Registering industrial buildings as listed heritage properties could stall regeneration projects across the UK, a property law firm warned today.
Trowers & Hamlins said that English Heritage’s plans to list more warehouses in Manchester and Liverpool to preserve the area’s industrial heritage could put an end to crucial regeneration plans.
Chad Sutton, a planning solicitor at Trowers & Hamlins said: ‘Nobody can dispute the need to preserve examples of England’s industrial heritage. However it is essential that limitations placed on the development of these buildings do not bring entire regeneration projects grinding to a halt.’
Figures gathered from English Heritage by Trowers & Hamlins showed that last year, 514 buildings were added to the 376,000 already on the listed building register, up by 90% on the previous year.
Sutton said: ‘English Heritage has a difficult challenge in identifying examples of buildings currently under-represented on the listed building register without losing sight of the significant obstacles listing can pose for developers and homeowners alike.’
Trowers & Hamlins gave an example of how plans to redevelop a homeopathic hospital in Liverpool could now be unviable for developers after the building was granted Grade II listed status.
