AHF Grant Programmes in Wales – United Kingdom

Deadline: 31-Oct-24

The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is providing grants to help with assessing the viability of a project, or to help fund development costs for historic building regeneration projects based in Wales.

The AHF helps communities across the UK find enterprising new ways to revitalise old buildings. They do this by providing advice, grants, and social investment loans. The grants are targeted towards early-stage project development, while loans may be used at any stage in a project. The social investment loans (repayable finance) is also available for the acquisition of buildings, to provide working capital, for bridge/cashflow funding, or to kick-start enterprising activities.

The aims are:

• delivering targeted investment that leads to the sustainable reuse and management of historic buildings.
• supporting charities and social enterprises to take ownership of, develop and sustain new uses for historic buildings.
• championing the impact of heritage and community-led regeneration.

Funding Priorities 

• They will prioritise projects that:
  • involve new use of a vacant historic building
  • are in the top 30% most deprived areas (according to the Wales Index of Multiple Deprivation)
  • involve and support diverse and marginalised communities
  • have a strong focus on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency
  • contribute to local regeneration schemes

Grant Programmes

• Project Viability Grant
  • Maximum £10,000 – Average Grant = £5,900
  • Project Viability Grants (PVG) are to fund studies to look at potential uses for a building and at its current condition, and produce a Viability Report to a standard template. Successful completion of this will be used to judge whether applicants can then apply for the AHF’s Project Development Grant funding, and can be used to secure further funding elsewhere. This grant is administered on a rolling basis. They aim to let you know whether you have been successful within six weeks.
• Project Development Grant
  • Maximum £20,000 – Average Grant = £11,700
  • The Project Development Grant (PDG) scheme is intended to assist an organisation to cover some of the costs of developing and co-ordinating a project and taking it towards the start of work on site.
  • To qualify, an organisation must have established that the end use of the project is likely to be viable and have decided to take the project forward.

Eligible Projects

• They want to support the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic buildings for the benefit of communities, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas.
• In general, your project will be eligible if all of the following apply:
  • your project involves an historic building, which they define as:
    • nationally listed – Grade I, II, II
    • locally listed
    • unlisted but in a Conservation Area and/or
    • highly valued by the local community for its demonstrable historic interest;
  • your project is being led by a not-for-private-profit organisation
  • your project involves the building changing its use and/or a change of ownership
  • your organisation already has or seeks to acquire the freehold or a long lease (usually for a minimum of 25 years) on the building

Ineligible Projects

• work that has started before a decision to award a grant
• on site capital works
• repair costs that are not part of a larger scheme to find a new sustainable use
• ongoing maintenance costs

Eligibility Criteria

• Your organisation must be one of the following not-for-private-profit organisations or lowest tiers of local government:
  • Unincorporated charities (for Project Viability Grants only)
  • Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
  • Charitable Companies Limited by Guarantee
  • Community Benefit Societies
  • Not-for-private-profit Companies Limited by Guarantee
  • Community Interest Companies (CICs) Limited by Guarantee
  • Co-operatives
  • Parish, Community and Town Councils

Ineligible

• Private individuals
• Local authorities and other public sector bodies other than Parish and Town Councils (unless applying on behalf of an organisation still in formation)
• Universities, colleges and other mainstream educational institutions including independent schools
• For-profit companies, unless in a partnership led by a not-for-profit organisation
• Unincorporated organisations (e.g. charitable trusts and associations) that are not intending to incorporate
• Organisations with fewer than three Trustees or Directors. If there are only three Trustees/Directors, none of these should be spouses or otherwise related to one another
• Limited liability partnerships
• Churches or other places of worship, where the building or the space within the building will remain in use as an active place of religious worship – defined as hosting regular religious services or religion-based activities such as prayer or religious study.

For more information, visit AHF.