Renewed Partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation Unlocks Further Support for Projects in Northern Ireland

Thanks to the generous support of the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is pleased to announce that it will be offering advice and early-stage grants to heritage and community-led regeneration projects in Northern Ireland in 2023-26.

Since 2016, a partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation has supported the AHF’s advisory and early-stage grants work in Wales and Northern Ireland. The most recent Garfield Weston Foundation-funded programme, Heritage Transformed – also supported by the Pilgrim Trust, Cadw, and the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland – ran from April 2020 to March 2023. Through that programme, the AHF supported 137 different projects with advice and guidance, or around 45 heritage-regeneration projects per year in Northern Ireland. Read the Heritage Transformed in Wales and Northern Ireland Report for more information.

As part of this new three-year partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, the AHF will be providing advice and early-stage grant funding to heritage and community-led regeneration projects through the Harnessing Heritage in Northern Ireland grants programme in 2023-26. Specifically, Project Viability Grants of up to £10,000 are available to test early-stage plans for re-using a historic building. Project Development Grants of up to £20,000 are also available to further develop a project to the point of capital delivery.

For more information about the current funding available in Northern Ireland, please visit: Northern Ireland | The Architectural Heritage Fund (ahfund.org.uk)

Matthew Mckeague, CEO of the AHF, said:

‘Since 2016, the support from the Garfield Weston Foundation has been crucial in enabling the AHF to advise and fund many community and heritage-led regeneration projects in Northern Ireland. We are really pleased to be continuing this long-standing partnership over the next three years and look forward to working together to help more projects come forward for support.’

Notes to Editors

1. The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is a registered charity, working since 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. It provides advice, grants and loans, and is the only specialist heritage social investor in the UK.
2. The Harnessing Heritage in Northern Ireland grants programme is supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation.
3. For press enquiries, please contact Tia Jackson at tia.jackson@ahfund.org.uk