English Heritage on the hunt for volunteers

 English Heritage is recruiting an army of volunteers to inspect the condition of England's Grade II listed buildings.

It's the first ever crowd-sourcing project to investigate sites across the country.

The organisation plans to provide heritage fans with training before sending them to properties with an app for recording data.

Not only will the scheme provide English Heritage with the means to survey 345,000 buildings across England, chief executive Simon Thurley claims it will also be beneficial to those who own Grade II properties.

"For owners of Grade II buildings which the surveys find to be in poor or very bad condition, this could be a lifeline to help and advice," said Mr Thurley.

"For English Heritage it means we will eventually get, for the first time, a complete picture of the condition of all England's listed heritage. We can use this information to decide how best to deploy our national expertise to help owners and all those tackling heritage at risk on the ground. 

"And we'll have a grass-roots network to spread understanding and appreciation of local heritage so that less of it becomes at risk in the first place."

Pilot schemes have already been rolled out in areas such as Whitehaven, South Tyneside, Hartlepool, Leeds, Worcester, Bristol and Dorset with volunteers surveying as many as 5000 buildings. 

The project will kick in to full swing next autumn, but people who want to volunteer can already their interest with English Heritage Customer Services.

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