From now on local authorities throughout England and Wales will be required to notify the C20th Society of all applications for listed building consent involving the demolition (or partial demolition) of listed buildings.

For the last 25 years the Society has been campaigning for the preservation of the best of C20th architecture – initially as the Thirties Society, but under its current name since 1992. To date it has relied on the good will of local authorities, or tip offs from its growing number of members and supporters throughout the country, to keep it informed of threats to buildings – plus an ad hoc system of notification via the Victorian Society. Now the expertise of the Society and its positive contribution to finding sustainable new uses for the best examples of buildings of its period has been recognised by central government.

Director Catherine Croft says “we welcome the change and look forward to getting involved in more applications early on, when we can influence owner’s aspirations before they have invested time and money in damaging schemes”

Chairman Gavin Stamp says “It is cheering that an anomalous situation has been rectified and that we now have the same official status as our senior colleagues, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), the Georgian Group and the Victorian Society. This recognition also indicates how important the architectural legacy of the 20th century has become, and how much casework we now have to deal with.”

ODPM Minister Baroness Andrews said:

“I am pleased that we have been able to recognise the importance of the C20th Society by ensuring they are notified of listed building consent applications. This will help to inform decisions taken at local authority level, as well as providing the Society with the maximum possible time to comment on applications”

The C20th Century Society was instrumental in securing the reuse of Bankside Power Station (Giles Gilbert Scott -1932) as Tate Modern, and is currently campaigning for the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace (1960-4), the Commonwealth Institute (1960-2) the Guinness Brewery 1933-5) and a Cold War bunker in suburban Cambridge (early 1950s).

For further information please contact:

Catherine Croft, Director,
The Twentieth Century Society, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
Tel: 020 7250 3837, or 07808 168489
Fax: 020 7251 8985
email: director(at)c20society.org.uk