Catalogue description Corporate and Administrative Records

Initially, the central administration of the Office of Works and its successors undertook secretarial and financial work, record-keeping and registry functions, in support of the office's primary responsibilities, namely the maintenance and where required construction of certain buildings and structures used by or for royal, governmental and other public business.

From the mid-nineteenth, but especially during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, the acquisition of numerous new areas of responsibility and the growth of demands in existing areas led to the development of both central corporate and administrative work and the creation of new directorates, branches, divisions and offices.

Concern with construction and management of government buildings led to the acquisition of executive and agency duties in related fields. Provision of furniture and fittings was gradually extended to encompass general supply functions. The office also undertook considerable work in the acquisition and management of land and premises for other departments. From 1898, the Office was given responsibility for what became the Government Art Collection. In the years immediately following the First World War the office also undertook the construction of houses for some local authorities who were unable to make arrangements with private contractors.

In 1938 the Directorate of Lands and Accommodation set up a central register of accommodation, used during and after the Second World War in the acquisition and requisitioning of land and buildings for civil departments and headquarters staff of the service departments and the allocation of accommodation needed for civil servants. Post-war responsibilities included de-requisitioning, compensation claims in respect of requisitioned property and the disposal of surplus buildings and stores, the removal of temporary defence works on private land and the restoration of the land. Requisitioned land on which development of permanent value had taken place was formally acquired, as were cross-country oil pipelines.

Wartime building was undertaken by the Ministry of Works and Buildings and its successors for the Ministry of Supply (ordnance factories and stores), the Ministry of Food (storage buildings), the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland (emergency hospitals), the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and others (hostels and married quarters), the Board of Education (temporary school accommodation), the Home Office and others (military and other camps) and the Board of Trade, the Ministry of Supply (factories). Specialised work, such as defence installations, aerodromes and work overseas, was reserved to the armed services departments. After the war the ministry continued to act as architect, engineer and construction agent to the Ministry of Supply in the provision of buildings for the atomic energy programmes. The ministry was also concerned in emergency repair work following air raids. It had direct responsibility for government and public buildings in its charge together with their contents, and co-ordinated the whole programme of emergency repairs undertaken by other departments, local authorities and public and private industries and regional mobilisation of the building industries for such work.

Control of the building industry was secured partly through statutory controls and partly through consultation. Licensing of civil building by the minister of works, together with powers to regulate building design, materials and standards, was introduced under defence regulations in October 1940 and became progressively more stringent during the course of the war.

The ministry was also given responsibility for consulting the departments and organisations concerned with post-war reconstruction of town and country and for reporting to the War Cabinet the appropriate methods and machinery for dealing with the issues involved. There was no transfer of statutory or executive planning powers; these remaining with the Ministry of Health and the Scottish Office.

Responsibilities of the Ministry of Works from 1943 in the field of reconstruction were limited to technical aspects of postwar building policy, discharged through the Directorate of Postwar Building. This had been set up in the autumn of 1941 to plan reconstruction work, particularly in the area of prefabricated homes, and to study building technique in the fields of design, structure and installations. In 1941 a Directorate of Construction (Economy) Design had also been established to promote economy in building and standardisation of design and construction. The ministry was also represented on the Interdepartmental Committee on House Construction, established in 1942 to consider materials and methods of construction. Research and experiments to improve the efficiency of building and civil engineering were initiated from 1944 by the chief scientific adviser to the minister; from April 1945 his work was guided by a Scientific Advisory Committee comprising leading scientists. After the war the co-ordination of standards for materials, components and equipment was carried out through the Inter-departmental Committee on the Use of Building Material Standards, 1946 to 1948, under Ministry of Works chairmanship.

Up to 1945 the Office of Works and its successors ran a provincial organisation of local professional and technical staff responsible for dealing with accommodation and building maintenance matters for other government departments in their area. Construction of new buildings was undertaken direct by Headquarters. The unit of organisation in the provinces was a geographical area known as a 'district' with its own professional head and supporting technical and clerical staff. During the Second World War this organisation was strengthened by the appointment of senior regional officers, but increases in work and responsibilities for the control of building operations led to the adoption in 1945 of a formal regional organisation for carrying out the work of the ministry outside London.

From 1945 the districts in England were grouped together within regions which, with the exception of London, had the same boundaries as those used for civil defence purposes. The organisation consisted of eight English regions - London, Eastern, Midland, North East, North West, South East, Southern, South West - a Central Office for Wales, and a Directorate of Scottish Services.

In April 1963 the ministry absorbed the works departments of the Admiralty, Air Ministry and War Office, thus concentrating the executive responsibility for government building. This concentration led to the creation of a new regional organisation in the department both at home and abroad, with greater devolution of responsibilities.

In February 1964 power over building control byelaws and regulations were taken over from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.