York firm wins £1.6m contract to build new city archive

William Birch & Sons Ltd of Osbaldwick will build the new city archive at York Explore.

The new archive is part of the Heritage Lottery Fund-supported Gateway to History project to preserve and open up the city’s internationally-important archives to people across the city and indeed the world.

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The works at York Explore will include the construction of a new state-of-the-art conservation store for the archives and a sensitive refurbishment of the existing first floor to create new spaces for people to discover the city’s extensively-recorded history.

Essential work on the roof and floor will also be carried out to on the Grade II listed library building at the same time as installing a new energy-efficient heating system, repairing the roof, refreshing the layout of the ground floor and the very successful café.

The Gateway to History project received a £1.5m HLF grant in December 2012.

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