Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP is a leading City based law firm employing over 450 people, more than 260 lawyers and some of the sharpest minds in the UK legal market. They provide trusted counsel to UK and international clients. In 2006 RPC relocated from cellular offices in High Holborn and
Leadenhall Street to Tower Bridge House, taking 4 floors at this impressive, modernistic, glass building opposite the Tower of London. They chose Qubiqa’s SHADE E9000 Electronic storage systems which are installed on 3 floors at Tower Bridge House – the total capacity is nearly 2,000 linear metres of storage.

Before relocating RPC used a basement area for archive storage, with storage units in the offices. Before the relocation a full storage analysis was carried out and following this much of the archive storage was either moved to secure off-site storage or disposed of.

A new 3 tier policy for storage has been implemented and each solicitor is allowed 10 lin m of storage space:
• staff may store working files at their desk
• nearby to the desks are low level storage units for regularly used files
• all other storage on-site is in Qubiqa Electronic SHADE E9000 mobile units - this includes a reference library

The Records Team, headed by David Hipson, Records Manager, carefully manage and monitor all the storage. The items stored on Qubiqa’s mobile shelving are regularly reviewed and moved to secure off-site storage as necessary. The shelving is largely used for storing lever arch files and archive boxes, along with magazines, newspapers and books, implementing the use of angled display shelves and dividers.

RPC chose the Qubiqa SHADE E9000 system because it best suited all their requirements. Saving floor space was important and when they saw the many features and benefits of this ‘intelligent’ storage system, alongside the cost quoted and the option to add document management software they were impressed. In particular the ease of use, safety and the ability to lock down the system appealed.

Appearance was also important – the high quality wrap around steel end panels (by Jacob Jensen Design) give an aesthetically pleasing and modern appearance which enhances the working environment and blends in well with their office décor.

David Hipson comments: “The system works very well and we are very happy with it. The installation was surprisingly quick and efficient. All our staff have open access to the mobile storage system and they find the system simple to use. In fact, it does ‘exactly what it says on the tin’ – sometimes simple things work the best and this system, although hi-tech, is simple to operate. The Qubiqa system certainly offered more options than the other systems we considered.”

Mayur Patel, Facilities Director at RPC has this to add: “Our project involved looking for alternative filing systems for our new open plan offices. After researching/viewing several roller racking suppliers products, the SHADE E9000 system in my opinion was by far the best product. Qubiqa worked closely with myself and my project team to ensure all of our requirements were met and selecting the electronic racking system would allow us to link the product to our RMS (Records Management System) in the future. The product is reliable, robust and very user friendly, so good that we are pleased to recommend it to anyone who is looking for such a product.”