National Conservation Service

The National Conservation Service (NCS) is a not-for-profit membership organisation providing conservation guidance and support to archives, libraries and museums. As a member of the team of accredited conservators working with NCS, I provide advice for designated members paid for through the annual membership fee. NCS specialises in providing conservation treatments, management, storage and training in the care of library, archive and museum collections.

The NCS head office and London conservation studio is in Mayfair, above the Royal Institution, and NCS also has agreements to operate in studios in locations as far afield as Falmouth in Cornwall, Bangor in North Wales and Perth in Scotland. Services also include the collaborative storage facility at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire which provides high quality commercial storage space for a variety of collection types including photographic media.

This facility is delivering a low cost storage service for heritage collections which is managed by Restore, the UK’s second largest storage business. NCS acts for the heritage organisation, monitoring the quality of conditions at the store and advising on collection needs before material is moved to the site. A single low rate per cubic metre per annum is available, regardless of quantity or length of term required; with environmental, security, fire and flood protection and building qualities that meet PD 5454:2012. See the NCS website for further information.