Kier Construction (Southern) has marked the start of work on a new £19 million historical resource centre near Falmer, East Sussex, with a turf cutting ceremony.

The Keep is a joint project between East Sussex County Council, Brighton & Hove City Council and the University of Sussex who are working in partnership to provide the bespoke archive facility which will house historical records and archives for the local area, together with the Special Collections of the University of Sussex.

The Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Cllr Anne Meadows, and council leader Bill Randall attended the turf cutting ceremony on behalf of the city council; they were joined by county council leader Peter Jones, university vice chancellor Michael Farthing and Kier Construction (Southern) managing director Phil Durigan.

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Cllr Randall commented: "We're really excited that The Keep is under way. It will be a wonderful resource for residents across Sussex bringing so many archives together for the first time. It will provide an outstanding facility for people of all ages to enjoy and learn about our rich and colourful history."

University of Sussex vice chancellor, Professor Farthing, added: "The Keep is an excellent collaboration - a purpose-built facility that will house the county's valuable collections and the university's own extraordinary archives and the combined expertise of county and university archivists, for the benefit of the whole community."

The Keep, which is due to open to the public in 2013, will provide over 52,000sq ft of storage, office and public access space across three floors. The repository, or strong room, which will store the historical records and archives, has been designed to meet specific storage and preservation needs and will be built stringently to the British Standard recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents.

Public areas will include a reception, display and sales area as well as an 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.

(CD/GK)