Buildings at Risk, refers to historic buildings and structures which are at risk through neglect and decay and which are included on the statutory list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest.
Cadw recognised that many listed buildings were in poor condition but the extent of dilapidation was unknown. In order to improve our understanding of the listed building stock condition Cadw funded a building at risk survey for each local authority.
How are buildings assessed?
The Building at Risk surveys were carried out by a specialist surveyor and followed a standard methodology which took account of the condition of certain components of each building and whether the building was occupied. The result was a score out of 6 for each building with 1 for buildings in a very bad condition and 6 for buildings in good condition. Buildings are classed as at risk if they have a point score of 1 - 3.
Buildings at Risk can be categorised dependent upon their degree of risk as follows:
- Extreme Risk
- Grave Risk
- At Risk
- Vulnerable (not considered to be ‘at risk’ however if their condition is allowed to deteriorate they may fall into one the of the ‘at risk’ categories.
In Denbighshire there are currently 148 listed buildings considered to be ‘at risk’. There are 35 buildings in the worst risk category(category 1).