Audrey Carlin (left), AHF Scotland Trustee and Chair of AHF Grants Panel, with Alison Turnbull (right), Director of External Relations and Partnerships at Historic Environment Scotland, at the historic Gracemount Mansion in south Edinburgh. Image courtesy of HES.
AHF and Historic Environment Scotland announce £2 million partnership funding boost to support the sustainable community re-use of Scotland’s historic buildings
14 April 2025
Scotland
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is delighted to announce the extension of its long-standing strategic partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). Thanks to renewed and increased investment of almost £2 million from the HES Partnership Fund, over the next three years the AHF will be able to continue and enhance delivery of its core grants and project support programme in Scotland. This will include increasing the amounts available through its focused early-stage grants.
The AHF provides a unique mixture of advice, early-stage grants and social investment loans to help community-led organisations find sustainable new uses for the historic buildings that matter to them,benefitting local people and places.
In Scotland, specifically, the AHF’s grants programmes - primarily funded by HES and the William Grant Foundation (WGF) - support around 50-60 projects every year, from the Western Isles to Fife and from the Shetland Isles to the Borders. A wide array of buildings, from medieval towers to 1960s churches - and everything in between - have been brought back into use or community control to provide a range of new services, including much-needed local affordable housing, community centres, pubs, workspaces, and childcare facilities, as well as arts and cultural spaces.
Since 2020, thanks to generous funding support from HES and WGF, the AHF has been able to award more than 260 grants in Scotland to over 200 organisations, with a value of £2.4 million, to support groups to undertake initial feasibility and project development work. These have directly levered in a total of almost £6 million in wider investment. Over half of all grants are to new organisations who have not previously taken on historic building projects, and more than two-thirds of grants were to projects based in or supporting areas of high deprivation or other equivalent assisted areas of need.
In Edinburgh, the AHF has supported Gracemount Mansion Development Trust’s (GMDT) project to secure ownership of Gracemount Mansionand re-open it to serve the local community once again. Originally a rectory, this Category B-listed building served as a much-loved youth and community centre from the 1960s until 2018. It is currently empty and on the Buildings at Risk Register, and is located in an area listed as in the top 20% deciles of deprivation according to Scottish Government SIMD data.
AHF awarded the GMDT two HES-supported development grants in 2023 and 2024 to help develop its plans and build a strong business case for acquiring the building; this has led to the group successfully preparing to take on ownership this Spring.A further WGF-supported grant, awarded earlier this year, will help the Trust with emergency repairs to the roof, ensuring the building is wind and watertight while they continue to work on the longer term plans for its future.
With this new three-year agreement, which includes an increase in funding from HES, the AHF is now re-launching its core Scotland grants programme, offering larger amounts of financial support for groups looking to test potential project ideas, prove the viability of their plans, and then develop these to the point they are ready to apply to larger capital funders, such as HES, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Scottish and UK Government regeneration funds.
Audrey Carlin, Trustee of The Architectural Heritage Fund, said: “With our new grant programnmes, we are particularly keen to support groups developing projects that serve areas of high multiple deprivation; involve a change of use or ownership of a historic building; and/or are looking to improve their energy efficiency/environmental sustainability.”
Matthew Mckeague, Chief Executive of The Architectural Heritage Fund, said: “We are immensely grateful to Historic Environment Scotland for this renewed and increased investment in our grants and support programme. It will extend our valued long-term strategic partnership, and will enable us to continue providing funding and guidance over the next three years. This will support communities across Scotland to take control of and adapt historic buildings for sustainable social and economic impact.”
Alison Turnbull, Director of External Relations and Partnerships at HES, said: "We are proud to support community-led organisations across Scotland through our Partnership Fund award to the AHF. By enabling communities to play a leading role in their local heritage, their programmes help breathe new life into historic buildings. This increased investment reflects our commitment to ensuring that heritage is accessible to all and everyone can benefit from our historic environment. By helping organisations take the vital first steps towards the sustainable reuse of Scotland’s built heritage, we help safeguard it for future generations. We look forward to seeing these places and spaces at the heart of local communities revitalised, bringing them back into use and creating a more vibrant Scotland."
From top left: John Boyle, Vice-Chair of Gracemount Mansion Development Trust, Catriona Jackson, HES Grants Development Team Leader, Emma Lawrence, Project Management Officer for Gracemount Mansion Development Trust, and Riona McMorrow, AHF UK Head of Grants. Standing in front is Alison Turnbull, Director of External Relations and Partnerships at HES, and Audrey Carlin, AHF Scotland Trustee and Chair of AHF Grants Panel. Image courtesy of HES.
More details about AHF support in Scotland
Early-stage Historic Environment Scotland-supported Project Viability Grants of up to £15,000 are very flexible and tailored to the individual group’s needs. Funding can, for example, help groups carry out condition surveys and architectural feasibility studies by suitably qualified heritage professionals; establish broad costs; engage with the community to identify core needs, test meanwhile uses and develop business plans.
For those groups who have already established broad viability, AHF can provide a small number of Historic Environment Scotland-supported Project Development Grants of up to £45,000 to move projects on to their next stage of investment readiness, including securing planning permission and listed building consent or employing a Project Manager or other role to help build the capacity of the organisation.
Thanks to funding from the William Grant Foundation, projects in Scotland may also be eligible able to apply for a Tailored Support Fund grant of up to £15,000. This is intended to help organisations and projects that may not fit within the criteria for our other grant programmes. The funding can, for example, be used in situations where an unexpected cost arises, or emergency repairs are required. It may also be used to support meanwhile uses, or other physical enabling works that help sustain the development of a larger project.
For more information and guidance about the AHF’s grants and support programmes in Scotland, please visit: http://ahfund.org.uk/scotland
The AHF also provides tailored social investment loan finance with competitive terms to support not-for-profit organisations working on or based in historic buildings across the UK. This funding helps organisations bring heritage buildings back into sustainable use, supporting regeneration, community benefit and long-term resilience. For more details, visit: https://ahfund.org.uk/loans/our-loan-funds/
About The Architectural Heritage Fund
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is a registered charity founded in 1976 to promote the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic buildings for the benefit of communities across the UK, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas.
The AHF exists to help communities find enterprising ways to revitalise the old buildings they love. We provide advice, grants, and loans, and our support acts as a catalyst for putting sustainable heritage at the heart of vibrant local economies.
For nearly 50 years, we’ve been the leading social investor in creating new futures for historic buildings.
HES are the lead body for Scotland’s historic environment, a charity dedicated to the advancement of heritage, culture, education and environmental protection. It is at the forefront of researching and understanding the historic environment and addressing the impacts of climate change on its future, investigating and recording architectural and archaeological sites and landscapes across Scotland and caring for more than 300 properties of national importance. HES are also the lead on delivering Scotland's strategy for the historic environment, Our Past, Our Future.
For more information on HES, please contact
Robin Kepple
Historic Environment Scotland Media Office
Mobile: 07786 278 747
Email: robin.kepple@hes.scot
