheme to redesign the Headland is a wonderful way of using heritage to focus on key buildings within the conservation area as a starting point for regeneration and investment, and ensuring that local heritage is preserved for generations to come."

Councillor John Marshall, chairman of the North Hartlepool Partnership, said: "It will be wonderful to see this historic building back in use again. The partnership board is more than willing to contribute to this end.

"Keeping our historic heritage and buildings is one of the most important objectives of the decisions we make. I would like to thank all those who have made this possible."

The North Hartlepool Partnership is using money from development agency One NorthEast to regenerate the Headland.