Listed building consent
The problem
A three-star hotel is also a Grade II-listed building. The owners wish to repaint and generally modernise the main reception and lobby areas and convert part of the lounge area into a conference room. Nothing will be done to the outside of the building, so will listed building consent be required?
The law
Section 7 of the Town and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 establishes the legal basis of listed building control. It prohibits works of demolition, alteration or extension affecting the character of a building of special architectural or historic interest without securing listed building consent. Similar restrictions apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Expert advice
Listed buildings in England are "buildings of special architectural or historic interest" included on a list compiled by the secretary of state for culture, media and sport on advice from English Heritage.
The listing of a building covers its whole interior and exterior. It is not limited to features mentioned in the listing particulars or to particular fa‡ades or ornate parts.
In addition, the listing extends to any structures or features (however strange or "out of character" these may appear) attached to the listed building or which have been present within its curtilage since before 1 July 1948.
When the question arises as to what changes may be made without listed building consent, there is no mechanism for obtaining a definitive answer. As a rule of thumb, it is likely that consent will be required. The local planning authority's conservation officer may have a view but this is not binding on the authority.
When considering an application for listed building consent, the planning authority will assess the impact of the proposed alterations on the property's character. The following issues will generally be relevant:
The building's importance - its intrinsic architectural and historic interest and rarity, in both national and local terms.
Particular physical features of the building justifying its inclusion in the list. The list description will be revealing (but not definitive) as to these features.
The effect of the works proposed on important features.
Community and environmental benefits from the works.
Whether the works are essential to keep the building in economic use.
As the hotel is a Grade II-listed building, the planning authority will need to consult English Heritage. Both are likely to use the application for listed building consent as an opportunity to seek restoration or reinstatement of important features within the area of the works applied for. They will also seek to control or influence the materials and building techniques used, where there is an impact on important features. This is to try to ensure that the integrity of the building is maintained.
The scheme put forward by the owners will need to ensure, for example, that the choice of paints is appropriate both in type and colour; that where important schemes of early interior decoration survive, they are cleaned and conserved rather than renewed; and that new partition walls do not cut through decorative mouldings or plaster but are shaped around them to allow for later reinstatement.
Beware!
Listed building consent may be needed even if planning permission is not.
Planning permission may be needed as well as listed building consent.
If you do not obtain consent you could be liable to prosecution and/or be made to rectify what you have done. You could face imprisonment and fines.
English Heritage as well as local planning authorities may prosecute for listed building offences. It is also open to the planning authority to serve an enforcement notice under Section 38 of the Town and Country Planning Act.
Check list
Employ an architect or specialist with experience of dealing with historic buildings as an adviser to ensure any scheme is sensitive to the particular features of the building.
Along with your adviser, develop a clear strategy for justifying and presenting the work proposed before approaching the local authority or English Heritage.
Obtain as much information as you can on the history of the building so far as it is relevant to your works.
Discuss the proposal with the planning authority's conservation officer and, if the proposals are sensitive, with English Heritage.
Do all of the above before making the listed building consent application.
Contacts
Berwin Leighton Paisner
020 7760 1000
www.blplaw.com
timothy.pugh@blplaw.com
English Heritage
0870 333 1181
www.english-heritage.org.uk
