>Commercial building plans are required to be kept for
>the life of the building....

The same is also true for any buildings with Public Access, especially City,
County, State, or Federal Buildings.  Guidance in the Uniform Building Code
states that drawings depicting current conditions of the building must be
available for review, including ingress and egress routes and utilities and
services.

I haven't followed this issue intimately in the recent past, but (in CA)
there was at one time a requirement that stated for public buildings,
drawings depicting prior conditions must also be available for review.  

The purpose of this was if there were utilities "abandoned in place" or
changes to structures that may have resulted in a need for additional
bracing if a Seismic Zone had been re-evaluated post original construction.
 Earlier drawings might substantiate why changes had not been made, as there
is a "grandfather clause" on retrofitting in some instances, especially with
historically significant buildings which in some limited cases can also
exempt a facility from meeting ADA access requirements.

Yeah, I used to work for both engineering firms and architects- can ya tell?
  Also assisted a group of Clampers in filing papers to obtain approval for
establishing a historical landmark on a couple of occasions.  =)

Larry
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