Lambeth Archives

The archive collections were previously stored at Minet Library on Knatchbull Road, close to the border that separates Lambeth from the neighbouring London Borough of Southwark.

WHAT DID THE CLIENT WANT?

LB Lambeth wanted to bring the archives into the heart of the borough to embed them more in its community, opting to build an entirely new structure in which to house them.

The 2 miles worth of shelving that hold the archive collection contain historical records that date all the way back to the 12th Century, so a custom-built strongroom with the ability to strictly control temperature and humidity was required to preserve the leather and parchment of older manuscripts.

LB Lambeth also wanted a public search room, an exhibition room and a reading room named after Olive Morris, a Brixton resident and Black community activist after whom the previous building was named. This room was to include a glass panel made to commemorate her, which was installed in the original building.

HOW DID BAILY GARNER ASSIST?

Louise Green led the services Baily Garner provided in her role as Independent Monitoring Surveyor with support from Quantity Surveying, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Clerk of Works colleagues.

Louise acted on behalf of LB Lambeth to ensure that both the developer and contractor delivered each element of the project to requirements reflected in the contract. A particular area that could have been contentious was the strongroom. It had to meet specific criteria for the building to achieve the standard required to gain accreditation from The National Archives.

Part of this criteria was the use of a gas-led fire suppression system. Due to safety regulations, the gas bottles could not be stored inside the strongroom, so the original design had to be adapted to separate them with a 4-hour fire resistance. Additionally, both LB Lambeth and the contractor initially overlooked the complexity of the concrete floor, which required a specialised sealing agent that wouldn’t pose a chemical risk to the collection.

There was initial disagreement between LB Lambeth and the developer about who would bear the cost of these changes, but with Louise guiding the negotiations, a compromise was reached that worked for all parties and allowed the project to stay within budget. The result was a fully furnished archive library meeting all of LB Lambeth’s requirements, which continues to delight the community and pay homage to Olive Morris.

Photography by Fred Haworth and Sam Mellish.