Deadline: 28-Apr-23
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is seeking applications for its grant programmes to help with assessing the viability of a project, or to help fund development costs.
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) helps communities find enterprising ways to revitalise the old buildings they love. The funding support charities and social enterprises in developing sustainable new uses for historic buildings that are redundant or under-used. They aim to both enable the conservation of historic buildings and also to help groups own and manage historic buildings for the long-term.
The development work that they fund enables groups to test out ideas for re-using a building and to prepare detailed plans to the point of being ready to commence the works. In Wales, projects may be located anywhere – in cities, towns or rural areas.
This grant programme has been made possible by funding from Cadw, Pilgrim Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation.
Types of Grants
- Project Viability Grant (PVG)
- Maximum £10,000 – Average Grant = £5,400
- 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 (PDG)
- Maximum £20,000 – Average Grant = £10,500
- 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.
- Capital Work Grants
- Maximum £50,000 – Average grant = £38,700
- The grant can fund the cost of repair, restoration and conservation work and associated fees. Your plans will be close to being fully developed and some of your delivery capital funding may already be in place, but there is still a funding gap you need to fill. It can also fund work required to enable ‘meanwhile’ use or change of use, including services and fit-out.
Eligible Projects
- your project involves an historic building, which they define as:
- unlisted but in a Conservation Area, and/or
- highly valued by the local community for its historic interest;
- your project involves a change of primary use and/or a change of ownership;
- your project is being led by a not-for-private-profit organization
Ineligible Projects
- work that has started before a decision to award a grant
- 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 organisations (e.g. charitable trusts and associations) intending to incorporate (for Project Viability Grants only)
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIOs)
- Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee
- Charitable Community Benefit Societies
- Community Benefit Societies
- Not-for-private-profit companies Limited by Guarantee
- Community Interest Companies (CICs) Limited by Guarantee
- Co-operatives
- Community and Town Councils
Ineligible
- Private individuals
- Local authorities or 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 less than three Trustees or Directors (if there are only three Trustees / Directors) none of these should be spouses or otherwise related to each other
- Limited liability partnerships
- Churches or other places of worship, where the building or the space within the building you are enquiring about will be used as an active place of religious worship
For more information, visit Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF).