Listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building[a] is a structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection.[1] Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The classification schemes differ between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (see sections below). The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is "protected structure."[2]
This article is about the law in the United Kingdom. For the system in the Republic of Ireland, which has used the same term, see Protected structure. For other jurisdictions, see List of heritage registers.
A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency. In England and Wales, a national amenity society must be notified of any work to be done on a listed building which involves any element of demolition.[3]
Exemption from secular listed building control is provided for some buildings in current use for worship, but only in cases where the relevant religious organisation operates its own equivalent 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 required to use specific materials or techniques.[4]
Although most sites appearing on the lists are buildings, other structures such as bridges, monuments, sculptures, war memorials, milestones and mileposts, and the Abbey Road zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles,[5] are also listed. Ancient, military, and uninhabited structures, such as Stonehenge, are sometimes instead classified as scheduled monuments and are protected by separate legislation.[b] Cultural landscapes such as parks and gardens are currently "listed" on a non-statutory basis.
Records[edit]
England[edit]
Although the 2008 draft legislation was abandoned, Historic England (then part of English Heritage) published a single list of all designated heritage assets within England in 2011.[87] The National Heritage List for England is an online searchable database which includes 400,000 English Listings, this includes individual listed buildings, groups of multiple listed buildings which share the same listing, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, protected historic wrecks and registered battlefields and World Heritage Sites in one place. The 400,000 in the listing should not be confused with the actual number of listed buildings, which will be much larger than the listing, because a listing can include more than one building that share the same listing number. The legislative frameworks for each type of historic asset remains unchanged.[88] A photographic library of English listed buildings was started in 1999 as a snapshot of buildings listed at the turn of the millennium. This is not an up-to-date record of all listed buildings in England – the listing status and descriptions are only correct as at February 2001.[89] The photographs were taken between 1999 and 2008. It is maintained by the Historic England archive at the Images of England project website. The National Heritage List for England contains the up-to-date list of listed buildings.[90]
Listed buildings in danger of being lost through damage or decay in England started to be recorded by survey in 1991.[91] This was extended in 1998 with the publication of Historic England's Buildings at Risk Register which surveyed Grade I and Grade II* buildings. In 2008 this survey was renamed Heritage at Risk and extended to include all listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, protected wreck sites and conservation areas.[92] The register is compiled by survey using information from local authorities, official and voluntary heritage groups and the general public. It is possible to search this list online.[93]
Scotland[edit]
In Scotland, the national dataset of listed buildings and other heritage assets can be searched online via Historic Environment Scotland,[94] or through the map database Pastmap.[95] A Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland was started in 1990 by Historic Scotland in response to similar concerns at the number of listed buildings that were vacant and in disrepair. RCAHMS maintained the register on behalf of Historic Scotland,[96] and provided information on properties of architectural or historic merit throughout the country that are considered to be at risk. Since the merger of these two bodies into one, that work is now carried out by Historic Environment Scotland.
Wales[edit]
Cadw publishes and maintains a searchable map database for listed buildings in Wales.[97] In Wales, at risk registers of listed buildings are compiled by local planning authorities, and Cadw produced a report in 2009.[98] The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales' (RCAHMW) Emergency Buildings Recording team is responsible for surveying historic buildings threatened with destruction, substantial alteration, or serious decay.
Other[edit]
British Listed Buildings Online (website)[100] has sections on England, Wales and Scotland. It can be searched either by browsing for listed buildings by country, county and parish/locality, or by keyword search or via the online map. Not all buildings have photographs, as it is run on a volunteer basis.
Equivalent statuses outside the United Kingdom[edit]
For other countries' equivalents see List of heritage registers.