The new Gwent Archives site in Ebbw Vale.
Harrow Green planned and carried out the sequential move of 7km of archival material to a new home for Gwent Archives. The project was completed over a six-week period.
The magnificent new facility in Ebbw Vale will provide the ideal environment for users to access a unique collection of documents. With state-of-the-art storage and a modern archive conservation studio, the Gwent Archives collection will be preserved for future generations.
The challenge for Harrow Green was to pack thousands of individual items in strict sequential order for transportation and relocation in exactly the right place in the new storage facility. “The art of planning a complex sequential move is to ensure complete traceability of every box and each item at every stage of the move, in and out of buildings, on and off shelves,” said Stephen Noake, Harrow Green’s relocation consultant on the project.
Often for moves of this size Harrow Green will provide a managed barcode system using proprietary document management software. In the case of Gwent Archives, Harrow Green worked with the client’s own barcode identification system. Every item was scanned, along with its original shelf position, and scanned in at the final location in the new premises. Data was output to Excel spreadsheet to create an instant location database.
Gwent Archives is a unique collection of books, paper documents and parchment ranging from the 12th century to the present day. Special procedures were put in place here, as in all archive, library and museums moves, to ensure maximum security and safety for the collection. “No material was left outside secure storage areas, either in the original loading areas or at the final destination, out of unsupervised hours,” said Stuart Fitton, Commercial Manager for Harrow Green in the south-west.
The County Archivist was very happy with the result. “Harrow Green was appointed on the strength of their experience of similar projects and their competitive pricing. They proved to be a great team of people who managed the sequential move efficiently over a tight six-week schedule.”