The Herdman's Mill was founded in 1835

Three "at risk" buildings in Belfast, Sion Mills and Cookstown, and 27 others from across the UK, will compete for a prize in the series entitled Restoration.

They are the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast, Herdman's Mill in Sion Mills and Lissan House, near Cookstown in County Tyrone.

The Crescent Arts Centre was built in the Victorian era, and originally used as a girls' school. It still plays an important part in the community.

Herdman's Mill was founded in 1835 by three brothers from Belfast and provided provided housing, schooling, churches, sports & leisure facilities for workers.

New proposals for the mill complex include leisure and restaurant facilities.

Lissan House has been in the Staples family for 400 years

Lissan House, outside Cookstown, has been the home of the Staples family for nearly 400 years - the longest occupation by any single family of a country house in Ireland.

The current owner would like to see it become a centre for music and arts.

Jane Root, Controller of BBC Two said: "Not only will viewers get to learn some fascinating history through the buildings we feature, but we'll be encouraging them to get out and about and actually visit some of the UK's magnificent buildings.

"Like me, Griff feels passionately about saving our heritage from rack and ruin, and is currently criss-crossing the country to visit some of these buildings in person."

The Crescent Arts Centre was originally a girls' school

Each of the buildings will have a celebrity advocate who will highlight the reasons their particular building should be rescued from ruin.

Ten one-hour programmes will each be devoted to a geographical area of the UK and will focus on three properties at risk.

At the end of each programme, viewers will be invited to vote for which of the three buildings featured they would most like to see restored.

Each "winner" will go through to a final shortlist of 10 where the public will decide which building is most worthy of restoration.