15 lorry loads of drawers to store the treasures of the National Archives

3,200 units of A0-sized drawers

The new central archive of the National Archives in Mikkeli includes 70 shelf kilometres of archiving space.  In addition to traditional shelf storage, facilities and solutions were built in the archive for the long-term storage of map archive materials. The storage solutions were designed and supplied by Kasten, a long-term partner of Treston. Treston’s share of the delivery included the storage solutions for the map archive.

In terms of space utilisation, the most sensible solution for achieving the storage capacity needed for the map archive was a drawer shelf solution. Rows of drawer shelfs, each with parallel 4x32 units of A0-sized (1,189 x 841 mm) drawers manufactured by Treston on top of each other, the topmost located at a height of just over two metres, were built in the 400 m2 map storeroom. “When implementing these kinds of long-term storage solutions where the materials rarely need to be accessed, the height of the space is always utilised as much as possible to optimise the costs of the storage solution”, says Tiina Myllymaa, Key Account Manager at Kasten.

A total of 3,200 units of A0-sized drawers were delivered for this particular project. At the delivery stage, this number of large drawers is equivalent to 15 lorry loads. “In such massive projects, continuous cooperation from communication of customer needs to design, the prototype phase, manufacture, delivery and installation, from the end customer to Kasten to Treston, is extremely important, and in this project, the cooperation worked seamlessly throughout the entire project”, says Myllymaa.

The stable and durable, sealed drawers equipped with flat bottoms supplied by Treston meet the customer’s needs perfectly.

Conservation guided the selection of storage solutions

The materials to be transferred to the central archive in Mikkeli where previously located in the Hämeenlinna Provincial Archives and the facilities of the Helsinki National Archives. The old facilities in Helsinki, in particular, were in poor condition and a new building was the only sensible solution for storing the materials centrally in one place. At the same time, there was a desire to prepare for future archiving needs, and some of the archive capacity built now will remain empty, awaiting materials.

“In addition to building new, appropriate facilities, understanding the customer’s relationship with the items stored was especially important in this project. In archives and museums, the storage of items and materials is not warehousing, as is the case in industry, for example. The items can be thousands of years old and need to be properly stored, taking into account the principles of conservation”, says Myllymaa. In storage solutions for museums, special attention must be paid to flat surfaces and that there are no vibrations or draughts, for example. It should also be noted that the materials cannot be stacked on top of each other in the same drawer, but that each item must have its own space and place. “The stable and durable, sealed drawers equipped with flat bottoms supplied by Treston meet the customer’s needs perfectly”, says Myllymaa.

 Understanding the customer’s relationship with the items stored was especially important in this project. In archives and museums, the storage of items and materials is not warehousing, as is the case in industry, for example. The items can be thousands of years old and need to be properly stored, taking into account the principles of conservation.

Treston and Kasten’s cooperation

Over the years, Treston and Kasten have implemented several similar museum and archive projects together. Examples include the Maritime Museum Vellamo in Kotka, the collection centres of Helsinki, Tampere and Jyväskylä City Museums as well as the collection centres of the Finnish Heritage Agency in three different locations in Helsinki. Treston and Kasten work together on projects when drawer units need to be integrated into the shelf solutions. Due to the long-standing cooperation over many years, the implementation of joint projects has become easy and effortless as both parties are familiar with each other’s practices and the requirements set by customers. Myllymaa gives praise for the continuous product development done in cooperation, allowing for more user-friendly products that are also easier to transport and install.

About the National Archives of Finland

The duty of the National Archives is to ensure that knowledge belonging to our national cultural heritage is preserved and transferred to future generations. The unique materials stored in the archives are available to researchers and everyone interested. The National Archives have a total of 210 shelf kilometres of archives, 52 million digitised documents, 1.76 million maps and drawings as well as a vast collection of government materials. The central archive in Mikkeli is the newest of the nine locations of the National Archives. (source https://www.arkisto.fi/)