HISTORIC $52M EXPANSION OF STATE ARCHIVES UNDERWAY

Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten today announced Laing O'Rourke as the successful tenderer for the $52 million Queensland State Archives expansion project.

“The State Archives are the home of Queensland’s history. It is where the stories of the achievements, and mistakes, of past Queensland Governments are kept,” said Mr Schwarten.

“We need to be careful with our history so it is available for all of us to learn from. This new building will ensure Queenslands historical documents are safe and secure into the future.

“Laing O'Rourke is the successful tenderer and will start construction this week. The new building expected to be operational in mid-2008,” Mr Schwarten said.

“The expansion comes at a crucial time for Queensland State Archives, with the facility already operating at over 90 percent capacity.

“Once complete, the building will double current storage capacity and allow Queensland State Archives to store records from over 650 Queensland public authorities for the next 10 to 15 years.

“The Department of Public Works designed the building and will manage its construction, commissioning and handover.”

Mr Schwarten said an area of the new building would be set aside for the future digital storage needs of Queensland’s permanent public records.

“While much of the new facility is devoted to the storage of paper records, the growing focus on digital archiving required special consideration,” Mr Schwarten said.

“The building was therefore designed to be flexible enough to adapt to future digital storage trends.

“Additionally, the design will allow for improved energy usage and reduced ongoing running costs.”

Queensland State Archives houses the State’s largest and most significant collection of historical public records dating back to the 1820s and is the State Government’s lead agency for recordkeeping policy advice.

Media contact: David Shankey (07) 3237 1832

Project Drawings available at http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/