Grant limit raised to £10m as Heritage Fund sets out new strategy

Entire places will be transformed under plans set out by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in its new 10-year strategy.

The Heritage 2033 strategy will see the threshold for the National Lottery Grants for Heritage funding programme raised from £5m to £10 – or above that in exceptional circumstances – in order to support larger, more ambitious projects over a longer period. Decision-making will be devolved, with the majority of grants agreed at local level.

The Heritage Fund says it aims to invest in the heritage infrastructure of whole places rather than just individual sites, while new-builds will be discouraged in favour of reusing old buildings.

The organisation expects to invest £3.6bn over the coming decade. It will adopt a simplified process to funding, with applications assessed under four new investment principles: saving heritage; protecting the environment; inclusion, access and participation; and organisational sustainability.

Alongside this, the Heritage Fund will use strategic interventions to enable it to respond quickly to unforeseen circumstances and target gaps that may be missed by its open funding programme. The first interventions will be for place-based investments, landscapes and nature, and heritage in need.

The strategy was informed by a consultation with more than 4,000 stakeholders across the UK. Principles such as supporting the recovery of nature and environmental sustainability came across particularly strongly in the feedback, said Heritage Fund chief executive Eilish McGuinness at the launch of the strategy this week.

The need to save threatened heritage – the reason the Heritage Fund was established in the first place – was another principle that clearly emerged from the consultation. “Heritage is so under threat right across the country,” said Heritage Fund trustee Carol Pyhra, speaking at the launch event. “What’s really exciting about the strategy is the long-term strategic thinking.”

The strategy will be rolled out over the coming year, with the new investment principles due to be introduced in the summer. Further details on how the strategy will be delivered will be outlined in a series of three-year delivery plans.

“We welcome the new strategy, in particular the emphasis on inclusion and participation and supporting organisational sustainability,” said Sharon Heal, director of the Museums Association. “It is vital that we invest in existing buildings and collections and also support work to diversify our workforce and audiences if we are to be representative of local communities and provide equal access to our amazing collections for all.”

The Heritage Fund will celebrate its 30^th birthday next year. Since 1994 it has invested more than £8.6bn in around 50,000 heritage projects across the UK.

Investment principles

Saving heritage:

• improved condition and understanding of heritage
• reduced amount of ‘heritage at risk’
• delivered transformational long-term projects
• made digital heritage more accessible

Protecting the environment:

• put landscapes and habitats into recovery
• increased understanding of and connection to nature
• reduced the negative environmental impact of our funding portfolio
• improved heritage’s ability to adapt to climate change

Inclusion, access and participation:

• increased diversity of heritage workforces and audiences
• reduced barriers for people under-served by heritage
• enabled more people’s heritage to be recognised
• championed digital technology to improve access

Organisational sustainability:

• increased organisations’ commercial and governance capabilities
• developed skills and capacity across heritage
• embedded resilience in projects we fund
• strengthened heritage’s contribution to local economies