Catalogue description Office of Works and successors: Deeds, Series V

The Office of Works, as it was known by the early seventeenth century, had overseen the building of castles and royal residences (the Kings' Works) from its establishment in 1378. By 1832 a series of reforms had placed it under Treasury control and extended its responsibilities to include public buildings maintained by parliamentary funds, and works for ceremonial occasions.

From 1832 it functioned as the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings; but in 1851 became a department of central government (known simply as the Office of Works), under parliamentary scrutiny and building for every branch of the state except the armed forces. The First Commissioner of Works, appointed by Royal Warrant in 1851, took over some of the functions of the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests.

The Commissioners of Works Act, 1852 granted powers to the Commissioners of the Office of Works to buy, take or accept any hereditament necessary for the public service and to sell or lease any so taken. However, these powers were subject to Treasury control.

Under the provisions of the Commissioners of Works Act, 1894 it was no longer necessary for a vendor, purchaser, lessor or lessee to ascertain whether the consent of the Treasury had been given.

By 1880 all new civil estate buildings, all existing government buildings, royal palaces and parks, post offices and overseas consular and diplomatic premises were included in the Office of Works responsibilities. However, property in lands and buildings for military purposes was vested in the Secretary of State for War.

Before and during the First World War the Office of Works carried out work for other government departments, involving land acquisition and the erection and conversion of buildings for wartime purposes - including emergency hospitals, ordnance factories and air raid shelters. Post-war needs involved the provision of housing estates and training establishments.

By the beginning of the Second World War the Office of Works portfolio had expanded to include county courts, arts and science buildings, telephone exchanges, coastguard stations and some responsibility for defence buildings.

The Second World War led to the transformation of the Office of Works, from what had become a central agency service, into a full-scale Ministry of Works and Buildings responsible for an area of government policy.

The new Ministry was responsible for all new civil works and buildings, the provision of additional and emergency accommodation, and the maintenance of a central register of accommodation.

An Order in Council, made under the Minister of Works Act 1942, transferred to the Minister of Works the powers, duties, properties, rights and liabilities of the Commissioners of the Office of Works, and any statutory functions exercisable by them. As a result, all leases, and contracts entered into, conveyances taken and other actions previously carried out in the name of the Commissioners were from 15 August 1945 carried on in the name of the Minister of Works.

The style and title of the Minister of Works was changed to 'Minister of Public Buildings and Works' by Statutory Instrument No 1549 made and enforced in 1962 under section 2 of the Ministers of the Crown (Transfer of Functions) Act, 1946. This Ministry remained in place until 1970 when, following the publication of a white paper Reorganisation of Central Government (Cmnd 4506), the Department of the Environment was formed by merger of the Ministries of Public Buildings and Works, Housing and Local Government and Transport.

From the early eighteenth century the Office of Woods and its successors had compiled registers which formed an index of land and property owned or held on behalf of other government departments. Each entry consisted of a description, with a map and a listing of existing deeds relating to it. From 1938, in anticipation of the coming hostilities, the Directorate of Lands and Accommodation, within the Office of Works, began compiling a central register to record the acquisition and requisition of lands and buildings. The Second World War saw the enactment of a number of statutes granting emergency powers to acquire land for government use to support the war effort. Subsequent registers recorded compensation, and settlement relating to property taken over by the state.