Save Britain's Heritage (styled as ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'') is a British charity, created in 1975 by a group of journalists, historians, architects, and planners to campaign publicly for endangered historic buildings. It is also active on the broader issues of

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

policy. ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' is a registered charity governed by a board of trustees. Through press releases, leaflets, reports, books, and exhibitions, ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' champions the cause of decaying country houses, redundant churches and chapels, disused mills and warehouses, cottages and town halls, railway stations, hospitals, military buildings, and asylums. ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' was the first organization to campaign for the introduction of the Thirty-Year Rule, which now makes outstanding post-war buildings in England and Wales eligible for listing.

Goals

''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' fights to protect British historic buildings from demolition or careless alteration. SAVE receives no statutory funding. The organisation is sustained by private donations from a range of individual and charitable donors. The charity aims to: *Awaken public interest in and public appreciation of Britain's architectural heritage. *To encourage the study of that heritage and related matters and to promote high standards of planning and architecture. *To save from needless destruction or disfigurement, buildings or groups of buildings and designed landscapes of special historic or architectural interest. *Where necessary, and with expert advice, take legal action to prevent major and needless losses.

Achievements and failures

''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' always placed a special emphasis on the possibilities of alternative uses for historic buildings and has, on a number of occasions, prepared its own schemes for the re-use of threatened buildings. On repeated occasions, its proposals were instrumental in giving threatened buildings a renewed lease on life. Many of its campaigns altered the way

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

now protects Britain's built heritage. ''SAVE Britain's Heritages attack on insensitive shop fronts contained guidelines now adopted by many local planning authorities, and ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' was the first organization to campaign for the introduction of the Thirty-Year Rule, which now makes outstanding post-war buildings in England and Wales eligible for listing. ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' was instrumental in saving buildings such as: * Calke Abbey in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, acquired by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1983; * The Grange, Northington in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

— the surviving parts were acquired and restored by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

; * Peninsula Barracks in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

— converted to private residential use in 1998; and * Tyntesfield — acquired by the

in 2002. * Brandon railway station in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

, in 2020. It also established charitable trusts to restore the following: *

All Souls Church, Halifax All Souls Church, Halifax, is a redundant Anglican church in Haley Hill, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Ch ...

, a church by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

; * Bank Hall, Bretherton, a Jacobean mansion, built from handmade brick for the Bannastre Family in 1608; *

Barlaston Hall Barlaston Hall is an English Palladian country house in the village of Barlaston in Staffordshire, on a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Trent to the west, about south of Stoke-on-Trent, with the towns of Stone about to the south, and ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

, a

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

villa by Sir Robert Taylor; and *6 Palace Street; the oldest building in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor ...

outside the castle. However, campaigns are not always successful. Its campaign in 1977–1978 to save the Baltic Exchange building and its collection for the nation failed as it was unable to stop the demolition of historic buildings in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

to make way for the new Baltic Exchange and could not prevent the disposal of the interior of the Baltic Exchange, which had been damaged by a

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

bomb in 1992. It has previously campaigned to save the General Market Buildings of

Smithfield Market Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...

Farringdon Road Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing ...

and the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

. As of October 2022, it is currently campaigning to protect

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

's Marble Arch store on

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

. SAVE has since taken the case to a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

Westminster City Hall Westminster City Hall is a municipal building in Victoria Street in Westminster, London. It is the headquarters of Westminster City Council. History In the late 19th century the parishes of St Margaret and St John held their meetings at the ...

, after being called in by Secretary of State,

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Par ...

in June 2022.

SAVE's Buildings at Risk Register

SAVE maintains an electronic register, first created in 1989, of over 1400 "Buildings at Risk" and publishes a print catalogue of the register annually. ''The BaR'', as it is also known, includes information on threatened unlisted and Grade II listed buildings (outside London) throughout

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Buildings are considered to be 'at risk' if they are under threat from demolition or neglect. The register is continuously updated: newly identified 'at risk' buildings are added, while others are removed either after restoration or demolition. The register also summarises the 'development history' of each building, detailing the progress of any restoration or other proposals.https://www.savebritainsheritage.org/buildings-at-risk/bar-faqs

Publications

Save Britain's Heritage has published many campaigning books and leaflets, including: *''The Concrete Jerusalem'' (1976), *''Elysian Gardens'' (1979), *''Vanishing London: A Catalogue of Decay'' (1979), *''The Fall of Zion'' (1980), *''Lost Houses of Scotland'' (1980), *''The Country House: To Be or Not To Be'' (1982), *''Estates Villages Who Cares?'' (1983)' * ''Crisis at Saltaire'' (1986), *''Pavilions in Peril'' (1987), *''Bright Future: The Reuse of Industrial Buildings'' (1990), * ''Stop the Destruction of Bucklesbury'' (1992), * ''Beacons of Learning'' (1995), * ''Mind over Matter'' (1995), * ''Silence in Court'' (2004), and * ''The Guildhall Testimonial'' (2006), * ''The Big Saves: Heroic transformations of great landmarks'' (2016) * ''Too good to lose: Historic schools at risk'' (2018), * ''Canterbury Take Care!'' (2019), * ''Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk'' (2022). These publications advocate the preservation and reuse of, amongst other things, nonconformist chapels, redundant Anglican churches, Victorian mental hospitals, country houses, their gardens and outbuildings, and industrial buildings. ''SAVE Britain's Heritage'' also publishes an action guide, to assist campaigners with setting up their own groups to advocate the case for particular buildings. An exhibition highlighting the first 30 years of its work was held at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in 2005.

References