Architectural Heritage Fund Grant Programme – Scotland (UK)

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 related regeneration projects based in Scotland.

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 a new use of a vacant historic building
  • Are in the top 30% most deprived areas (with reference to the Scottish 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

Current Programmes

• Project Viability Grant (PVG)
  • Maximum: £10,000 – Average Offer: £6,000
  • Project Viability Grants (PVG) are to fund studies to look at potential uses for a building and at its current condition, and usually 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 monthly rolling basis. They aim to let you know whether you have been successful within six to eight weeks.
  • This grant programme is supported by funding from Historic Environment Scotland.
• Project Development Grant (PDG)
  • Maximum: £40,000 – Average Offer: £15,000
  • 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.
  • This grant programme is supported by funding from Historic Environment Scotland.
• William Grant Foundation Tailored Support Fund (TSF)
  • Maximum: £10,000 – Average Offer: £7,500
  • Thanks to funding from the William Grant Foundation, projects in Scotland may be eligible able to apply to the Tailored Support Fund. This is intended to help organisations and projects that may not fit will within the criteria for the other grant programmes.
  • Projects applying to this fund will generally be characterised by:
    • a strong community-led ethos;
    • a desire to give new purpose to a building valued locally for its architectural heritage;
    • plans that demonstrate strong social, economic or environmental benefits that help meet local need.
  • They’re particularly keen to hear from projects that might be aiming to create something unique and exceptional; or which will contribute more widely to enriching Scotland’s built environment fabric through trying new and better ways of doing things, i.e. innovative approaches with potential for replication and wider learning.
  • Example of situations they would welcome a discussion about potentially supporting with this fund include:
    • emergency repairs/urgent capital works/mothballing:
    • to prevent deterioration whilst developing longer term plans for a building;
    • to enable a ‘meanwhile use’ or testing of proposed longer-term use(s);
    • other costs involved in enabling meanwhile uses;
    • uplifts needed to existing funding due to unexpected situations/increased costs;
    • projects involving unlisted buildings that are highly valued by local communities for their historic interest;
    • assisting in building the capacity of a community to deliver a project;
    • any other areas where the other grant funding programmes cannot currently assist.

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 – Category A, B, C
    • unlisted but in a Conservation Area
    • unlisted but 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 owns, or plans to own or acquire the building on a long lease (usually of at least 25 years following project completion)

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
• match funds to monies already provided by Historic Environment Scotland or the William Grant Foundation

Eligibility Criteria

• Your organisation must be one of the following not-for-private-profit organisations or lowest tiers of local government:
  • Unincorporated organisations and charities (for Project Viability Grants only)
  • Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs)
  • 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
  • Community Councils

Ineligible

• Private individuals
• Local authorities and other public sector bodies (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 primarily as an active place of religious worship – defined as hosting regular religious services or religion-based activities such as prayer or religious study.
• If you are unclear whether your project is eligible on the basis of religious activity taking place within your building, please contact one of the Support Officers.

For more information, visit AHF.