Rockwell Green's iconic water towers have been named among Britain's 10 most endangered Victorian buildings, and their owner has been told to fix them up, or sell up.

The list of endangered buildings was produced by the Victorian Society, a group which works to protect period buildings from demolition and destruction.

Griff Rhys Jones, entertainer and president of the society, weighed in on Rockwell Green's towers. He said: "These are beacons. Titans. These water towers are tremendous. In the glorious Somerset countryside, with views towards an area of natural beauty, they would make a special home, or an unusual holiday let.

"This has been achieved with similar structures in many other places. Conversion is far greener than building something new. We can’t throw away our industrial history.”

Earlier this year the local authority intervened to carry out works to the towers after the building's owner permitted vegetation to overgrow the Grade II listed towers and threaten their structural integrity.

After the owner failed to abide by the now defunct Somerset West and Taunton Council's legal notices to make good the building's exteriors, the council took direct action in January to carry out the work themselves, with the owner forced to foot the bill.

The first tower was designed by the architect Edward Pritchard, and constructed from locally made red brick in 1885. The second tower was a later construction, built either in 1934 or 1935 and made from concrete.

However their continued survival is in question, with the Victorian Society directly calling on the building owner to to either carry out repair works, or sell them to someone who will do so. Joe O'Donnell, director of the Victorian Society branded the building owner 'irresponsible' and accused him of neglect:

"A common factor with most buildings on our list this year is responsible ownership. Despite all these buildings being Grade II listed they have been neglected for years. Regular, appropriate, maintenance is vital for older buildings.

"The owners of the buildings on our list should be responsible stewards of these nationally significant buildings. If they can’t or won’t, be that they should sell them so someone else can try and secure their futures before it is too late.”

The water towers were purchased at auction by Croydon-based property developer Anwar Ansari in 2013 after they were put up for sale by Wessex Water.

Mr Ansari, a major Labour donor and former party official, has repeatedly made headlines for controversies concerning his companies. In 2017 the London Fire Brigade found serious breaches of fire safety in flats belonging to Mr Ansari's firm, AA Homes. These included a locked fire escape and defective fire doors. One resident told reporters: “It’s terrible. There is no ventilation and we only have one window that opens. The apartment is very small. I’m not sure it’s safe.”

A spokesman for the the firm told the Financial Times that AA Homes were contesting the findings of the London Fire Brigade at a tribunal, and that they had attempted to make entry to fix issues at the property, but were denied entry by a tenant who was subletting it without permission.

In 2016 Mr Ansari admitted his firm had posted a job advert which excluded British people from applying. An advert posted to the recruitment website Indeed by AA Homes called for "Polish kitchen fitters, plumbers, tilers, carpenters and labourers.” Mr Ansari, who has had contracts working for the government, said the wording was a mistake, and told reporters:

"A new person put it on. We employ all different types of nationalities. I’ve spoken to the staff member and we may not be using her again. I don’t know why she did it.”

The firm's website boasts that AA Homes is a "key player in the UK property market" with almost 200 sites across the UK, and credited the government's relaxation of planning laws for swelling their portfolio:

"AAHH and its associated companies have invested heavily in the Housing Management business and acquired over a period of time, a diversified portfolio approaching 640 units and 186 land sites across the UK in locations as different as Greater London, the Midlands and the Welsh Valleys. All but 20 per cent of these assets are unencumbered.

"Due to its steady growth, the company has developed its own in-house expertise over the years in Planning, Architectural, Structural Engineering, design and development which enabled it more recently to add to its portfolio while embracing the UK Government’s relaxation of the planning laws. These may attract Institutional interest in the Private Rented Sector or Acquisitions."

The latest intervention by the Victorian Society is not the first time that the conservation group have taken aim at AA Homes. In 2019 the society identified The Leslie Arms Pub in Croydon as endangered, a building which is believed to be owned by AA Homes. Christopher Costelloe of the Victorian Society commented at the time:

"Victorian pubs are closing all over the country and it is no surprise that this year there is one on our top 10 endangered List.

"A particularly intractable case, this is a building of great quality where continued pub use should be viable. The right owner is needed!"

The most recent report from Historic England on the pub found that:

"The ground floor of the building has been vacant for many years and its condition is deteriorating, particularly the interiors. The upper floors have now been converted to flats.

"In 2017 and 2019 repairs were carried out, including to the front parapet wall, and rubbish was cleared from the front of the building. Discussions with the Local Authority on the future use of the building have taken place but no progress has been made."

A spokesperson for Mr Ansari's firm said: "We have been really pleased with the interest of the council in this site of important Victorian heritage and have met with them onsite this month to discuss how to progress things with these iconic towers.

"We also welcome the push by the Victorian Society for a residential conversion which we are now actively looking at trying to employ specialist architects.

"We are also so grateful to the council for the help they gave in doing some vegetation clearing of the site. The council's positive constructive approach gives us real hope for positive progress.

"We have also undertaken some maintenance visits to the site these last few weeks, visits which will continue. If there are any local green fingered gardeners willing to take up paid work to get and to keep the site up to scratch we would be very interested to hear from them."