With the increased delivery of land records online and the need to preserve Crown plans, NSW Land and Property Information (LPI) decided to close its Bridge Street Plan Room to public access from 24 February 2012.
The plan room, located in the old Department of Lands building, 23 -33 Bridge Street, Sydney, has housed the state’s collection of original Crown plans since the 1880s. Many of the plans are very old and there was a risk of losing the priceless intellectual property they contain.
Since 2007, LPI has been undertaking a major program to conserve the Crown plans, scan the records as high quality colour images viewable online and to transfer the plans (as state records) to State Records NSW. Once transferred to State Records the original plans will be managed in accordance with their status as state archives.
More than 90 percent of the Bridge Street Crown plans are now accessible online in colour and the originals transferred. Many of the remaining plans in Bridge Street are fragile and will need to undergo conservation prior to scanning and archival.
For more information on the closure, and how to access the digital archives, visit: http://www.lpi.nsw.gov.au/about_lpi/announcements/bridge_street_plan_room_to_close
