The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, a prestigious £11.6 million project to protect the area's precious historical archives, has reached a major milestone.

Standing next to Cocklebury Road in Chippenham, on the former cattle market site, the impressive white and glass building has been finished on time and on budget.

Building work on the state-of-the-art centre has been completed by contractors Cowlin Construction Ltd - and now the countdown begins to make sure the centre will be ready to open to the public in one year's time.

Jane Scott, leader of Wiltshire County Council, said: "I am so pleased that this project, so important for the county, has been completed on time and within budget.

"This excellent building will not only preserve all the invaluable documents that tell the story and history of our wonderful county, but the many visitors to the centre will find information more easily accessible than in the past and in a more pleasant environment."

The centre was funded by the county council and Swindon Borough Council and it will provide a safe home for some seven miles of shelving, containing the documents that chart the history of the county.

The archive, currently held in sub standard conditions at the Record Office in Trowbridge, is used by thousands of people every year to explore their family trees, research the histories of their homes and to learn more about local history.

The new history centre has larger reading rooms, better Internet facilities and an education room for schools that can also be used for groups, lectures and demonstrations.

Heritage services manager Tom Craig said they have also worked hard to make sure it offers the very best disabled access, with level floors, covered parking areas and height-adjustable tables.

"Most important to me is that we create the best facility for our visitors," he said.

Pauline Palmer, head of libraries and heritage, said there would also be opportunities for volunteers to join the team.

Over the next three months, the building will be tested to check it has the correct environmental conditions to preserve the collection. Builders will remain on site for the next few months to undertake any finishing touches.

Once the building has been officially handed over by the contractors the long and difficult task of transferring the archive from Trowbridge to the new centre will begin.

The record office will be closed from May till October 2007 while the transfer takes place. If all goes to plan the new history centre will be opened to the public in October 2007.

Records are safe and dry

THE new centre's archives will be stored in one of five special rooms, each accessed via an air-lock and with temperature and humidity controls to protect precious archives, some nearly seven centuries old.

They have eight inch concrete walls, four-hour fireproof doors and a fire sprinkler system using inert gas instead of water.

A fridge for the storage of photographs will preserve colour pictures at three degrees centigrade. There are 55,000 local history photographs in one collection, and many more spread throughout the archive. On the first floor, staff will have top level facilities and equipment to conserve and investigate finds, including a dark room, X-ray room, wet room, cameras and scanners and an archives conservation laboratory. The new history centre will bring together all these services in one building for the first time, employing a total of 40 people.

The majority are moving from premises in Trowbridge and Salisbury to work at Chippenham, though a couple are retiring and one or two from Salisbury will be redeployed elsewhere.