CTC from MTU visits National Archive Lisbon
On the 19th March 2025 Dr Colum Gibson and Colman McCarthy visited the National Archive of Lisbon to carry out an analysis of the sustainability of the archive building. They met with Anabel Ribiero and Jose Salgado from the Direcao-Geral Do Livro, Dos Arquivos E Das Bibliotecas (General Directorate for Book, Archive and Libraries).
Established in 1378, Torre do Tombo (TdT) is one of the oldest archival institutions in the world. The current building was constructed between 1986 and 1990 and has been occupied for 35 years. Prior to this the main national archives in Lisbon were housed in Sao Benito – now the main government buildings.
TdT is a stand-alone building and consists of a series of vaults and archive areas, including a newly built photo storage area, conference rooms, reading rooms, admin offices, conservation and restoration facilities and a digitisation area. It had a microfiche room, but this was decommissioned post covid. TdT also houses a dedicated data centre which is linked to all the archives in Portugal.
There are 18 archives in Portugal, one in each municipal district. Of these, 5 are ‘new’ purpose-built archives with the other 13 situated in older buildings. Therefore, even the newer buildings are all unique with their own challenges in terms of environmental control and building maintenance.
The building has a dedicated server room which was developed in 2019 and provides storage capacity for all the archives in Portugal. It has a cooling system with two water chillers that are linked together. All lights in the building have been changed to LED’s and de-lamping and removal of the starters has taken place. In the main archive lateral switches are used for banks of lights; the use of smart sensors could be used to further reduce the lighting load. Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems control air temperature and relative humidity.
National Efficiency Plan
The archive submits a 3 year plan as part of the Portuguese national programme, Plano de Eficiencia. The next plan is due in 2027.
The national archive has reduced paper usage based on centralised printers linked to cards. It uses external energy consultants to focus on main energy uses. It plans to install PV solar panels, reduce water through the use of low flow devices and reduce plastics by cutting down on plastic packaging. Waste management is provided by the public system. Composting of garden waste (plant and grass cuttings) and the management of green areas for biodiversity and pollinator support is an area of continued focus.
Some of the recommendations from the visit include:
- Installation of a water meter & continued upgrade to taps
- Develop case study on roof upgrade.
- Case study on power factor correction using capacitors
- Plan replacement of fleet
- Use of BMS Algorithm
