The Principles Behind Listings
Historic Scotland, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland, lists buildings of special architectural or historic interest, aiming to safeguard the nation's heritage and promote its understanding and enjoyment. There are currently 387,760 listed buildings.
There are three principal paths which lead to listing: the resurvey, the thematic approach and the ad hoc. Each involves consultation with the local planning authority. Exceptional spot listings - that is, emergency listing, often without consultation - do occur also, but only very rarely. The resurvey is an ongoing national programme of comprehensive review by area. Thematic listings are the result of studies aimed at specialised building types which require a focused overview, such as hospitals and schools. Ad hoc listings are demand led; by planning authorities, by national and local amenity societies, often by the owners themselves.
The selection process is rigorous, but there are no hard and fast criteria. The first consideration is that of age: all subjects built before 1840 which display their original form and any quality may be eligible. Buildings dating between 1840 and 1914 which posses notable quality and individual or group character, will be considered. Subjects dating from the inter-war period must be good examples of the works of an important architect or a particular style. It is the absence of any significant age factor which requires the application of a high degree of selectivity for buildings of post-1945 date. They may not have fully passed the test of time, and must be either outstanding in their field or watersheds in design or the use of materials.
There are numerous other factors beside age brought into the equation to determine the eligibility of a subject: 'authorship' by a better-known architect, for example, perhaps leading to a display of definite stylistic achievement, or innovative composition. buildings which, for reasons of architectural form or planning, illustrate aspects of social or economic history, may possess a special interest. Certain industrial and transport buildings, theatres, exchanges and markets, for example, merit such specialised consideration. Masterpieces of technological design and structural innovation impress their case, from shuttered concrete villas to early iron-framed textile mills with expansive vaulting. Regional variations are taken into account in the use of materials or design. Scarcity value can provide additional weight in the decision process. Historic interest is sometimes presented by association with well-known persons or events.
Considerations of context are part of the selection process, such as key components of landscape or townscape, planned villages and urban layouts, pivotal or axial subjects, and agricultural complexes with group value.
Interior decoration is given due weighting when it can be viewed. The listing of a property automatically covers its interior, but special attention must be paid to subjects which appear unassuming from the exterior but may have hidden quality, such as public houses, which may contain magnificent gantries of the highest craftsmanship.
There are three categories of listing:
Category A:
applied to buildings of national and international importance;
Category B:
buildings primarily of regional importance;
Category C:
those primarily of local importance.
Each candidate for listing is subjected to close enquiry at various
levels, involving experts in-house and abroad as necessary, before it can
be found fully to satisfy the criteria and be awarded the appropriate category.
Dr Deborah Mays
From the SCT Newsletter