What listed building rules mean during an Edinburgh renovation

Look at the junctions on the drawing

A new cabinet stops below an old cornice. A service route passes a joist. The bathroom floor meets the original threshold. I ask how those details are meant to work before the room is opened up.

I regard “make good as required” as too loose where the easy site solution could involve cutting a cornice, skirting, panel or fireplace. I want the architect’s drawing and specification to deal with the meeting between old and new work.

Listing can cover the interior and exterior, objects or structures fixed to the building, and some structures within its curtilage, subject to the statutory rules and exclusions. Historic Environment Scotland gives the current outline in its listed buildings guidance.

Category C does not mean the interior is free to alter

Categories A, B and C describe relative architectural or historic interest. They are not three levels of consent protection. Historic Environment Scotland explains the categories in Annex 2 of its designation guidance.

The listing description helps explain the building’s interest, but it is not a complete room-by-room inventory. I would not treat an omitted door or fireplace as permission to remove it.

Work that affects the building’s character may require listed building consent. Carrying out such work without consent is an offence under section 8 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997. Historic Environment Scotland’s consent guidance should be read alongside advice for the actual proposal.

The bathroom may move on paper

The soil stack and gravity are less accommodating. A wet-room floor needs enough build-up for falls and tanking, sometimes over a timber structure. The visually preferred layout can demand the most disruptive route through old fabric.

We can show an architect where the construction becomes awkward. The architect owns the design and consent route. Once the design is approved, we work to its drawings, conditions and specification.

Listed building consent and a building warrant answer different questions. One concerns the effect on the listed building’s special character; the other concerns building standards. A project can need both.

When the building reveals something else

On a chimney-breast alteration, we found that the support below did not match the assumption in the design. The engineer revised the detail and added bracing. Work in that area waited.

For a listed building, the architect would also need to consider whether the revised work remained within the consent. We record the discovery rather than settle a question about historic fabric while trades are waiting on site.

I want the approved drawings, consent conditions and relevant specifications before pricing construction. Where a detail cannot be confirmed until opening up, the scope should say so and name the person who will decide it.

I check the consent record while the people who designed and built the work are still available. Unauthorised alterations can remain exposed to enforcement, and a retrospective application may be needed. City of Edinburgh Council explains that position in its guide to selling a home.

I generally expect repair to leave fewer consent and construction questions than replacement, though the architect decides what is appropriate. We inspect the sash, door or plaster before pricing its removal.