Historic Environment Repair

Historic Environment Scotland is the lead public body established to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment. Historic Environment Repair Grant: Grants to support the cost of conservation-standard repair projects for buildings, places of worship or ancient monuments which are of special architectural, historic or archaeological interest.

Under the Historic Environment Repair Grant programme we normally offer grants from £10,000 - £500,000 to support conservation-standard repair projects across Scotland which secure the original fabric of historic buildings and ancient monuments using traditional materials and skills, in line with our Advisory Standards of Conservation and Repair. HES grant support will form part of a wider package of partnership funding. Contact us to discuss the potential level of grant for your organisation.

We expect Historic Environment Repair Grant to be used to repair buildings or ancient monuments which are of special architectural, historic or archaeological significance. Applications will be accepted for initial assessment on 31 December 2021. We will let you know if your project has passed our initial assessment checks within 3 months. Please note that the HES grant assessment process is separate from the statutory planning consent process.

We can fund: -historic fabric repair costs -traditional skills training for professional craftspeople and construction workers -fees for conservation accredited professional advisors -evaluation and maintenance planning costs -contingency -inflation allowance -non-recoverable VAT

If you are interested in applying for a grant from HES, you will need to submit an expression of interest first to receive feedback on your proposal. You can submit an expression of interest form at any time, and we aim to respond within 10 working days. We recommend you do not start work on your application form until you’ve received a response to your expression of interest.

Under this programme we expect to fund: -Not-for-profit organisations such as charitable trusts, local authorities or religious bodies. -Partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations.

Applicant organisations must be formally constituted with a clear governance and financial structure and have their own bank account. If you are applying as a partnership you will need to nominate a lead applicant. The lead applicant should provide a signed partnership agreement showing the involvement of each partner and how the project will be managed financially. Private owners or commercial organisations are eligible to apply, but are not a priority for support under this grant programme. These applicants would need to demonstrate that wider benefits to the public significantly outweigh their private gain.

We can fund projects whereby the applicant organisation: -owns the heritage asset or; -holds a full repairing lease which has at least 21 years to run or; -in the case of an ancient monument, has the written permission of the owner to carry out conservation works on the monument; -in the case of a place of worship, has written permission of the governing body.

We can fund projects which meet all of the following: -delivering conservation-standard repair works to significant historic assets -professional team including Conservation Accredited Professional Advisors (or Advanced Conservation Accredited Professional Advisors for A-listed buildings) -yet to begin -timetabled for five years or less -achieving one or more of our grant outcomes -not funded by a City Heritage Trust (as their funding is via HES grants)

Owners must insure and maintain the building, or agree to maintain the ancient monument, and allow an agreed level of access to the public in return for financial help. HES awards a grant based on a percentage of the total grant eligible costs, which will be determined in discussion with HES as part of the process of agreeing the repair scheme. Applicants are expected to maximise opportunities to secure match funding and should be aware of the following intervention rates which are normally used for different types of applicants: -Charities: normally a maximum of 40%. -Local authorities: normally a maximum of 25%. -Private owners: dependent upon financial circumstances, but normally a maximum of 33%.