1 Overview
The Buildings at Risk Register (BARR) brings together potential restorers and redevelopers with buildings and sites that are considered at risk or under threat.
The historic places on the Register are all of architectural or historic importance. They are usually listed buildings or an unlisted building within a conservation area.
A building at risk may be:
- long-term vacant
- neglected and/or poorly maintained
- structurally unsound
- damaged by fire
- unsecured and open to the elements
- threatened with demolition
Search by planning authority to locate buildings at risk across Scotland.
Search the RegisterWe encourage community groups and interested individuals to contact us to suggest a building to be added to or removed from the Register.
Buildings stay on the Register until they’re either saved and put back into use, or demolished. The invaluable statistics provided by the Register are featured in Scotland’s Historic Environment Audit and used to track the regeneration of historic buildings.
We have published guidance on the Use and Adaptation of Listed Buildings and best practice case studies, including Duns Primary School in the Scottish Borders which is one of 1,800 former At Risk buildings adapted and brought back into use.
2 BARR Review
Harlow Consulting were commissioned to undertake a review of the BARR.
The BARR began in 1990 in response to concern at the growing number of listed buildings and buildings in Conservation Areas that were vacant and had fallen into a state of disrepair.
The BARR provides information about properties of architectural or historic merit throughout Scotland that are considered to be ‘at risk’. Since 2015, the BARR has been run as an in-house service within HES.
The primary aims of the review were:
- To report on the impact of the BARR in bringing buildings back into use, and
- Make evidence-based recommendations that will inform long-term decisions about the resource