Heritage organisations

Georgian Group

The Georgian Group is the national charity dedicated to preserving Georgian buildings and gardens. It was founded in 1937.  

We aim to protect historic buildings through providing advice to owners and architects, campaigning, and through our role as statutory consultees in the planning system. Our annual awards promote excellence in design and conservation. In its casework, the Georgian Group advises councils, church bodies, and others on threats to the historic fabric and setting of structures built between 1700 and 1837.

The Group organises lectures and other events aimed at improving the understanding of aspects of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century built heritage.  We also produce technical advice leaflets, and promote the publication of academic research through our journal.

We have a small grants scheme for historic buildings, the Cleary Fund which is distributed annually in September.

Areas of interest

Areas of Interest

• Listed Building applications for works of alteration and demolition for buildings of all kinds containing fabric and fittings which date from between 1700 and 1837.
• Applications for works significantly affecting the setting of buildings or structures constructed between 1700 and 1837 or those affecting the character of those parts of our historic environment with a primarily Georgian character.
• The care and preservation of Georgian buildings.
• Promoting good design in the setting of the Georgian built environment and Georgian parks and gardens.
• Promoting a better understanding of eighteenth and early nineteenth century architecture and designed landscapes.

Please note that the Georgian Group cannot give advice on the following

• Works affecting the fabric or setting of buildings which entirely date from either before 1700 or after 1837.
• We cannot undertake structural surveys of buildings.
• Issues relating to tax or VAT and historic buildings.
• Soft landscaping in historic parks and gardens.
• Furniture, decorative items, works of art, and other portable items which are not fixtures or fittings.
• Archaeological issues.
• Green belt issues.

Training and Education

• We provide lectures, tours, and events aimed at a wide range of audiences both at home and abroad.
• A wide range of publications including technical advice sheets, a magazine, and our highly respected journal which disseminates primary research on a wide range of subject matters.
• An extensive library of publications on Georgian architecture housed at our London HQ, which contains books dating from the late seventeenth century to the present day. (Consultable by appointment).
• A large collection of historic engravings, watercolours and drawings of Georgian country houses, known as ‘The Pardoe Collection’. (Consultable by appointment).
• Running practical skills master classes and specialist study courses.

Awards

Our Architectural Awards recognise exemplary conservation and restoration projects in the United Kingdom and reward those who have shown the vision and commitment to restore Georgian buildings and designed landscapes. Awards are also given for high-quality new buildings in Georgian contexts and in the Classical tradition.

Grants

The group is not generally a grant making body but has two small specialised funds. 

The F.E. Cleary Heritage Fund

Through the F. E. Cleary Heritage Fund (commonly known as The Cleary Fund), The Georgian Group gives small grants each year towards the repair and restoration of Georgian buildings and monuments in the UK. The intention is to pump-prime schemes, prompt other sources to make grants and to fund specific elements in larger schemes such as the restoration of memorials, historic fixtures and fittings or decorative ironwork. Around five grants, averaging about £1500 each, are given annually. Grants are usually made towards the conservation of buildings in public ownership or to which there is public access, although they may occasionally be given towards other projects such as conservator’s reports or the recording of threatened buildings. 

The Georgian Group/BSECS Dunscombe Colt Research Fellowship

The award, jointly funded by the Georgian Group and the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, is intended to facilitate a one-month research visit by a member of The Georgian Group to the Special Collections of the Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford. Applications will be considered from candidates seeking to research projects relating to the architecture or material culture (for example, sculpture) of the long eighteenth century (1660-1840). The award is part-funded from the proceeds of the bequest from Mrs Armida Dunscombe Colt and is named in her honour.