Standing buildings, as much as the remains of their buried counterparts, are witnesses to that past and can tell us much about the technology, social organisations, aspirations and everyday life of their inhabitants.
Historic buildings are also essential components of our everyday surroundings.
They are part of the familiar and cherished local scene and, together with street patterns and open space, define both the historic development of a settlement and the way we live today. Currently about 500,000 individual buildings are listed - a tiny number compared to the total stock. The protection offered by listing is universal and covers the whole building, including the interior - it does not differ with the listing grade. Listing a building does not prohibit change. Instead it seeks to manage change by requiring owners to apply for listed building consent for demolition or for works of alteration or extension which would affect the building's character.