COULD a Swindon icon be named Britain’s Most Endangered Building?

The Mechanics’ Institute in the Railway Village is a strong contender for the one of the country’s top ten most threatened historic buildings.

That is the view of preservation charity the Victorian Society, which draws up the annual list to highlight historic gems which are in jepoardy.

If the Mechanics’ is named on the “most endangered” list, the hope is that it will add to the pressure to find a real solution to the ailing institute’s problems.

But it needs your help to nominate it.

Daniel Rose, head of the Mechanics’ Institution Trust, said: “The Mechanics has been included on the list in the past. I’d very much like to see it on that list again. I would have thought the Mechanics is a strong candidate, unfortunately.

“It raises the profile of the issue on a national level. It shines a light on the sorry state that we’re in, and draws wider attention to the issue from people outside of town, as well as reminding people in Swindon what a dire situation the building is in.”

The building last appeared on the list in 2007.

But Katie Gunning, Victorian Society campaign officer, said: “Things have moved on quite a lot since then. It’s missing its roof, and it’s in a poor state.

“No-one has nominated it yet, but I feel sure they will. I think we’d expect to be considering it.”

She said the society’s experts ultimately decided which buildings make the list, but said it helps to know how strong the feelings of local people are when making their decision.

“We make our decisions based on the quality of the building and the threat that it’s facing,” she said.

“If people feel strongly about it, it is worth them nominating it. It’s good for us to know if communities are really supportive of the building.

“If we know a community value a building very highly, it all adds up to whether a building is very important.“ The Mechanics’, owned by businessman Mathew Singh, has been in a state of disrepair for a number of years.

And in the last 12 months, the council was forced to undertake £1.2m-worth of work on it to stop it collapsing – including ripping off its old roof and replacing it with sheets of corrugated steel.

Its condition was not helped by the fact a workman accidentally set fire to the roof during the repairs.

But the Mechanics’ is not the only dilapidated historic building in town.

The Locarno in Old Town, also built in the Victorian period, has been the subject of much controversy this year after plans to regenerate it were thrown out by the council.

The Mechanics’ was built in the 1850s, around the same time work on the Locarno began.

But the Mechanics’ has a Grade II* listing, putting extremely high up the list of historic buildings in the UK, while the Locarno has the more common Grade II listing.

To nominate, either fill in a form on the website www.victoriansociety.org.uk , email the society on katie@victoriansociety.org.uk , or write in to The Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens, London, W4 1TT The deadline for nominations is July 17.