Caithness Archive part of team nominated for Excellence Award
The Caithness Archive based at Nucleus: the Nuclear and Caithness Archives in Wick is part of a team nominated for the 2024 Record Keeping Service of the Year.
The Archives & Records Association of UK and Ireland has chosen the Highland Archive Centre as the only Scottish nomination at the ARA Excellence Awards 2024. The Highland Archive Centre is competing against Essex Police Museum and Lancashire Archives & Local History, and covers four sites across Scotland in Fort William, Inverness, Portree, and Wick.
Archivist Jamie McCaffrey, based at Nucleus, said: “The Caithness Archive team are very proud to be part of the Highland Archive Service and to have been nominated for the Archives and Records Association “Record Keeping Service of the Year” award.
“It is both fascinating and rewarding to work as part of the service. Being able to connect with the community and with researchers through our records and outreach activities is a real joy. We are all very passionate about continuing our work to help people engage with the history and heritage of Caithness.”
The awards will be decided by public vote and the results announced on 29th August.
The DRG is a collaborative project run by Dounreay and Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives.
Over a two hour session, participants are shown photographs from the vast nuclear photographic archive. Archive staff will be on hand to capture any information relevant to the photographs as well as anecdotes and stories.
This precious information will then be incorporated into the descriptions of the archives at Nucleus, meaning that future generations will benefit from both technical and social insight into Dounreay’s past.
Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided to all attendees, and there is always time in between viewing photographs for attendees to catch up and reminisce.
Anyone with knowledge of, or a connection to, Dounreay is welcome to join. This includes Dounreay employees (past and present) and their families and friends. There is no need to book on to sessions and we are always delighted to welcome new faces.
The NDA archive Nucleus: the Nuclear and Caithness Archives has collected another prestigious award after being named the best building in Scotland by one of the industry’s professional bodies.
Designed by Edinburgh-based Reiach and Hall Architects, its success made it a contender for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award, named after the celebrated Scottish architect who worked on numerous city regeneration projects.
The award, established in 2002 to celebrate the best buildings in Scotland, is one of the largest architectural prizes in the world and is supported by the Doolan family as well as the Scottish Government.
Simon Tucker, the NDA’s Head of Information Governance, said:
“We are absolutely delighted that Nucleus has been named as this year’s best building in Scotland. Visually, it is extremely striking, and is also a fantastic operational facility, purpose-built for the preservation and storage of our nuclear records, as well as those from Caithness.”
One of the earlier citations noted:
“The judges unanimously felt that this was an impressive industrial building which created an ethereal and beautifully sculpted building. Security issues in the design of the landscape did not detract from the panel’s view that this was an excellent building. The relationship of the building to the historic context of the site and the adjacent wartime airfield are beautifully articulated, together with the references to the Caithness context of lochs and a difficult climate.”
