6, 8 and 10 Royal College Street, Camden, London. A quarter of London's at-risk buildings are homes. © English Heritage
The immense scale of the task of identifying and rescuing important buildings and monuments at risk of dilapidation in the UK is becoming clearer after the announcement of a new national register by English Heritage.
This finding is the initial result of English Heritage’s attempt to compile a Heritage at Risk register of England having successfully established a smaller project in London back in 1991.
With the report revealing grim statistics showing that we are in danger of losing many important examples of built heritage, local authorities have been called upon to help complete the survey, identify properties that need intervention and prioritise funding and grants in order to save them.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has got involved by announcing he has earmarked £60 million to bring London’s empty properties back into use. The properties to be targeted include listed buildings for the first time and these are being given priority status in the plan in response to English Heritage’s findings. One in 40 of London’s Grade 2 buildings is thought to be at high risk of decay and ruin.
Johnson visited one of the at-risk buildings in Swinton Street to make the announcement: “I believe, like English Heritage, that London’s heritage is possibly its greatest asset after its people. Buildings like these must be made to live again, to serve as much-needed housing and to give character and dignity to our streets.”
The Aviary, Dropmore House, Buckinghamshire, is a 19th century structure close to Dropmore House, itself a long standing entry on the at-risk register. © English Heritage
“I am not prepared as Mayor to stand by and see history in the form of buildings like these hit the skip.”
Owners of London’s 572 buildings and monuments on the English Heritage at Risk Register will be encouraged to bid for the money available to improve the condition and use of their properties. The residential properties on the list, which make up 50 per cent of those identified as at risk in the capital, will be prioritised in terms of gaining grants.
The London properties include a Victorian villa in Enfield and a Gothic country house in Ealing.
Properties which are not currently residential have been identified as potentially being turned into housing. These range from a 19th century sailmakers and chandlers in West India Dock Road and a former workshop and engineering works in Park Street, Southwark.
English Heritage’s Chief Executive, Simon Thurley, joined Boris Johnson at the announcement event and endorsed the strategy and asked other local authorities to follow suit: “I would urge every civic leader in the country to follow Mayor Johnson’s example and use our Heritage At Risk Register to prioritise their own funding.
“In doing so, they will be saving their communities’ history, rescuing its pride and identity and providing inspiring new spaces for local people to live and work in.”
Nationally, one in 12 heritage sites so far surveyed are considered to be at risk, as defined by the English Heritage survey. As well as buildings these include one in five scheduled monuments, one in five battlefields, one in five wreck sites, one in 14 registered parks, gardens and landscapes, one in 30 Grade 1 and 2* buildings.
Haggerston Baths, Hackney. Built in 1904, the baths suffer from extensive structural problems. © English Heritage
The project is not intended as just a job for politicians and government bodies. Simon Thurley also called on public involvement to identify important but neglected buildings: “The results of this first Heritage At Risk report show that everybody must live near, walk past or know of a heritage treasure at risk near them. We believe that our Heritage at Risk register will galvanise the whole nation into doing something about this before it is too late.”
“Poll after poll shows how much the public cares about its heritage. Now, with the report in our hands, it is time for action!”
While acknowledging the need for the country to look closely at its heritage and assess its value, Simon Thurley was also clear about the challenges posed by some sites and how these challenges themselves may have resulted in the sites becoming at risk in the first place:
“Many of the problems identified are complex and need the efforts of a wide range of people working together, for examples, to find a new use for a major ruin like Lowther Castle in Cumbria, or to restore the whole of the majestic Tynemouth Station in Tyne and Wear, or to turn Newbury battlefield in Berkshire, which is threatened by development, into a resource that everyone can appreciate.”
More about the Heritage at Risk project on the English Heritage website
