Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commission was established in 1917 to commemorate the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars. The CWGC built and continues to maintain cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations in over 150 countries and territories and is committed to carrying out this work in perpetuity.

 The Commission's system of records storage was outdated and no longer fit for purpose. The ability for a supplier/contractor to supply new shelving as well as unload and store existing records during the upgrade was paramount. Ultimately, the records needed to be relocated onto the newly installed shelving, without disruption to the day to day operations of the Commission. 

Until recently, the paper records were stored in two main locations within a mixture of secure static and mobile shelving systems thought to be approximately 40 years old that had, over the years, been moved within the building and were suffering from operational problems. The CWGC took the decision to seek replacement systems that offered up-to-date technology and improved space planning with additional capacity for future expansion so that its significant UNESCO recognised historic collection could be

Rotadex was awarded the contract to manage the conversion as well as supply, deliver and install a replacement archiving system. Project coordination meetings were held with CWGC to plan the works including access, methodology and implementation. The installation was carried out in phases over an 8 week period. Three existing systems were carefully dismantled and removed for recycling as per Rotadex’s ISO 14001 procedures. These were then replaced with new Fineline BS 4971:2017 compatible shelving systems. The new design and upgrade achieved an increase of 260 linear metres providing an overall capacity of 1369 linear metres.

Chief Archivist Andrew Fetherston commented: “Following a competitive tendering process, Rotadex were awarded the contract to replace a mixture of mobile and static shelving which housed the archive of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at its head office in Maidenhead. As the work was carried out during the coronavirus pandemic, special measures had to be put in place regarding working conditions and access, and Rotadex was happy to work with us to develop an approach which worked for all concerned. Their team carefully decanted all of the collection, storing it in temporary shelving which they had erected onsite for that purpose, and professionally dismantled and disposed of the existing shelving, and installed the new units in a quick and efficient manner.”