According to Jeļena Gavrilova, member of the management board of SJSC ‘State Real Estate’ (SRE), on 15 April 2024, the state company signed a contract with the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA) to provide funding for the renovation of the buildings of the Latvian State Archive (LSA), a unit of the National Archives of Latvia (NAL), with the goal of improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact, informs Jeļena Gavrilova, Member of the SRE Board.
In line with the archive infrastructure development concept approved by the government in late 2020, energy efficiency improvements are to implemented in the LSA at Slokas Street 16 and Bezdelīgu Street 1a, Riga.
‘NAL are an invaluable protector of Latvia’s national heritage, keeping and maintaining our historical documents from 1220 to this day. It is an essential element of preserving our state’s identity and cultural heritage. Our goal is not just to upgrade the buildings; it is a step towards the archive’s sustainability. Through investments in energy efficiency, we will not only reduce the consumption of energy, but also create better conditions for the archive’s staff and its visitors,’ Gavrilova said.
The total cost of the ‘Energy efficiency improvements in the Bezdelīgu Street 1A, Riga, building’ project is expected to be EUR 11 million, while the total cost of the "Energy efficiency improvements in the Slokas Street 16, Riga, building’ is estimated at EUR 12.5 million. Thetotal cost of the archive building energy efficiency projects is to be 23.5 million euros. The project will be funded through the European Union Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Plan 1.2 Reform and investment axis ‘Improving energy efficiency’, namely through investments included in the budget of the ‘Improving energy efficiency in public sector buildings, including historic buildings’ plan, and partially, through the national budget.
In the Slokas Street 16 building, improving its energy efficiency as much as possible requires replacing external wooden doors, attic doors, wooden windows, insulating the external walls and the attic, replacing the roof. Meanwhile, for the Bezdelīgu Street 1a building, it is necessary to replace the external wooden doors, replace the glass block windows, insulate the attic, insulate the basement slab, insulate the overhang, insulate the roof, insulate the external walls and the building pedestal, rebuild the heating and ventilation systems (including the air conditioning).
‘We hope that the energy efficiency improvements envisaged in these projects will provide a more stable climate that is better for the preservation of our national documentary heritage,’ Māra Sprūdža, head of NAL, noted.
These activities will enable the National Archives of Latvia to provide more comfortable conditions for the users and the guests of these buildings, and will improve their appearance. In addition, primary energy consumption will be reduced by 30% in the Slokas Street building and by 45%, in the Bezdelīgu Street 1a building.
The building at Slokas Street 16 was designed by architect V. R. Reslers and built in 1908 as the city’s pawnshop. Annexes were added to the building in 1914, with a small wing along Bezdelīgu Street, and in 1937, when it was rebuilt by architect I. Blankenburgs.
About NAL
NAL is a cross-institutional body that plays an important role in overseeing the management and archiving of institutional documents, as well as the collection, assessment, preservation, provision of access, and use of private documents of archival value, ensuring the development of Latvia’s national memory. According to the Archives Law, various institutions, private individuals vested with certain powers of the state, companies, associations, foundations, and legal entities are required, if they are undergoing liquidation, to submit documents of archival value and their reference systems to NAL. NAL also actively receives documents of archival value from various private individuals, including important Latvian political, social, scientific, cultural, and artistic figures, as well as Latvian exile organisations, film studios, recording studios, etc.
NAL currently stores more than 22 million length units (LU) or documents, accounting for 173 kilometres of shelves. On average, the amount of documents increases by 170,000 LU or 0.1 shelf-kilometres a year.
Planning its future development, NAL expects to increase the amount of documents it keeps by an additional 2 million LU or 1.2 shelf-kilometres by 2030.
About SRE
SRE provides professional real estate management and administration for 419 building and structure properties, comprising 1049 buildings with a total area of 0.98 million square metres, as well as land beneath structures with a total area of 585 hectares, and 3385 land properties with a total area of 937 hectares. SRE is one of 17 Latvian companies that in 2023 received the highest platinum award as part of the Sustainability Index of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, confirming the good governance and sustainability of its operations. The company was founded in 1996 and the Ministry of Finance is its sole shareholder.
