Scott's hut has survived almost 100 years of harsh weather

The Discovery hut, at Hut Point, is at risk after almost 100 years of harsh weather.

The Antarctic Heritage Trust wants UK funding to restore the hut - along with one used by Scott's fellow British explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

But the work has been turned down for Lottery funding.

The Antarctic Heritage Trust hopes to restore the huts, originally built to survive at most one or two winters, to the condition they were when the explorers left them.

Scott famously perished after reaching the South Pole in January 1912, where he had discovered that his team had been beaten to their goal by a rival Norwegian expedition.

High-profile backers

Shackleton achieved a first when he reached within 100 miles of the pole in 1909.

Some funding for the restoration has been given by the government of New Zealand, in whose territory the huts stand, and the US-based Getty Foundation.

But the British government says there is not enough money for heritage projects in the UK let alone ones abroad.

The campaign has attracted the support of high-profile figures including broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, actor Kenneth Branagh, English Heritage chairman Sir Neil Cossons and polar explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and David Hempleman-Adams.

Sir David Attenborough said: "The huts are monuments to the great age of heroic exploration and it would be a scandal if Britain failed to provide the money to make sure that this astonishing place is protected for future generations."