A
listed building in the United Kingdom
is a building or other structure officially
designated as being of special architectural, historical or
cultural significance. It is a widely used status, applied
to around half a million buildings.
A listed building may not be demolished, extended or altered
without special permission from the local planning authority (who
typically consult the relevant central government agency,
particularly for significant alterations to the more notable listed
buildings). Exemption is provided for some churches in current use
for worship, although in such cases the church organisation
operates its own permissions procedure. Owners of listed buildings
are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them
and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so or if they
perform unauthorised alterations. When alterations are permitted,
or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, the owners are
often compelled to use specific (and potentially expensive)
materials or techniques. This, in turn, increases the cost of
insuring the building. Listing can also limit the options available
for significant expansion or improvement. For these reasons, the
law allows owners of listed buildings to object to the
listing.
Although most structures appearing on the lists are buildings,
other structures such as
bridges,
monuments,
sculptures,
war memorials, and even
milestones and mileposts may also be listed.
Ancient,
military and uninhabited structures (such as Stonehenge
) are sometimes instead classified as Scheduled Ancient Monuments and
protected by much older legislation whilst cultural landscapes such
as parks and gardens are currently "listed" on a non-statutory
basis. In England
, this
complex system may be rationalised under the Heritage Protection
Review (see below).
History
Although a limited number of 'ancient monuments' were given
protection under the
Ancient Monuments
Protection Act 1882, it was the damage to buildings caused by
Nazi bombing during
World War II that prompted the first listing of
buildings that were of deemed to be of particular architectural
merit. 300 members of the
Royal Institute of British
Architects and the
Society for the
Protection of Ancient Buildings were dispatched to prepare the
list under the supervision of the
Inspectorate of Ancient
Monuments, with funding from the Treasury. The listings were
used as a means of determining whether a particular building should
be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing, with varying degrees of
success.
The basis of the current more comprehensive listing process was
developed from the wartime system and was enacted by a provision in
the
Town and Country
Planning Act 1947. In 1980 there was public outcry at the
sudden destruction of the
art deco
Firestone Factory (
Wallis,
Gilbert and Partners, 1928-29), which was demolished over the
August bank holiday weekend by its owners
Trafalgar House who had been told that it
was likely to be 'spot-listed' a few days later, and the Government
undertook to review arrangements for listing buildings. After the
Firestone demolition, the
Secretary of State for
the Environment Michael
Heseltine also initiated a complete re-survey of buildings to
ensure there was nothing which merited preservation and had been
missed off the lists.
England and Wales
In
England and Wales the authority
for listing is granted by the Planning
Act 1990 and is presently administered by English Heritage, an agency of the Department for
Culture, Media & Sport, and Cadw in
Wales
(where it is a devolved
issue). Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on
English Heritage's
Buildings
At Risk Register.
There are three types of listed status (in descending order of
"importance" and difficulty to obtain planning permission):
- Grade I: buildings of outstanding
architectural or historic interest.
- Grade II*: particularly significant buildings
of more than local interest.
- Grade II: buildings of special architectural
or historic interest.
There was formerly a non-statutory Grade III, which was abolished
in 1970. Additionally, Grades A, B and C were used in for mainly
Anglican churches in use – these
correspond to Grades I, II* and II. These grades were used mainly
before 1977, although a few buildings are still listed using these
grades.
A photographic library of Listed Buildings is maintained by
English Heritage at the
Images of England Project Website.
As of 2008, the draft Heritage Protection Bill is currently subject
to pre-legislative scrutiny before its passage through Parliament.
If the Bill is introduced and passed in the 2008–09 session, the
new system could be implemented in 2010. The proposal is that the
existing registers of buildings, parks and gardens, archaeology and
battlefields, maritime wrecks, and World Heritage Sites will be
merged into a single online register which will "explain what is
special and why". The existing Grades I, II* and II, currently used
for buildings, will be retained for all types of asset. English
Heritage will become responsible for identifying Historic Assets in
England and there will be wider consultation with the public and
asset owners, and new rights of appeal. There will be streamlined
systems for granting consent for work on Historic Assets.
As of July 2009, there are approximately 373,000 listings in place,
of which 343,000 (92%) are Grade II, 20,500 (5.5%) are Grade II*,
and 9,300 (2.5%) are Grade I. Forty five per cent of Grade I
buildings are
Church of England
parish churches. There are estimated to be about 500,000 actual
buildings listed, as listing entries can apply to more than one
building.
The criteria for listing include architectural interest, historic
interest and close historical associations with significant people
or events. Buildings which are not individually noteworthy may
still be listed if they form part of a group that is – for example,
all the buildings in a square. Sometimes large areas comprising
many buildings may not warrant listing but are given the looser
protection of designation as a
conservation area.
Government general policy is to list all buildings erected before
1700 "which survive in anything like their original condition" and
most buildings of 1700–1840. More selection is exercised among
buildings of the Victorian period and the 20th century. Buildings
less than 30 years old are rarely listed, and buildings less than
10 years old never.
Although the decision to list may be made on the basis of the
architectural or historic interest of one small part of the
building, the listing protection nevertheless applies to the whole
building.
De-listing is possible but rare in practice.
