DEEPSTORE, the UK's largest underground storage company has created a new, purpose-built unit for an architecture firm.

The state-of-the-art storage room will house more than 30,000 items for Foster and Partners - 150 metres below ground in Britain’s largest salt mine in Winsford.

Michael Bass, head of facilities at Foster and Partners, said: “I am confident the new purpose-built storage unit will be a first-class storage facility for our vast archive of architectural drawings and records.”

The company has worked with DeepStore since 2005.

The firm was founded by Lord Foster in 1967 and has designed some of the most iconic buildings across the globe, including The Gherkin in London, the Reichstag building in Berlin, Hearst Tower in New York and the Supreme Court building in Singapore.

The unique underground facilities were developed as an alternative use for the space created from mining millions of tons of rock salt at the mine – owned and operated by DeepStore’s parent company, Compass Minerals®.

It has the capacity to extract 1.5 million tonnes annually.

Deepstore currently operates an area 700 times the size of Wembley football pitch. With the continuous rock salt mining activity, it has the capacity for future expansion into an area of more than 500 million cubic feet.

Craig Trimby, Deepstore's head of sales, said: “We have created this new storage room for their archive from where all stored items can be retrieved at short notice for delivery to the Foster and Partners studio in Battersea, London.

"The mine has consistent temperature and humidity levels and is also naturally free from ultraviolet light, vermin and flooding, making it the perfect environment for storing the precious archive material.”

Deepstore has more than 1,000 public and private sector clients.