Accommodation for the archive collections (including fire safety)

Lancashire Archives aims to fulfil the recommendations of BS 4971:2017 Conservation and care of archive and library collections; and BS EN 16893: 2018 Conservation of Cultural Heritage – Specifications for the location, construction and modification of buildings and rooms intended for the storage or use of cultural heritage collections.

3.1 The archive collections are housed in purpose-built accommodation comprising eight strongrooms in two linked buildings. The 1988 addition was described as ‘one of the very few repositories to have implemented the [BS 5454] recommendations in full¹'

3.2 In the strongrooms archive collections are stored, according to their physical nature and condition, on clearly-labelled mobile and static steel shelving, wall-mounted metal map racks, and in plan chests and drawers.

3.3 Lancashire County Council's Facilities Management Service inspects and maintains the buildings and implements regular testing and servicing of the fire detection and alarm systems.

3.4 All 8 strongrooms are constructed to withstand fire and are fitted with 4-hour fire doors. Smoke detectors are located throughout the building and an automated fire detection and alarm system, compliant with BS 5839-1:2017 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design, installation, commissioning and maintenance, is linked to the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. Automatic fire extinction is not installed because of the controls in place, and because of proximity to the fire station. In the event of a fire, an automated system of dampers stops airflow in the trunking of the air-conditioning system.

3.5 Lancashire County Council's Fire Risk Assessment for the record office buildings considers the risk to the archive collections as well as to staff and visitors, and documents the measures in place to minimise the risk of fire. It is held by the Facilities Management Service.

3.6 The onsite storage accommodation is approaching capacity. We have procured offsite archival storage accommodation compliant with BS EN 16893:2018, and will use it for little-used collections and/or collections for which surrogates are available.

¹ Archive Buildings in the United Kingdom 1977-1992 the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1993