Cumbria County Council is to be handed the keys to its landmark new archives centre in Carlisle next week.

The state-of-the-art £8.2m premises in Petteril Bank will be ready to open to the public in January 2011. The event next week will mark a key point in the project when the building contractor Quarmby Construction Company Ltd hands over control of the Cumbria Archives Centre (Carlisle) to the county council.

A media photo and interview opportunity of the handover will be held at 10.30am on Tuesday July 27th at the archive centre on Petteril Bank Rd, followed by the first chance for media to tour the new building and witness first-hand how a dilapidated Grade II* listed building has been renovated and transformed by the addition of the new innovative glass-fronted building.

Representatives from Cumbria County Council, Quarmby Construction, Heritage Lottery Fund (which provided a £4.8m grant for the project - the largest grant the fund has ever awarded in Cumbria), The National Archives, and architects Austin-Smith:Lord will all attend the handover. 

The mammoth task of moving more than a million historical documents (which if piled up would be more than four miles high) from their former home at Carlisle Castle to their new home will begin later this summer. The move will take between four to five months and a specially-built conveyor belt will transfer the documents from their vaults in the Castle into the vehicles of a specialist removal company, which will then transport them to the Cumbria Archives Centre (Carlisle). 

Before the documents can be moved in, the environmental conditions within the specially built archive vault need to settle and stabilise, maintaining a constant temperature and relative humidity. The thermal mass of the solid concrete walls will provide a naturally cool environment to protect the precious papers. Photographs and films will be stored in an even cooler vault which, like all the archive storage rooms, has moving electronic shelves.

Cllr Gary Strong, Cumbria County Council's Cabinet member responsible for culture, said:

"This is another step forward in a truly impressive project which has transformed this part of Carlisle and delivered a landmark building we can all be proud of. The new archive centre will be the jewel in the crown of our archive service and help ignite even more interest in people's desire to explore the past. There's still lots to do in terms of moving the archives over, but an incredible amount of hard work has got us to where we are today and I'd like to thank all those involved."

Cllr Stewart Young, Deputy Leader of Cumbria County Council and local member for Upperby (where the new centre is located) said:

"The local people I've talked to are really proud of their new neighbour. It's an iconic building which looks fantastic. The new footways and cycle links are also proving extremely popular. We've brought Lady Gillford’s House back to life and back into public use in a truly imaginative way."

David Jones, Managing Director of Quarmby Construction Company Ltd, said:

"We are delighted by the tremendous response to the new archive centre and Lady Gillford’s House from both the council and the local community. It is indeed an iconic building and we are extremely proud to have been the chosen constructor on this project. We look forward to the day when the centre is fulfilling the purpose for which it was designed and built."

ENDS

Media enquiries to Gareth Cosslett, News Manager on 01228 226332