1. Age and rarity

The older a building is, and the fewer surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to have special interest. As a general guide to assessment:

• all buildings before 1700 which survive in anything like their original condition;
• most buildings between 1700 and 1840, though selection is necessary, and
• after 1840, because of the greatly increased number of buildings erected and the much larger numbers that have survived, progressively greater selection in necessary;
• buildings that are less than 30 years old are normally only listed if they are of outstanding quality and under threat.

The appearance of a building is a key consideration in judging listing proposals, but the special interest of a building will not always be reflected in obvious external visual quality. 

3. Selectivity

A building may be listed primarily because it represents a particular historical building type in order to ensure that examples of such a type are preserved. The Secretary of State’s policy is to list only the most representative or significant examples of the type.

4. National interest

The criteria are used to establish consistency of selection to ensure that both buildings of strong intrinsic architectural interest and distinctive regional buildings are listed, as together they make a major contribution to the national historic stock. The best examples of local vernacular architecture will be listed because they illustrate the importance of distinctive local and regional traditions.

5. State of repair

The state of repair of a building is not a relevant consideration when deciding whether to list a building. If it meets the statutory criteria it will be listed irrespective of its state of repair.

Listing grades

Buildings are classified in grades to show their relative importance.

Grade I     These are buildings of exceptional interest

Grade II*  These are particularly important  buildings of more than special interest

Grade II    These are buildings of special interest which warrant every effort being made to preserve them.

Requests should be accompanied by:

• the address of the building;
• any information about the building (for example, its date, materials);
• details of any specialised function (for example, industrial or agricultural buildings);
• historical associations;
• the name of the architect (if known);
• its group value in the street scene;
• details of any interior features of interest;
• clear, original and up-to-date external and, if possible, internal photographs;
• name and contact details of the owner; and
• a location plan (such as an Ordnance Survey map extract) showing, wherever possible, the position of other listed buildings nearby.

A representative of English Heritage will normally visit the site before making recommendations about whether a building should be listed.

Requests for listing should be sent to:

English Heritage
1 Waterhouse Square
138-142 Holborn
London
EC1N 2ST

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