Britain is home to an abundance of beautiful and historically significant buildings. In England alone, there are around 500,000 listed buildings according to Historic England. Without the correct maintenance many of these buildings will begin to deteriorate. Historic building restoration and maintenance preserves these high-value buildings for the future. However, restoring historic buildings is expensive, and a lack of funds is usually the reason why many of these buildings fall into disrepair. Fortunately, some easy-to-apply-for grants can help cover at least some of the cost of restoring these important historic buildings.
Grants for restoring historic buildings
Grants to restore historic buildings are in short supply considering the amount of buildings there are in the UK that require restoration. Some local authorities provide small discretionary grants for architectural or historical interest buildings, but this varies considerably depending on the area. Historic England and English Heritage provide grants in certain circumstances but they are primarily focused on funding grants for buildings considered of national importance or those on the Heritage At Risk Register.
Historic England grants
Historic England is a publicly funded body that works with communities and specialists to protect and promote England’s historic buildings and landmarks. Historic England offers grants to cover some or all of the repairs of individual historical sites, including listed buildings, registered parks, gardens, and scheduled monuments.
Applying for a Historic England grant
Historic England has local offices across the country which handle applications for its grant scheme and accepts applications at any time during the year. Anyone looking to make an application should first contact their local office before making a grant application. Historic England cannot provide grants for any work carried out before a grant offer is made.
After you have applied to Historic England, they will contact you regarding their decision within six months. However, large or more complex projects can take longer to assess. Grant applications go through a rigorous testing process to check it meets the criteria for the grant scheme. Historic England will then assess the work required, the best way for the restoration to be carried out, and the amount of grant required.
Conditions of a Historic England grant
If an offer of a grant is made, the application is invited to sign a contract and agree to follow the grant conditions set out in the contract. Anyone receiving a grant is required to follow the procurement regulations set out by Historic England. In some cases, the grant conditions will remain active for a set time after the grant-aided works are complete.
English Heritage grants
English Heritage is a charity organisation that manages more than 400 historical monuments and buildings. This includes medieval castles, prehistoric sites, country houses and Roman forts. Every year, English Heritage awards grants of £30 million towards restoring and maintaining designed landscapes, buildings and monuments.
English Heritage grant criteria
English Heritage focuses on historic environments at significant risk and proposals to improve the management of England’s historic environment. Grant applications must not only reflect this but also follow the below criteria:
- Demonstrate a financial need for restoration
- Evidence that the historic building or site has a long-term future
- The historic building or site needs restoration work within two years
Grant applications need to show that there will be other benefits that come from a grant award. For example, developing skills and training opportunities, partnership working, social and educational advantages, improvements to the local economy, and the building or site available to visitors.
Historic building restoration
The preservation of historic buildings takes specific knowledge and experience. At Stone Cleaning Experts, our team of specialists utilise their listed and historic building restoration and preservation skills to achieve a result that respects the heritage of each building or structure we work on. Using our specialist and sensitive restoration services, we have worked on a few prestigious buildings in the UK. For example, our team restored the beautiful Haseley Manor in Warwick, an 1875 Grade II listed building, back to its former glory and the iconic University of Birmingham clock tower, Old Joe, Grade II listed, originally completed in 1908.
The UK has many wonderful historic buildings and monuments, but the maintenance costs of these can be quite considerable. While there are grants available to pay for urgent repairs, conservation work and commissioning reports, you will also need a team of professional specialists behind you. Whether you require full sensitive façade restoration, external stone cleaning or masonry repairs, our team of experts have the skills, knowledge and experience to sympathetically clean and restore historic and listed buildings so they can continue to be enjoyed for years to come.
