28 CONTEXT 188 : JUNE 2026 CATHERINE CROFT Listing modern buildings The Twentieth Century Society, campaigning to save outstanding post-1914 works, puts forward a far larger number of buildings for listing than any other organisation or body. For an obvious reason, many of the buildings for which the C20 Society campaigns are ones that are not listed when we first get involved. I have no problem with Paragraph 19 of the Principles of Selection, which explicitly states that ‘the older a building is, and the fewer the surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to have special interest’. This makes perfect sense. However, equally clearly, the younger the building is, the less likely it is to have been assessed for listing before, either as part of a geographical or thematic survey. The C20 Society therefore puts forward a far larger number of buildings for listing than any of the other national amenity societies, indeed more than any other organisation or body. We also support individuals and groups making submissions, and we are consulted on a growing number of certificates of immunity from listing (COIs), usually submitted by developers seeking clarity ahead of development proposals.The vast majority of COI applications are for buildings constructed after 1914, with post-war buildings being most frequently submitted. We make submissions to Historic England, CADW and Historic Environment Scotland, with each body operating under slightly different procedures, and all our listing assessments are discussed and approved by the panel of experts which makes up our casework committee. We see listing as just one tactic forming part of our overall casework strategy, albeit a crucial and high-profile one. Listing stories are very newsworthy. There is a definite decision to be made and an easily comprehensible binary outcome, in contrast to the complex and nuanced process of seeking to influence an application for listed building consent for a scheme for reuse, or even when fighting against complete demolition. Casework can be long-running, and defining what constitutes a win can be difficult and uncertain until a building is finally restored and in productive reuse. The statutory role that we share with all the other national amenity societies means that we are consulted on applications for listed building consent for demolition of listed buildings of our period, but a considerable proportion of the cases which we take up are ones where the building is not listed when proposals to alter or demolish first emerge. We therefore depend on our members, supporters and members of the public, alerting us to unlisted threatened buildings. Local conservation officers and architects Argyle House, one of Edinburgh’s most contested post-war structures, is threatened but remains unlisted. (Photo: Christian Storstein)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=