Restoration projects fire the imagination

Ever fallen in love with a ruined castle? Swooned over a derelict watermill? Imagined yourself descending the staircase of a once-grand Georgian mansion?

We all have dreams of living in our perfect dwelling. Some take that dream to much greater lengths and create their ideal home from a relic of the past. Even grander projects take extraordinary historic buildings and return them to their former glory as national heirlooms.

A new series from Channel 4 entitled Restoration of the Year will now reveal some of the best examples of those projects. The series will feature schemes that are entered into the RICS Awards - the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors whose member surveyors serve Surveyor Local's clients -  and the RICS will judge the nine projects, each from a different historical era, before finally naming one as Restoration of the Year.

Presenting the series will be Kevin McCloud, best known as the face of C4's Grand Designs, and he will be joined by Dr Anna Keay, the director of the Landmark Trust, which restores British landmarks. Historic RICS Level 3 Surveyor Marianne Suhr and architectural historian Jonathan Foyle will explain the relevance and significance of each historic building featured in the series, which starts on March 23.

One example that will feature in the series is the Landmark Trust's own restoration of a Georgian mansion called Belmont in Lyme Regis. A charity, the Trust is one of the leading movers in the restoration of historic buildings across the UK. After years of intensive and intricate work, the beautifully restored house now stands proudly as an excellent example of what can be achieved with skill, determination and time.

Restoration projects ideally return a property to a habitable state. Many that seemed fit only for bulldozing are now remarkable family homes and holiday lets.

Not every house buyer has the skill, the knowledge or the wherewithal, of course, to take on a lengthy restoration project. Most of us are happy simply to find a place that might need a lick of paint or maybe some new windows.

Whatever kind of property you have your eye on, you can put your mind at rest about the structure by having a survey carried out by a qualified, experienced RICS surveyor with the help of Surveyor Local.

Call Surveyor Local now onor go online for an instant, free quote for the service you require:

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