Future projects

Buildings on our horizon

There are nearly 1,500 buildings at risk of neglect, decay or inappropriate change in England alone. Each year we are approached with as many as 150 places in need of rescue or a new use. We consider all types and ages of buildings across England, Scotland and Wales, but are especially on the look out for small and significant industrial; 20th century military; seaside and leisure; small vernacular buildings; and those connected to urban regeneration and/or in historic town centres.

Here are a few buildings in the nascent stages of their journey into Landmark’s care. One day, if funds can be raised to repair and restore them, we hope to secure their future by transforming them into places where people can enjoy short breaks and visit for free on open days.

To read the criteria we follow to identify Landmarks or if you’d like to propose one, please click here.

Mayor’s Parlour, Maison Dieu

Dover

Maison Dieu began as a monastery around 1200, chiefly offering hospitality to pilgrims travelling to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. The site has passed through many uses over the centuries, until 1834 when it was bought by Dover Corporation to be Dover's Town Hall. In 1859 architects William Burges and Ambrose Poynter were appointed to restore the ancient fabric and convert it for public and civic use. Fast forward to today, when Dover District Council has embarked upon a £9 million project, including support from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, to restore the whole complex. Landmark is delighted to have been asked to provide an end use for The Mayor’s Parlour Block, which retains many of Burges’s original fittings. Staying here, ensconced within the dazzling decorative scheme, is a must for anyone captivated by the High Victorian Gothic Revival – or those wanting to explore the wonders of Dover and its White Cliffs.

Explore Maison Dieu

RAF Ibsley Watch Office

Hampshire

The now-dilapidated RAF Ibsley Watch Office is a rare surviving example of a World War II control station. It was constructed between 1941-2 and saw active service, including the D-Day invasion, for both the RAF and US Air Force. The building’s exceptional significance lies in the part it played during a period of great peril in our national history, when young pilots defended Britain with such courage and at such personal cost. Ibsley was used as the location for the wartime film 'The First of the Few'. We aspire to save it from further dilapidation and vandalism, so that Landmark guests can experience this thought-provoking setting and enjoy the surrounding nature reserve that has displaced the former airfield.

Station Master’s House

Manchester

Liverpool Road station in Manchester, built in 1830, is the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was engineered by George Stevenson, known as the “Father of the Railways”. We are working in partnership with the Science and Industry Museum to find an urgent new use for the former Station Master’s accommodation, which is part of the wider Grade I and Grade II listed site. This handsome regency house, at the fulcrum of Manchester’s industrial heritage where railways and canals meet, would make a vibrant setting for a short break in a burgeoning cultural quarter.

Photo from the Science and Industry Museum.

Mavisbank House

near Edinburgh

February 2022 update: We were working with Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to explore how we could save Mavisbank, Scotland’s first Palladian villa. In 2019 the project was shortlisted for a National Lottery Heritage Fund Heritage Horizon Award but unfortunately our application was unsuccessful.