This article explores the creation of the system for the conservation of architectural heritage in Northern Ireland, evidencing the struggle for convergence within the UK before 1972. The agency of networked individuals, close state– civil society interrelationships and the innovative actions of conservationist groups in response to legislative and practice inadequacies in the 1960s are discussed. In particular, a series of ‘pre-statutory lists’ are introduced, highlighting the burgeoning interest in industrial archaeology and Victorian architecture in Belfast and the prompt provided to their creation by redevelopment. The efforts of conservationists were eventually successful after the collapse of Devolution in the early 1970s.