Listed building

In the United Kingdom the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990[?] requires the government to create lists of buildings that are to be specially protected as part of the national heritage. Buildings on these lists are referred to as listed buildings.

There are three types of listed status (in descending order of 'importance' and difficulty to obtain planning permission):

• Grade I
• Grade II*
• Grade II

According to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, which oversees Listed building applications and enforcement, there are, as of May 2003, approximately 442,000 listings are 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. There are estimated to be about 500,000 actual buildings listed, as listing entries can apply to more than one building.

Famous listed buildings

Grade I:

• British Museum Reading Room
• Buckingham Palace
• Windsor Castle
• etc.

Grade II:

• BT Tower
• and scads more famous buildings

External links

• Department of Culture, Media and Sport's page on Listed buildings (http://www.culture.gov.uk/historic_environment/Listing.htm)
• Photographs of listed buildings from English Heritage (http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/)
• Information about planning restrictions generally (http://www.buildingconservation.com)