Alterations to listed buildings guidance note

The IHBC’s latest Toolbox Guidance Note, on ‘Alterations to Listed Buildings’ has been issued following UK-wide consultation. It can be downloaded here.

IHBC Policy Secretary Roy Lewis said:

"IHBC’s Policy Committee identified a need for guidance of this sort a few years ago, when concerns surfaced regarding a lack of consistency across the country relating to how different conservation advisors responded to various proposed alterations to listed buildings. There was a feeling that such inconsistency was in part due to a lack of detailed authoritative advice following the withdrawal around 10 years ago of detailed guidance such as Annex C of the Government’s PPG15 and Appendix 1 of Historic Scotland’s Memorandum of Guidance. Consequently, IHBC’s purpose in issuing this document is to fill a gap in the suite of authoritative detailed guidance available in order to help achieve greater consistency when alterations to listed buildings are under consideration.

"That said, it is not intended that the content of the document should be interpreted as a rigid set of rules. Rather, it is intended as a set of good practice guidelines at a level of detail that is not currently available elsewhere.

"As IHBC is a UK-wide body, we have aimed to provide guidance that is common to all, across the home nations. This has not been easy, but we have consulted with - and have incorporated responses from - key heritage organisations across the UK. Policy Committee members have kept a close eye on a process that has taken around three years to complete.

"I hope that IHBC members and all others who are concerned to ensure that alterations to listed buildings are carried out in an appropriate manner will find this guidance useful and that it lead to greater consistency in decision-making.’

IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said:

"As this is such an extraordinarily ambitious Guidance Note for our members’ Toolbox, we are not yet creating the usual online, web-based copy. That digitisation is extremely time-consuming, even more so if undertaking small changes, so for now we are offering the copy in the form a pdf download only.

Download the guidance note here.

This article originally appeared on the IHBC NewsBlog under the headline, 'IHBC Launches new "Guidance Note: on ToolBox: Alterations to Listed Buildings’. It was written by Joanna Theobald and published on 15 January 2021.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Are works to listed buildings demolition or alteration?
• Cautions or formal warnings in relation to potential listed building offences in England and Wales.
• Data sought for IHBC listed buildings prosecutions database.
• Historic environment good practice advice.
• Historic Environment Scotland Policy Statement.
• IHBC articles.
• Listed buildings.
• Planning Policy Statement 5 Planning for the Historic Environment.
• What approvals are needed before construction begins.

[edit] External resources

• IHBC, File:IHBCGuidanceListedBuildings.v1.pdf.