Side-to-Side Shelving for Sevier School District in Richfield, UT
The district needed more file and supply storage without giving up floor space. We supplied an Aurora side-to-side lateral mobile system on a State of Utah contract and had it installed and signed off in Richfield.
3 rows
1 fixed row, 2 sliding rows
7 levels
Open shelves per unit
Letter
File dividers on every shelf
Signed off
100% complete, no punch list
Shop Lateral Mobile and File Shelving Online
Online prices for a ready-made lateral mobile unit with a fixed back row and sliding front units, plus the filing and reference shelves that suit records rooms like this one. Full side-to-side systems for a specific room, including the Aurora system shown on this page, are quoted to your space: request a quote or call our Utah office at 801-328-8788.
Project Snapshot
Sevier School District serves Richfield and the surrounding communities of central Utah. Like most districts, it keeps a steady volume of paper records, files and supplies that have to stay organized and reachable, often in rooms that were never designed for storage.
In September 2022 the district asked our Salt Lake City office to quote a high-density shelving system for a storage room. We recommended side-to-side shelving, a compact lateral mobile system made by Aurora Storage Products: a stationary row of shelving against the wall with sliding units in front that move left or right to open the row behind them.
This page covers what was requested, quoted, ordered, delivered and installed. The district signed the installer’s work order confirming the job was 100% complete with no punch list, and the photos on this page were taken at the finished installation.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Customer | Sevier School District |
| Location | Richfield, Utah |
| Sector | K-12 public education, district maintenance and records storage |
| Product | Aurora Side-To-Side lateral mobile shelving, open shelves, seven shelf levels, letter-size file dividers |
| Configuration | Three rows: one stationary back row with two rows of sliding units in front |
| Purchasing | Priced on a State of Utah contract and ordered on a district purchase order |
| Our role | Quote and drawing, manufacturer order, freight, and receiving, delivery and installation through our Utah install partner |
| Timeline | Quoted September 2022, shipped December 2022, installed and signed off January 27, 2023 |
| Supported hub | Utah Shelving Solutions |
The Need: More File Storage Without More Floor Space
School district storage rooms fill up the same way everywhere. Personnel and student records, maintenance files, archived forms and boxed supplies arrive every year, and very little ever leaves. When the room is full, the usual options are to rent space, buy more cabinets, or store boxes on the floor.
The district contact already knew the kind of system he wanted. He sent our sales manager photos of an existing high-density file system and asked whether we could quote one like it on the state contract. That system had retractable doors on each shelf level, so the first question we asked was whether the new one needed doors too. The answer was no: open shelves would do, which keeps the system simpler and makes files faster to reach.
With the location and door question settled, we prepared a quote letter, a drawing of the proposed layout and the manufacturer brochure. The district reviewed them, approved the purchase internally and sent its purchase order.
How Side-to-Side Shelving Works
Side-to-side shelving, also called lateral mobile or lateral sliding shelving, stacks two or three rows of shelving front to back with no aisle between them. The back row is stationary. The front row, or front two rows, sit on carriages that glide left and right along a floor deck and rail. Each sliding row is one unit short of a full row, which leaves a gap. Slide a unit into the gap and the shelves behind it open up.
According to Aurora’s literature, the deck and rail assembly is a heavy-duty base that can be adjusted for carpet, wood, concrete or tile floors, and quiet acetal polymer wheels carry the carriages. An overhead anti-tip connection links the sliding units to the stationary row so they cannot shift or tip, which is the black channel visible along the tops of the units in the Project Snapshot photo.
Unlike a full mobile shelving system, there is no moving aisle and no handwheel or powered drive. That makes side-to-side a good fit for a single wall in an office, file room or storage room.
Filing capacity compared with cabinets
Aurora publishes a simple comparison that shows why districts and offices choose this format. The figures below are the manufacturer’s own examples, not measurements from the Sevier room.
| Storage option (manufacturer example) | Filing inches | Floor space used |
|---|---|---|
| One Aurora Side-To-Side unit with five 8-tier carriages | About 1,360 | About 21.6 sq ft |
| Twelve 4-drawer vertical file cabinets | About 1,200 | About 66 sq ft |
| Eight 48-inch 4-drawer lateral file cabinets | About 1,472 | About 128 sq ft |
In other words, a side-to-side unit can hold roughly what a wall of file cabinets holds in a fraction of the floor area, because cabinets need drawer pull-out space and their own aisle. Read the full Aurora Side-To-Side brochure for sizes and options.
Configuration Decisions for the District
Three rows instead of two. Aurora builds side-to-side systems in two-row and three-row versions. The district’s drawing used three rows: the stationary back row plus two sliding rows. A third row adds capacity on the same wall, at the cost of one more slide to reach the back.
Open shelves. Dropping the per-shelf doors seen in the district’s reference photos kept the system straightforward and every file visible. Doors and locks remain options for rooms holding sensitive records; see Aurora shelving for door and security options.
