Many organisations are legally required to retain documents for 20, 30 or even 35+ years. Traditionally, these records have been placed into archive storage where monthly fees continue indefinitely.
At Plan2Scan, we offer an alternative. For a one-off cost of approximately £100 per archive box, we securely scan your documents into fully searchable digital files—eliminating decades of storage costs while improving accessibility, compliance and disaster recovery.
Why Long-Term Archive Storage Becomes Expensive
At first glance, archive storage seems inexpensive. Typical storage costs average around 1 pound per archive box per month. That doesn’t sound like much… Until you calculate what happens over decades.
| Storage Period | Archive Storage Cost | Document Scanning Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Year | £12 | £100 |
| 5 Years | £60 | £100 |
| 10 Years | £120 | £100 |
| 20 Years | £240 | £100 |
| 30 Years | £360 | £100 |
| 35 Years | £420 | £100 |
| 40 Years | £480 | £100 |
| 50 Years | £600 | £100 |
Archive Storage Savings Calculator
Enter your total number of archive boxes to see your 35-year savings.
35-Year Storage Cost: £210,000
One-Off Scanning Cost: £100,000
Total Estimated Saving: £110,000
Hidden Costs of Document Storage
- Document Retrieval and Refiling Fees
- Same-Day Delivery and Transportation Charges
- Box Handling and Processing Fees
- Permanent Withdrawal Penalties
- Compound Annual Price Increases
Key Benefits of Document Scanning
- Instant Search: Find any file in seconds using OCR keyword search instead of waiting days for deliveries.
- Enhanced Security: Encrypted files with role-based permission controls and complete access logs.
- GDPR Compliance: Built-in audit trails and automated retention policy controls.
- Remote and Hybrid Access: Secure digital file access for your team from anywhere.
Which Documents Are Worth Scanning?
- HR Personnel & Employee Files: Personnel records, pension documentation, and occupational health files.
- Medical & NHS Records: Patient charts, clinical records, and historical medical archives.
- Legal & Conveyancing Files: Deeds, property records, contracts, and legal case files.
- Financial & Corporate Data: Annual accounts, tax records, building plans, and engineering drawings.
- Public Sector Records: Education archives and local authority records requiring long retention schedules.
Why Choose Plan2Scan?
- Secure UK-Wide Collection: Safe and tracked transport of your archive boxes directly from your site.
- UK-Based Scanning Facility: High-speed, confidential digitisation processed entirely in the UK.
- Fully Searchable Files: High-accuracy OCR processing converts paper into fully searchable digital PDFs.
- GDPR Compliant Processing: End-to-end data security, encrypted file delivery, and strict audit trails.
- Confidential Waste Disposal: Certified secure destruction options once digital migration is complete.
FAQs
The regulations require digital, secure and accessible information for higher-risk buildings.
Yes, up to A0.
Yes, nationwide.
Yes, including projects completed decades ago.
Plan2Scan scans and indexes documents for integration with systems such as SharePoint, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Viewpoint, Aconex, Procore, Asite, Bentley ProjectWise and other Common Data Environments (CDEs).
Plan2Scan offers confidential collection, secure transport, tracked chain of custody, professional preparation, quality assurance, OCR searchable PDFs, GDPR-compliant handling and optional secure destruction.