Welcome | The Architectural Heritage Fund

The past year had been going exceptionally well, with the AHF launching Transforming Places through Heritage fund in England, securing significant new grant funding from Historic Environment Scotland and also ongoing funding for its programmes in Wales and Northern Ireland. However, the impact of COVID-19 has brought unprecedented disruption for everyone, including the AHF and the projects we support. The pandemic is an era-defining event, the impact of which will be felt for years to come.

This Annual Review mostly covers the pre-COVID-19 period of the last year. You will see the variety of projects we have supported but also the increasing number of projects focused on high street and town centre regeneration. The Heritage Impact Fund (HIF), our partnership loan fund with National Lottery Heritage Fund, Cadw, Department for Communities (Northern Ireland), Historic England and Historic Environment Scotland was able to deliver a significant number of loan offers more quickly than we had expected – the demand and quality of projects coming forward has been very impressive. But COVID-19 will change the trajectory of many of these schemes and organisations.

We want to make sure as many as possible of these inspiring organisations survive the crisis. For us, that will mean working in partnership now more than ever so that we can understand the specific challenges and help to find mitigating measures that could be the difference between failure and survival.

Liz Peace CBE, Chairperson

During the course of the year we also funded our first Heritage Development Trust pilots. We are looking to invest in additional Heritage Development Trusts over the next few years and believe the model could be a powerful driver of more heritage-led, sustainable and place-specific regeneration.

Matthew McKeague, Chief Executive

We know that many of those we have been supporting have been working hard to address the virus’s impact, including some working at the frontline of community responses. Stretford Public Hall has been acting as a hub for community response teams and Leith Theatre has provided a space for a food charity offering free meals for the local community. We want to make sure as many as possible of these inspiring organisations survive the crisis.

An organisation such as the AHF could not do what it does without the assistance of so many others. As well as the organisations I have mentioned, this year we have continued to receive very welcome and much appreciated support from the Pilgrim Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation for our programmes in Wales and Northern Ireland. We also launched a new fund in partnership with the William Grant Foundation in Scotland and we are really pleased to be working with them.

That is what the Architectural Heritage Fund does best and what we will continue to do with expertise and enthusiasm - and with a deep commitment to making a difference for communities across the UK in a post-COVID-19 world.

Our Board of Trustees also continues to put in tremendous efforts not only to support the executive in matters of governance and strategy, but also to offer their time in so many other aspects of our grant and loan making. We are fortunate in having such a dedicated group of people but sadly their tenures do not last for ever and this year we have said good-bye to our long-serving Welsh trustee, Richard Keen, who has done so much to maximise the impact of our activities in Wales, and to Sue Brown who has been an enthusiastic proponent of our enhanced communications efforts aimed at ensuring that deserving heritage projects understand the wide-ranging support that we can offer and that the wider world hears about our achievements.

And finally, of course, we have our small but dedicated team – some of them very new to the organisation – who, under the inspiring leadership of our CEO, Matthew Mckeague, have put in a superlative effort over the last year to launch major new funds, secure new funding and deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. They – and the people involved in the often small organisations we support and fund – have faced the crisis presented by the last few months with a resolve and determination that is to be much admired.

None of us quite know what the next year will bring but we can be certain that there will be plenty of people and organisations who will need our help in working out a sustainable future for much loved but sadly neglected heritage buildings. That is what the Architectural Heritage Fund does best and what we will continue to do with expertise and enthusiasm – and with a deep commitment to making a difference for communities across the UK in a post- COVID-19 world.

Welcome from our Chief Executive

This Review primarily covers April 2019-March 2020 – and the story, for most of that time, was a really positive one. Up until February, the AHF team had been working hard exclusively on delivering and managing the biggest loan and grant awards we’ve ever made: throughout the UK, projects involving the reuse of heritage buildings were being funded by the AHF like never before. There were still many challenges facing communities, but lots of excellent work was happening across the country – the impact of COVID-19 has put a huge dent in the progress of so many projects and organisations.

It will take time to recover from COVID-19, and we need to ensure that as many organisations as possible emerge on the other side of the pandemic. Organisations like Jubilee Pool Penzance were just gearing up for their first summer season since the addition of a new cafe and geothermal pool. Spring and summer are so vital to assets like Jubilee Pool which, like many projects, derive much of their income in these months. Evidence gathering by our partners at Social Investment Business has shown how places like Penzance rely heavily on visitor spend and how heritage assets can be key drivers of this spend. The welcome and unprecedented government support, along with that of larger funding partners of the AHF, has undoubtedly helped our clients weather the storm – but the long tail impacts cannot be underestimated. This is a story replicated across many of the projects we are supporting.

Although the immediate future can and does look daunting, there is hope to be had. The plans for Gracehill Post Office in Northern Ireland will address issues such as rural isolation and a lack of social and community infrastructure, as well as the regeneration of an historic building.

Projects like this, and the services it will deliver, will be needed even more as we emerge from the immediate impact of COVID-19 and in the coming months and years of recovery. During the course of the year we also funded our first Heritage Development Trust pilots. These organisations will use our revenue grants to help scale up their heritage-led regeneration efforts in Sunderland, Bacup, Great Yarmouth and Coventry. Despite the challenges wrought by COVID-19, these organisations are looking at how some of the features of the virus – more home working, more domestic tourism – might be turned into opportunities in the medium to long term. We are looking to invest in additional Heritage Development Trusts over the next few years and believe the model could be a powerful driver of more heritage-led, sustainable and place-specific regeneration.

As ever, I am indebted to the immense hard work of my team and the support of our trustees. This – and the huge efforts of the organisations we have been supporting – is always such a source of pride, but particularly in this ever so difficult and challenging year.

Matthew Mckeague
Chief Executive

The welcome and unprecedented government support, along with that of larger funding partners of the AHF, has undoubtedly helped our clients weather the storm - but the long tail impacts cannot be underestimated.

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