One example being the
November 30, 2001 de-listing of North
Corporation Primary School
, Liverpool
.
Heritage Protection Review
In March
2007 The Department for
Culture, Media & Sport proposed in a government White Paper major reforms to the system in
England and Wales. This
was the culmination of a 4 year review process. If approved, the
term Listed Building will be replaced by Designated Structure. This
was a result of a wide-ranging review to rationalize designations
in which
Scheduled Ancient
Monuments, Listed Landscapes on the non-statutory parks and
gardens register, monuments and maritime heritage sites would all
also become Designated Structures or Sites. It is proposed that the
three Grades I, II* and II then apply to all Designated Buildings
and Sites.
If approved by Parliament managing these new proposals will be the
sole responsibility of
English
Heritage instead of the Department of Culture Media and Sport,
as at present.
Examples of Grade I listed buildings
for examples of such buildings across England and Wales
Examples of Grade II* listed buildings
for examples of such buildings across England and Wales
Examples of Grade II listed buildings
for examples of such buildings across England and Wales
Mixed designations
- In 2002 there were 80 seaside piers in
England that were listed, variously at Grades I, II* and II.
- Golden Lane Estate
, City of London is an example of a site which
includes buildings of different Grades, II and II*
- Cobham Park, Kent is a Listed Landscape
(Humphry Repton and older landscape),
contains Grade I structures (Cobham Hall
and Darnley Mausoleum) Grade II structures
(ornamental dairy etc), plus a Scheduled Ancient Monument (a
buried Roman villa).
- West Norwood Cemetery
is a Gothic Revival
metropolitan cemetery and crematorium which contains 65 structures
of Grade II or II*, mainly sepulchral monuments but also boundary
structures and mausolea.
Locally listed buildings
Many councils, for example,
Birmingham City Council, maintain a
register of
Locally listed buildings in
addition to the statutory list. There is no statutory protection of
a building or object on this list. Councils hope that owners will
recognise the merits of their properties and keep them unaltered if
at all possible.
These grades are used by Birmingham:
- Grade A: This is of statutory list quality. To be the subject
of notification to English Heritage and/or the serving of a
Building Preservation Notice if imminently threatened.
- Grade B: Important in the city wide architectural or local
street scene context, warranting positive efforts to ensure
retention.
- Grade C: Of significance in the local historical/vernacular
context, including industrial archaeological features, and worthy
of retention.
Northern Ireland
Listed buildings in Northern Ireland are administered by the
Northern Ireland
Environment Agency, under powers granted by Article 42 of the
Planning Order
1991.
The scheme of listing is as follows:
- Grade A: buildings of national importance and superior examples
of a specific type.
- Grade B+: buildings of regional importance, or important
buildings that would qualify as Grade A but for lower-quality
design or subsequent additions.
- Grade B1: buildings of local importance, or good examples of
some type.
- Grade B2: buildings of local importance, or good examples of
some type, but of a lower quality than Grade B1.
Examples of Grade A listed buildings
Examples of Grade B+ listed buildings
Examples of Grade B1 listed buildings
Scotland
In
Scotland
the
Town and Country Planning Act 1997 applies. As with other powers
regarding planning, conservation is a power devolved to the Scottish Parliament
and Scottish
Government. Historic
Scotland is the agency charged by the
Scottish Government for protecting
listed buildings and scheduled monuments.
The scheme for classifying buildings is:
- Category A: "buildings of national or
international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine
little-altered examples of some particular period, style or
building type"
- Category B: "buildings of regional or more
than local importance, or major examples of some particular period,
style or building type which may have been altered"
- Category C(s): "buildings of local importance,
lesser examples of any period, style or building type, as
originally constructed or altered; and simple, traditional
buildings which group well with others in categories A and B or are
part of a planned group such as an estate or an industrial
complex"
As of 2007, approximately 8% of listings are category A, 60% are
category B, and 32% are category C(s).
Examples of Category A listed buildings
Examples of Category B listed buildings
Examples of Category C(s) listed buildings
- a large number of notable private homes are designated Category
C(s) (some A and B category listed buildings are also private
homes)
- Statue of John
Knox, New
College
Quadrangle, Edinburgh (New College is itself
designated as a Category A listed building)
- War Memorial to Dundee City
Police, West Bell Street, Dundee
See also
References
- Preserving historic sites and buildings
- Listed buildings, The Victorian
Society
- Targets of enemy bombers and our own demolition
men, The
Independent
- John Witherow, "No listing of Hoover factory", The
Times, 1 September 1980, p. 4.
- John Young, "A notable dozen are added to the nation's listed
buildings", The Times, 15 October 1980, p. 4.
- Charles Knevitt, "Protecting palaces and pillarboxes", The
Times, 3 June 1985, p. 8.
- Images of England Project
- English Heritage
- English Heritage Listed Buildings
External links
, Bretherton
, London
, Calderdale
, Moray
– designed
by Thomas Telford and built
1812–1814
– designed by William Young, opened
1889
, Edinburgh – official residence of the monarch in Scotland
– Art Deco residential
apartments
,
Highland
equivalent)
equivalents)
equivalent)
equivalent)
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