British archive specialists Rackline has supplied innovative storage systems for the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.

The Newcastle-under-Lyme firm was appointed for the £346,000 project to re-locate archive material from five key heritage services into one building. 

The documents, including maps and books, were transferred from the local studies library, the archaeology service, museum service, conservation service and churches to one central location within the new History Centre. 

Andy Reed, Sales Manager at Rackline, said: "The project involved moving material into one building as well as to create additional room to allow expansion over the next 20 years. Our storage provided the equivalent of an extra 10 miles of storage space.

"The brief included meeting the Centre's strict requirements of storing the archive documents and maps in certain conditions. 

"Some of the maps had to be stored flat in acid free materials and would not fit into standard shelving. Plus many of the books had to be carefully installed to ensure there was no damage done, so we worked with the History Centre to create the best storage solution."

Rackline installed a number of storage solutions including mobile bases, a bespoke hanging map storage system, plan chests and profile shelving. 

The storage solutions were designed and manufactured to key archive requirements, which includes ensuring there is air flow throughout the system and ensuring archive material was away from the external walls.

Rackline installed 1,200 bays of profile shelving to store the archive material and developed a bespoke hanging map storage system that would allow maps to be taken from their hanging location, use and replace. 

The storage systems were placed on mobile bases where possible and to maximise the storage capacity Rackline used their Multitrak system, which operates on multiple torque tubes and wheels to accommodate long bases and greater loads. Each mobile carriage, which can be easily moved, is up to 12 metres long and holds up to 15 tonnes.

Claire Skinner, Principal Archivist at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, said: "We were moving 28,000 boxes of documents, the oldest being from the 12th Century and 3,000 maps of different shapes and sizes from different locations into the centre and we worked with Rackline to create solutions for our requirements.

"There was a lot of heavy documents but the storage has been put onto mobile bases so they are easy to move.

"Rackline delivered the project on time and under budget and I would recommend their services to any business."

Rackline's installation took 10 weeks to complete as part of the £11 million project.

Rackline has worked on a number of projects providing archive storage solutions including the Somerset Heritage Centre, National Maritime Museum in London, the Tank Museum in Dorset and the Dacorum Heritage Museum in Hertfordshire.