Listed building

The Forth Bridge, designed by Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler, opened in 1890, and now owned by Network Rail, is designated as a Category A listed building by Historic Scotland.

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 Anglican churches in current use, and the church 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. Because of this, and because listing can limit the options available for significant expansion or improvement, the law allows for 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.

Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947.

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England and Wales

In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) 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):

There was formerly a non-statutory Grade III, which was abolished in 1970.[1] 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 pre-1977, although a few buildings are still listed using these grades.

As of 2008, the draft Heritage Protection Bill is currently subject to pre-legislative scrutiny before its passage through Parliament. If the Bill in 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. [2]

As of May 2003 there are approximately 442,000 listings in place, of which 418,000 (94.5%) are Grade II, 18,000 (4.1%) are Grade II*, and 6,000 (1.4%) are Grade I. Forty five per cent of Grade I buildings are Church of England parish churches.[3] 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 rationalise 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

See also: Category:Grade I listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales
Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the British monarch.
Clevedon Pier, showing boards and seating.
St Catherine's College, Oxford, one of a handful of modern buildings awarded Grade 1 Listing.
The West Front of Stonyhurst College, Lancashire

Examples of Grade II* listed buildings

See also: Category:Grade II* listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales
The Johnny Haynes stand at Craven Cottage is a Grade II* listed building.
Centre Point, a Grade II listed building.

Examples of Grade II listed buildings

See also: Category:Grade II listed buildings for examples of such buildings across England and Wales

Mixed designations

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 (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.

The scheme of listing is as follows:

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 (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) 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:

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

The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, designed by William Henry Playfair and opened in 1859, is one of the National Galleries of Scotland, a public body funded by the Scottish Government Education Department. It is a Category A listed building.

Examples of Category B listed buildings

The main stand of Ibrox Stadium, the home of Rangers, was designed by Archibald Leitch in 1929. It is designated as a Category B listed building by Historic Scotland.

Examples of Category C(s) listed buildings

References

  1. ↑ "About Listed Buildings". heritage.co.uk.
  2. ↑ http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.13381| English Heritage
  3. ↑ "The Church of England today". Church of England.

See also

External links