VCONST08210 | Zero-rating the ‘approved alteration’ of a ‘protected building’: is the work to a ‘protected building’: how to determine whether the work is to a ‘protected building’

The following approach should be taken:

• identify the building to which works are being carried out (VCONST08220)

• does that building fall within one of the three qualifying types of building after the alteration (VCONST08230 and VCONST08240)

• is that building a listed building or scheduled monument (VCONST08250).

If you are satisfied that all the above can be positively determined, then the works will be carried out to a ‘protected building’.

The House of Lords in Zielinski Baker & Partners ([2004] UKHL 7) endorsed this approach to determining a ‘protected building’. The meaning of the term was considered in relation to alterations to an outbuilding which had listed building status because it was within the curtilage of a listed house. In the context of that case, Lord Walker of Gastingthorpe said:

In this case the key part of the text is the definition of ‘protected building’ in note (1). So far as relevant, it can be divided into three integers. A ‘protected building’ means:

• A building

• which is designed to remain as or become a dwelling (as defined in Note 2) after the alteration

• and which is a listed building within the meaning of the 1990 Act.