Buildings and architecture are all around us and we often fail to notice. Everything from great big office blocks, churches, cathedrals, town halls to guildhalls, there is a good chance that there are some interesting and fantastic buildings where you live. Unlike a large percentage of modern countries, Britain has a very long history, which has resulted in lots of different building styles and building methods have been used in order to create amazing buildings of all shapes and sizes. As a nation we often like to preserve and maintain these buildings, in order to hold on to the different eras in our communal history.

In Britain laws have been created to take care of buildings and other structures that have been officially designated as being of special historical, architectural or cultural significance. These structures are known as listed buildings and there are around half a million in the UK. Listed buildings are not allowed to be knocked down, extended or developed in anyway, with out the permission of local planning authority, in order to protect these places of interest.

There are three types of listed buildings in the UK, Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II. Grade I listed buildings are of outstanding architectural or historical interest, Grade II* are significant buildings of more than local interest, while Grade II are of special architectural or historic interest. People who own listed buildings could find themselves in legal trouble if they don't maintain and restore damage to these buildings. As a result of this many people are trying to hire listed building restoration companies. These are specialist builders who focus on listed building conservation use the traditional materials and techniques used when the building was first built.

You can also use building restoration as a process of refurbishing and renewing a buildings materials. Building Restoration can be anything from completely reconstucting a damaged property that is beyond repair to major repair jobs and cleaning the building. Building restoration is all about maintaining the original design and shape of a building, whilst helping to extend the life and increase the functionality of the property.

Some building restoration companies also build permitted extensions and additional areas to a property but these tend to require planning permission first. heritage restoration builders can do this by using reclaimed bricks and stone as well as traditional bricklaying and roofing methods to keep in tune with the style of the original building. You can also now build within an existing structure and this is called adaptive reuse. If a historic building had previously been used as a flour mill and has been sold to a property developer who wants to turn it into some apartments then it is possible to maintain the exterior structure of the building whilst also providing all the comforts of modern life within the interior of the building.