Crewe History Centre

The new history centre will co-host Cheshire’s unique and irreplaceable archives, which record the development of the county and its communities from the Middle Ages to the present day. 

It will keep the archives safe for future generations, as well as making them – and the stories they tell – accessible in all sorts of different ways. The history centre will give people opportunities to explore their past, through research, talking to expert staff and volunteers, exhibitions and events. 

It will also act as a base for the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies service and its staff team, which Cheshire East Council shares with Cheshire West and Chester Council. 

An equivalent centre will be built in Hoole, Chester. These two centres will replace the Cheshire Record Office, in Chester.

Subject to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and planning permission, we are currently expecting the centre to be open in 2025.

The design of the Crewe History Centre aims to help set this new building on a pathway to net zero carbon. To accomplish this, a design approach that follows the UK Green Building Council framework has been adopted from the early stages of the project.

With this approach, the carbon dioxide associated with the building’s operation will be minimised by applying the following:

• Incorporate passive measures
• Design energy efficient mechanical and electrical systems
• Use an electric-only heating system.
• Incorporate on or off-site renewable technologies

The energy performance of the Crewe History Centre has been assessed following the National Calculation Methodology (NCM) compliance modelling methodology. The results show the building achieves a high EPC A rating.

The 1960s library building was purpose-built as a library, but the history centre is something very different and there are a number of reasons why the existing building is not being reused.

As well as providing new exhibition and event spaces, the history centre would store unique and irreplaceable archives, in some case dating back to the Middle Ages, which require specific conditions to make sure that they are preserved permanently.

The archives need to be stored in airtight conditions to manage the temperature and humidity levels required 24 hours a day.

The project’s architects, structural engineers and mechanical and electrical engineers have considered the requirements of the history centre in detail, with standards such as BS 4971: Conservation and Care of Archive and Library Collections guiding their work.

Some of the most important reasons why a new building is required include:

• The required airtightness is almost impossible to achieve when converting an existing building.
• Protecting the collections in the event of a fire and achieving sufficient ‘fire separation’ for all walls and floors adjacent to where the archives will be stored is essential according to BS4971. It would be difficult to achieve this through making changes to the current building’s walls and floors.
• BS4971 identify that ‘Wet services’ should not run through an archive facility. Drainpipes drop down through the existing building and would be difficult to relocate, due to difficulties relating to the roof construction and the location of the drainage points below ground. It is also likely that additional drainage would be required, which could involve significant alteration works.
• It is important that the entrance to the centre is ‘transparent’ and welcoming and therefore the proposed history centre is designed in a way which allows people to easily see into the centre so that the exhibitions are visible from the outside. It is intended that people can see others enjoying the exhibitions, talking to staff and volunteers and using the archives to find out more about their past. The existing building, podium and ramp, create a barrier which make it impossible to deliver this vision.
• The area where the archives would be stored must be designed and constructed with enough thermal mass to maintain environmental conditions for 24 hours without any input from a mechanical plant within the building. This requirement will be difficult or even impossible to achieve.
• To prevent uncontrolled air changes, a new storage area for the archives should be built to an air infiltration rate not exceeding two air changes per day. This requirement would be very difficult to achieve in the existing building.
• The stable environmental conditions in terms of temperature and relative humidity are required to meet the appropriate standards for an archive centre as set out by BS 4971 would be extremely difficult to achieve.
• There is insufficient headroom in the existing building to route the required ductwork to achieve the necessary thermal mass and air tightness.
• When stored efficiently on mobile racking, archives are extremely heavy. It is very unlikely that the existing floors and superstructure would be able to accommodate the increased imposed load.
• In addition, the increase in imposed floor load would also lead to an increase in foundation loads and it is quite likely that the existing foundations would be inadequate for this and would require significant works. Slab deflection criteria required to fit the mobile racking is also highly unlikely to meet the British Standard requirements in the existing building.

The history centre proposals seek to enhance the setting of Memorial Square and include contemporary seating and hardwood benches.

Further landscaping and public realm improvements are also proposed in the Crewe Civic and Cultural Space regeneration project. This project seeks to create a high-quality and attractive wider setting for the proposed history centre and would also deliver new pedestrianised public space, a replacement new two-storey main entrance to the Law Courts and a new car park.  

Yes, there are plans to deliver a programme of community events from the history centre. Further information about these will be developed over the course of the next two years.

Some events may be charged for, but the centre will be free to visit for research and to explore the different exhibitions which tell stories about Crewe’s communities, as well as explaining more about the archive collections and the ways in which the Archives Service conserves them and makes them accessible for everyone to enjoy.

Yes. We will be looking for a community-based business to run this.

A total of 35 parking spaces are proposed across the two planning applications, which is considered sufficient to accommodate peak demands associated with the archives on site, with some extra capacity available.

It is also noted that, following the opening of the new multi-storey car park – which is part of phase one of the Royal Arcade scheme and is expected to open at the end of 2023 – there will be a total of approximately 1,400 vehicle spaces available within a 500-metre walk (7 min walk) from the proposed history centre. This level of provision is considered appropriate for the scale, nature, and location of the proposed scheme.