Woolwich sites taken off Historic England risk register

The Royal Military Academy, Officers’ Quarters in the Royal Arsenal, and the Garrison Church of St George have been successfully restored and were taken off Historic England's 'Heritage at Risk Register' in October.

The three buildings, details below, have all been on the risk list for between 20 and 28 years after being judged to be at risk of being lost because of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.

The Historic England programme identifies the sites across the country that are most at risk of being lost, but this year 44 locations were removed from the list.

Sarah Merrill, Greenwich's cabinet member for regeneration and growth said: “It is a great relief that these buildings have had such work carried out on them, that they are now in a good enough condition to be categorised as not at risk.

"This is a testament to the work of organisations like the London Historic Buildings Trust.”

Royal Military Academy - Academy Road, SE18

Built between 1805 and 1808 for cadets at the Royal Arsenal, the Royal Military Academy is Grade II listed.

The Tudor-Gothic style building has been described as one of the most important pieces of military architecture in the country, and cadets who attended the academy include the sons of Queen Victoria and Napoleon III.

It was modelled on the Tower of London and designed by James Wyatt, a leading Georgian architect.

But the academy suffered from extensive damp and dry rot inside, and the site was put on the Heritage at Risk Register in 1995.

Since then, work on a large scale residential conversion began in 2008 and were finally completed this year.

Officers' Quarters, Royal Arsenal (Building 11) - SE18

This Grade II listed barrack block was built for the Royal Regiment of Artillery between 1717 and 1720 and accommodated 200 soldiers with officers' houses at each end.

Added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 1992, the site was protected by sheeted scaffolding and a temporary roof for over 10 years. The interior and 18th Century roof structure were in very poor condition and there was timber decay throughout.

But in 2017, planning permission and listed building consent was granted and it was successfully repaired and restored by Berkeley Homes in 2020.

Garrison Church of St George, Grand Depot Road SE18

Now also Grade II listed, St George’s was built as a chapel for the nearby Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1862. It is significant for its ornate Italianate Romanesque style and surviving mosaics by Victorian mosaic artist, Antonio Salviati.

It was bombed in both World Wars, and almost destroyed in 1944 by a V1 flying bomb.

It was put on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2000 and finally removed in 2020 after completion of a complex 8-year conservation project by the London Historic Buildings Trust.

The church is home to the Victoria Cross Memorial commemorating the losses of the Crimean War through to the middle of the Second World War, with Salviati’s mosaic of St George slaying the dragon as its centrepiece.