IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): COL/TSD/PL
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT: PLANS
Date(s): 1838-1980
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 12.4 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Corporation of London
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Technical Services Department retains overall responsibility for many of the City of London's major construction and civil engineering projects. The Department includes the District Surveyor and the City Engineer. Both are concerned with building control and regulation, ensuring that all building work complies with the appropriate standards, that health and safety is not compromised and that the needs of people with disabilities are catered for.
The origins of building control date to 1667, when Parliament passed an Act for the rebuilding of London after the 1666 Great Fire. The Act set out to prevent a recurrence of the disaster and for the first time surveyors were appointed to ensure its requirements were not violated.
In the nineteenth century the District Surveyors Association was formed to ensure the uniformity and interpretation of building legislation throughout London, a role which continues to this day. Building Control today plays a major role in the realisation of a safe and healthy built environment and is a fundamental part of the overall success of modern construction within the City of London.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Plans from the Technical Services Department, Corporation of London, including plans of sewers constructed in the City, 1838-1855, originally from the City Sewers Office; Engineering department plans showing improvements to the Corn Exchange, Mark Lane, 1870; changes to Chapel Street and Silk Street, 1877; improvements to Carter Lane and surrounding streets, 1875; improvements on Ludgate Hill and Creed Lane, 1882-1885 and St Paul's Churchyard, 1890; plan of the proposed route of the Central London Railway [Central Line] going through the City, 1890; plan and section of City Station on the Central London Railway [now Bank Station, Central Line], 1893; plan of Waithman Street with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway line, 1896; the proposed site of the Cleansing Department, Cannon Street, 1951; plans of Cleansing Department Depot and Wharf, Dowgate Dock, 1959.
Also volumes of 'Insurance Plans of London', 1886 - 1925; Ordnance Survey maps of London, 1848-1851, 1875, 1894-1896 and 1911-1921 and Ordnance Survey minor control point [reference points for mapping] albums of the City of London, 1940-1980, presented by the Ordnance Survey Records Department.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
In sections according to catalogue.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright: City of London
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Corporation of London Records Office.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
For plans, see COL/PL, the papers of the Public Health Department (COL/PHD), the papers of the Planning Department (COL/PLD), the papers of the Surveyor's Department (COL/SVD) and the papers of the Technical Services Department (COL/TSD).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: February 2009