Derelict railway building on top 10 at-risk buildings

A Grade II*-listed railway station building in Cardiff is among this year's top 10 most endangered buildings.

The Victorian Society has published its annual list of the most at-risk Victorian and Edwardian buildings in England and Wales.

The old Bute Road Station, in Cardiff Bay, is the only Welsh building on it.

Actor and Victorian Society vice-president Griff Rhys Jones called for locals to campaign to save them.

The building is thought to have been designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was built as the headquarters of the Taff Vale Railway in 1842-43.

It became home to the first steam-powered railway in Wales and played a vital role in linking the coalfields of the south Wales valleys with Cardiff Docks.

But the building has been derelict since a museum it housed closed, with train passengers now using a temporary shelter at the adjacent Cardiff Bay station.

Christopher Costelloe, director of the Victorian Society, said he hoped there was a way to bring the building "back into use and provide a fitting gateway to the area".

"Retaining historic buildings like those in the top ten is vital to maintaining local identity and creating places in which people want to invest, live and work," he added.

Another building in the city, The Coal Exchange - where the first million pound cheque was signed - was included on the list two years ago.

Following a campaign to save it, developer Signature Living was granted permission to start restoring the site as a hotel.

Other buildings to make this year's list include Victoria Mill in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, St Paul's Church in Boughton, Cheshire, and the Old Library in Stafford, Staffordshire.

For the first time, there are no buildings in London and England's south east region on the list.