Seven shelf levels with dividers. Each unit carries seven open shelf levels with two letter-size dividers per shelf, so files stand upright in sections instead of leaning across the shelf. Our guide to shelf clips and dividers explains how dividers keep files and parts in place.
- Color chosen from the chart. After the order was confirmed we sent the Aurora color chart, and the district picked Gray Sky the same morning. See the Aurora colors and finishes page.
- Letter size. Side-to-side units come in letter and legal sizes. Matching shelf depth to the files avoids wasted depth and keeps the sliding rows compact.
- Installation included. Freight and installation were part of the quote, so the district had one price and one point of contact from order to sign-off.
From Quote Request to Signed-Off Installation
The order was placed in fall 2022, when manufacturer lead times across the industry were longer than usual. This is the sequence the project followed.
Request and questions
On September 19, 2022 the district asked for a quote on the state contract and shared photos of the system it had in mind. We confirmed the delivery city and that open shelves would work.
Quote, drawing and brochure
On September 21 we sent the quote letter, a layout drawing and the Aurora brochure, priced on the State of Utah contract, with freight and installation included.
Purchase order and color
The district approved the purchase and sent its purchase order. On September 27 we confirmed receipt, the district chose its color, and the manufacturer and installation orders went out the same day.
Shipped and delivered
The system shipped from the manufacturer by freight on December 20, 2022 and was received for delivery to the district, which confirmed in early January that the materials had arrived.
Installed and signed off
Our install partner scheduled the work with the district for January 26 and 27, 2023. On January 27 the district signed the work order: job 100% complete, no punch list.
Rural Utah logistics. Richfield is roughly a two and a half hour drive south of Salt Lake City. Our Utah installation partner received the freight at its warehouse, delivered it to the district and installed it, so the district did not have to accept a truckload of crates or find its own crew. The district named one person to coordinate the install date and building access, which made scheduling simple once the material was in hand.
Planning a similar project anywhere in the state? Our commercial shelving installation in Utah guide covers receiving, delivery, anchoring and punch-list closeout.
Buying Shelving on a State Contract in Utah
Public buyers in Utah, including school districts, cities, counties and state agencies, can often purchase through state cooperative contracts instead of running a separate bid. That is what made this project quick to approve: the district asked for pricing on the state contract, received a quote that referenced it, and issued a purchase order after its normal internal approvals.
Tell us you are a public buyer
Mention the agency or district and that you want contract pricing. We confirm which current contract applies to the product.
Share photos or a sketch
Photos of the room or of a system you like, plus what you store, are enough to start a drawing.
Review the quote package
You receive a quote letter, layout drawing and manufacturer literature for your files and approvers.
Issue a purchase order
Send your PO. We place the manufacturer and installation orders and keep you updated through delivery.
Contract numbers and terms change over time, so always confirm the current contract with us before budgeting. Federal buyers can review our GSA Aurora shelving page.
Lessons for Utah Schools and Offices Planning File Storage
- Send a photo of what you like. A picture of an existing system answers questions about style, height and doors faster than a written spec.
- Decide on doors early. Open shelves are simpler and faster to use. Choose doors or locks only where the records call for them.
- Use the whole wall. Side-to-side shelving turns one wall into two or three rows of storage with no extra aisle, which is ideal for small file rooms.
- Plan for lead time. Manufactured systems are built to order. Order before the storage room overflows, and ask for current lead times when you request the quote.
- Buy installation with the system. Having the installer receive, deliver and assemble the shelving avoids crates sitting in a school hallway.
- Close out with a signed work order. A completion sign-off with any punch-list items written down protects both the district and the installer.
Related records storage projects and guides
For a larger records room with a moving aisle, see our school records file room mobile shelving in Cottonwood Heights and the guide to Utah government records room mobile shelving. For single-office filing, the Aurora Times-2 rotary files project in Orem shows another compact option, and records storage shelving covers static boxes and archives. Schools can also review Aurora K-12 school storage and Aurora filing and divided drawers.
Browse every Utah shelving type on our Utah Shelving Solutions hub, compare rail-mounted systems on mobile shelving in Utah, or see the national commercial and industrial shelving solutions page. Other Utah shelving case studies include clip shelving for Veterans Trading Company and steel shelving and a mezzanine for Nucor Steel Utah. See all of our case studies.
Sevier School District Project FAQs
What did Material Handling USA supply to Sevier School District?
What is side-to-side shelving?
How is side-to-side shelving different from mobile shelving?
Can Utah school districts buy shelving on a state contract?
How long does a side-to-side shelving project take?
Do you install shelving outside the Salt Lake City area?
Running Out of File Room Space in Utah?
Send photos of the room and what you store. We will suggest a side-to-side, mobile or static shelving layout and quote it, including contract pricing for public buyers.