As well as the magnificent Cornish beam engine and the striking building that surround it , we have a significant amount of paper records on site at Sandfields and it has always been a problem to find a suitable, dry location to store them. It was decided that the substation could be converted to provide some suitable storage for the documents.
The substation contained switches for the 11,000 volt supply which fed the electric water pumps via the transformers in the main building. After Western Power disconnected this supply and made the switches safe, all of this equipment and cabling could be removed.
The remaining lighting, heating and communications wiring and fixtures could then be removed and the ceiling and wall were then battened and lined with insulation before being covered in plasterboard.
The exterior was made more secure by the fitting of uPVC windows and a steel roller shutter door and we had the locally famous "Rick the Brick" build a small retaining wall for us.
The plasterboard was skimmed and painted, the floor levelled and laminate flooring laid. A new electricity supply was installed to provide lighting and power.
After installing the racking and transferring the documents to the new archive room, that just left the archive team with the currently ongoing task of sorting it in to a logical order.
On the 6th of September Mike Rogers who is the Midlands Manager of the National Archive came along to perform an opening / naming ceremony of the archive. Directors of South Staffs Water also attended. The archive room has been named after Chris Pattison who worked for SSW for many years. He was also involved in the setting up of what later became Lichfield Waterworks Trust and was our treasurer for nearly 10 years.
Many thanks go to the following organisations for giving us the grants which enabled us to carry out this work: Community Foundation TCB, Heritage Lottery Fund, Swinfen Broun Trust and Lichfield Conduit Lands Trust