Windmill Hills, Gateshead© Courtesy English Heritage
Launched today, the register is full of Grade II-listed buildings such as the stricken Windmill Hills, but English Heritage is hoping to find even more sites of a similar size and stature that need attention.
Grade II buildings, such as houses, cottages, shops, inns and town halls, make up 92% of all listed buildings. English Heritage is looking to fund between nine and 15 pilot surveys around the country with local authorities, national parks and heritage or community groups, aimed at discovering where the properties most in need of help are.
Now that local authorities have fewer funds, the surveys will inform them where their scarce resources are needed most and inform grant-givers, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, when they form rescue plans.
Simon Thurley, the Chief Executive of English Heritage, said: “Grade II buildings are the bulk of the nation’s heritage treasury. When one of them is lost, it’s as though someone has rubbed out a bit of the past – something that made your street or your village special will have gone.
“It’s going to take a tremendous team effort but as the Olympics have shown, that’s something this country is good at.”
In London, Grade II properties were added to the At Risk Register in 1991, with 96% of them now saved.
If the Register is successful, properties such as Windmill Hills, which has experienced arson, could be restored.
Only 13% of the Grade I and II buildings on the Register are thought to be economical to repair, so public subsidy will need to go a long way to help out.
The scheme has already received public support, with unusual structures like Kings Meadow Baths in Reading benefitting from an active community group who are campaigning to prevent further decay.
English Heritage and The Princes Regeneration Trust have already funded urgent repairs for the historic Harvey’s Foundry in Cornwall, but they have highlighted a growing number of buildings at risk since the economic crisis.
To find out if a building is listed, search on www.english-heritage.org.uk/list. To search the Register or to apply to run a pilot scheme, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/risk
More buildings from the 2012 At Risk Register:
Frank James Memorial Hospital, Isle of Wight. Grade II known to be at risk. Copyright Tony Hudson© Courtesy English Heritage
Harvey's Foundry, Cornwall. Grade II known to be at risk© Courtesy English Heritage
Kings Meadow Baths, Reading, Berkshire. Grade II known to be at risk. Copyright SNICOL PHOTOS© Courtesy English Heritage
Toll House, Illminster, Somerset. Grade II known to be at risk. Copyright South Somerset District Council© Courtesy English Heritage
Hill Top Sunday School in Burslem. Grade II known to be at risk© Courtesy English Heritage
