East Sussex County Council has commissioned Kier Southern to build a new £19m design & build historical resource centre, near Falmer in Brighton.

A partnership project between East Sussex County Council, Brighton & Hove City Council and the University of Sussex, the resource centre will house historical records and archives for the local area, together with the Special Collections of the University of Sussex, including the internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive.

It will also provide headquarters for the Sussex Family History Group.

Kier Southern has been commissioned, along with architect WS Atkins, to design, develop and construct this bespoke archival records facility, titled The Keep, from concept through all the architectural stages.

Kier Southern design manager Phil Combs said: "Kier Southern has enjoyed an excellent collaborative relationship with ESCC over the past couple of years which has resulted in a quality design for The Keep within tight budget constraints. Community engagement with The Keep project was a key factor in the development of the design with Kier and ESCC instigating a series of public consultations and end-user workshops. We are looking forward to progressing with the construction process and delivering a quality product for our client."

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Situated opposite the University of Sussex at Woollards Field, The Keep will provide over 52,000sq ft of storage, office and public access space across three floors and will be formed of two main blocks, one housing the repository and one for all other functions.

The repository, or strong room, designed to store the historical records and archives, has been designed to meet specific storage and preservation needs.

It will be built according to the British Standard recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents, which specifies temperature, and humidity ranges, shelving criteria and materials for document containers.

This particular part of the building is planned in a light coloured, brick-faced, heavyweight masonry with an insulated ventilated cavity, to ensure robustness, high security, air tightness and an ability to retain internal environmental conditions. The roof will be a heavyweight concrete construction with a second shallow standing seam pitched 'over-roof' offering double protection to the important records within.

Public areas of The Keep will include a reception, display and sales area as well as education and learning room and refreshment space.

Members of the public will also have access to a reference library, finding aids and a document search area.

Office and administrative space has been designed to meet the specific needs of staff at The Keep and includes an archivists’ workroom, document production area, an archive conservation studio and a bindery.

Kier Southern is due to begin work on site this summer, with construction completion expected for Christmas 2012.

The archive will be opened in 2013 following services proving period and inspection by The National Archive.

(JG/GK)