‘Listed’ buildings are those designated through listing as being of ‘special architectural or historical interest’ under Section 80 of the Planning Act (NI) 2011. Such buildings are assigned to The Buildings Database, a list containing records of buildings which have been judged to be of enough architectural or historic interest to merit a survey by the department. The register is kept by Historic Environment Division and is available online at https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/services/buildings-database

As well as conventional buildings, the list may include man-made objects or structures not normally considered as buildings, for example tombstones, telephone kiosks, post boxes, gates, war memorials, bridges docks and other industrial structures.