Grants are available to enterprising community organisations and commercial organisations working in partnership with community organisations to help rescue neglected historic buildings and sites and return to viable productive use.
Grants are available to enterprising community organisations and commercial organisations working in partnership with community organisations to help rescue neglected historic buildings and sites and return to viable productive use.
Fund Information
- Funding body:
- National Lottery Heritage Fund (Heritage Fund)
- Maximum value:
- £ 5,000,000
- Application deadline:
- None specified
Background
The National Lottery Heritage Fund uses money from the National Lottery to support a wide range of projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United Kingdom.
Objectives of Fund
The Heritage Enterprise programme is for projects that seek to achieve economic growth by investing in heritage. It is primarily for enterprising community organisations and partnerships between commercial organisations and community organisations, to help them rescue neglected historic buildings and sites and return them to a viable productive use.
Heritage Enterprise is designed to bridge the funding gap that prevents a historic asset in need of repair from being returned to a beneficial and commercial use. The case for grant funding will depend on there being a conservation deficit. This is where the existing value of a heritage asset plus the cost of bringing it back into use is greater than the value of the asset after development has been completed.
By closing the gap (meeting the conservation deficit) the funder hopes to encourage greater private sector involvement with many Heritage Enterprise projects, working in partnership with community organisations to deliver commercially viable projects. The involvement of the private sector is not mandatory, but it is encouraged.
Value Notes
Grants range from £250,000 to £5 million.
Match Funding Restrictions
Applicants must make a contribution to the project. This can be made up of cash, volunteer time, non-cash contributions, or a combination of all of these. .
The value of increased future costs of management and maintenance for up to five years after practical completion can be included as partnership funding.
The increased value of the property following development should be included as a cash contribution to the project. Once the conservation deficit has been calculated:
- Organisations that are applying for a grant of up to £1 million must contribute at least 5% of the conservation deficit.
- Organisations applying for a development grant to help develop their delivery phase application must also contribute 5% of the costs of their development phase.
- Organisations that are applying for a grant of £1 million or more must contribute at least 10% of the conservation deficit.
- Organisations applying for a development grant to help develop their delivery phase application must also contribute 10% of the costs of their development phase.
Who Can Apply
Applications will be accepted from:
- Not-for-profit organisations
- Partnerships between commercial and not-for-profit organisations.
Not-for-profit organisations can include the following:
- Charities, trusts, and charitable incorporate organisations (CIOs)
- Community or voluntary groups.
- Community Interest Companies.
- Faith based and church organisations
- Community/parish councils.
- Local authorities.
- Other public sector organisations, such as nationally funded museums.
Partnerships are required to nominate a lead applicant which will be a not-for-profit organisation that will provide a signed partnership agreement showing the involvement of each partner and how the project will be managed.
Private sector for-profit organisations are encouraged to participate but are required to be minority partners in a partnership that is led by a not-for-profit group. The private for-profit sector may engage with Heritage Enterprise projects in several ways, such as:
- By forming a development partnership with a not-for-profit group. In this way the commercial company will invest in some of the capital costs and take back a return from the rental income generated by the business occupation of the conserved heritage site.
- By occupying and setting up their businesses in refurbished historic buildings, paying market rents to the not-for-profit organisation or partnership that manages the heritage site.
- By providing some of the capital for the conservation and adaptation of the heritage site.
Priority will be given to projects that are located within areas of the UK experiencing economic disadvantage. Projects do not need to be located within designated areas of deprivation but applicants will be asked to define the economic need of the area and the difference the project will make.
Restrictions
Funding is not available for the cost of existing staff time or existing organisational costs (unless calculated through Full Cost Recovery.
The following will not be funded:
- Projects with a focus on residential rather than commercial development.
- Projects where the main focus is an urban park or an active place of worship.
- Activities that take place outside of the U K.
- Statutory and/or legal responsibilities.
- Promoting the cause or beliefs of political or faith organisations.
- Recoverable VAT.
- Costs for money that has already been spent.
Eligible Expenditure
Heritage Enterprise applications must demonstrate how they meet Heritage Fund Priority Outcomes 2021-2. The six priority outcomes are a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
They are:
- A wider range of people will be involved in heritage (mandatory outcome)
- The funded organisation will be more resilient.
- People will have greater wellbeing.
- People will have developed skills
- The local area will be a better place to live, work or visit.
- The local economy will be boosted.
The other three outcomes are:
- Heritage will be in better condition.
- Heritage will be identified and better explained.
- People will have learnt about heritage, leading to change in ideas and actions.
Funding is to be used for direct project costs which include:
The other three outcomes are:
- Heritage will be in better condition.
- Heritage will be identified and better explained.
- People will have learnt about heritage, leading to change in ideas and actions.
Funding is to be used for direct project costs which include:
- Property acquisition and related costs.
- Capital work, including repairs, conversion and new build costs.
- Development management costs.
- Planning and building control fees.
- Finance costs.
- Research, such as specialist surveys or historic research.
- The preparation of development appraisals.
- The preparation of management and maintenance plans, activities statements, conservation plans and project business plans (where applicable).
- Payments/bursaries for trainees.
- New staff posts: extra hours for existing staff, and the cost of filling a post left empty by moving an existing member of staff into a post created for a project.
- Professional fees.
- Evaluation.
- Promotion.
- Extra costs for the organisation, such as a new phone, extra photocopying, new computers or extra rent.
Location
United Kingdom
How To Apply
All relevant documents can be found on the Heritage Fund website.
Applications go through a two-round process. Step one is to submit a short Expression of Interest form. Applicants who are successful at step one will be invited to submit a development phase application.
The grant application process will include viability appraisals and development appraisals in order to calculate the conservation deficit. Full details can be found in the guidance notes.
Decisions on applications are made as follows:
- Applications with a combined development and delivery request of up to £2million are decided on by Committees in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. These applications will compete against other applications from their local area. The Committees make decisions every three months.
- Applications with a combined development and delivery request of £2million or more are decided on by the Board of Trustees of the Heritage Fund. These applications will compete against other applications from across the UK. The Board of Trustees makes decisions every two months.
It takes 12 weeks to assess an application. Once assessed it will go to the next quarterly meeting of the relevant Committee or Board of Trustees where a decision on funding will be taken.
Useful documents & links
Useful Links
Addresses and contacts
For further information on how to obtain this grant locally, please contact the following:
- Enquiries
National Lottery Heritage Fund (Heritage Fund)
7 Holbein Place
London
SW1W 8NR
Tel: 020 7591 6042/44
Email: [email protected]