Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)

SPAB is Britain’s oldest, largest and most technically expert national society fighting to protect historic buildings from demolition, neglect and damaging repairs and alterations. If you care about historic buildings please join us or consider a donation or legacy to help us continue the work to protect and educate begun by William Morris 130 years ago.

SPAB was the founder of the building conservation movement. Thousands of historic buildings, have been saved following our intervention. By law we must be notified of all applications to demolish listed buildings in England and Wales.

We play a unique role in the training of young people in the practical repair of historic buildings. Since 1930 we have run a 9-month scholarship scheme which has trained many architects now responsible for some of the best-known buildings in the country. We also run a parallel scheme for outstanding young craftspeople and courses for owners of old properties and for building professionals.

Our free technical helpline answers over a thousand questions a year backed up by our technical publications.

SPAB also runs Faith In Maintenance, a free initiative to train volunteers caring for places of worship. SPAB has a separate section devoted to mills and a section
in Scotland.

Please send for a free copy of our legacies leaflet or contact us to find out more.