The small town of Sandiacre is home to three conservation areas, each with its own local and historic interest.

The Cloudside Conservation Area is the most northerly. Old Celtic ridge and furrow-field patterns can be seen from the Stoney Clouds area which overlooks the rest of the town. It is thought that the name Clouds comes from the Saxon club meaning hill, but many chroniclers have referred to the sandstone rock outcrops looking like clouds when viewed from a distance.

St Giles Church, which dates back to the 10th century, is situated at Stoney Clouds and is made up of various examples of work from different centuries including evidence of Saxon work in the lower wall of the nave of the church and a good example of a Saxon window above the chancel arch.

Canalside Conservation Area is in the centre of the town and contains a major reminder of Sandiacre's industrial past, Springfield Mills. This was built in 1888 as a lace factory and still dominates the canal's skyline with its towering brick chimney. It was built by Terah Hooley, a local entrepreneur and former owner of Risley Hall.

The focal point of the Sandiacre Lock Conservation Area is the attractive old Lock Cottage with its associated outbuildings situated at the junction of the Erewash Canal and the former Derby Canal. This early 19th century building would once have been occupied by the lockkeeper and it is a good example of traditional canalside architecture.

Construction of the Erewash Canal began after the passing of an Act of Parliament in 1777 and was completed in 1779. The 12 mile route of the canal stretches from the River Trent northwards through Long Eaton and Sandiacre and on up the Erewash Valley through Ilkeston to Langley Mill.

The Erewash Canal is still in use thanks to the formation in 1968 of the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association. Its towpath, which makes up some of the Nutbrook Trail, provides an attractive traffic free route through a mainly built up area. The canal is used by pleasure craft especially in the summer months.

Sandiacre's industrial heritage lives on today in furniture making, engineering, cloth-ing, lace making and light industry. The town has grown considerably this century and the population has now stabilised at around 9,000.