Introduction
The London Archives, housed in a 1930s former printing press, preserves valuable collections across four floors of thick concrete and metal shelving. Monitoring conditions across the site presents unique challenges—wireless signals struggle through the dense structure, making it difficult to gather reliable environmental data.
View down the middle of a strongroom at The London Archives
Additionally, the team spent hours manually generating reports from spreadsheets, leaving less time for critical collection care activities. Alex Wade, who was at the time Preventive Conservator at The London Archives, was looking for a solution that would deliver accurate readings throughout their architecturally complex buildings while streamlining their reporting to enhance their overall monitoring program.
Alex Wade, Formerly Preventive Conservator at The London Archives
The Solution
The Archives conducted a trial of Conserv’s environmental monitoring system, testing eight sensors and two gateways across their facilities. Despite the challenging building architecture, a single gateway provided excellent coverage across all four floors of their main storage facility. The system’s superior signal strength allowed for optimal sensor placement, providing highly accurate environmental readings.
“With just one gateway in there it picked up a signal across four floors really beautifully, which I thought was incredible!” says Alex.
Benefits
Since implementation, the team has seen several significant advantages:
Excellent Coverage and Accuracy The system’s powerful LoRaWAN signal strength enables optimal sensor placement throughout the building, even in architecturally challenging locations. The single gateway’s ability to cover four floors significantly simplifies the technical infrastructure needed for comprehensive monitoring.
Streamlined Data Analysis and Reporting The team found substantial time savings in report generation and data analysis.
“The way Conserv sets out your data for you, producing reports for you is huge, that’s a massive time saver,” explains Alex.
The improved visualization tools also made it easier to communicate with leadership:
“It’s so much clearer visually for people to understand. For senior management who don’t necessarily have a science background… all they want is that snapshot.”
Intelligent Alerts and Remote Access The system’s automated alerting capabilities helped avoid alert fatigue while ensuring staff stayed informed of significant environmental changes. The mobile app provides easy remote monitoring capabilities, so staff can check conditions from anywhere. These features, combined with exceptional customer support, create a more efficient and smooth monitoring workflow.
As Alex notes, “I love Conserv. The customer service you offer is second to none… I’ve had such a great customer experience.”
Transforming Collection Care
The London Archives’ experience highlights how modern monitoring technology designed with conservators in mind can tackle even the toughest building environments while making life easier for collections staff.
By solving practical challenges—from signal coverage to reporting—Conserv helped Alex and the team spend less time on admin and more time preserving history. For other institutions dealing with historic buildings or looking to update and automate their monitoring approach, their experience shows how new solutions can enhance collection care.
