Lottery to spend £100m on ‘transformational’ heritage projects
Piece Hall, Halifax.
£100m of National Lottery funding will be given to ‘transformational’ heritage projects over the next three years, it was announced today.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has unveiled plans to make awards of £5m and over, with £50m to be allocated in 2020 and a further £50m in 2022.
The organisations says applications from a wide range of heritage projects will be welcome, but all projects will need to have substantial proposals for recognising the funding contribution made by The National Lottery – which for the first time could include naming rights.
Major projects that have previously received funding include the Mary Rose Museum, the British Library Sound Archive, the Design Museum and the V&A Dundee, Jodrell Bank, Alexandra Palace, Piece Hall Halifax and the Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
For the first time, a new ‘Expression of Interest’ stage will give applicants an early steer on whether or not they are a likely to be successful. They hope this will avoid unnecessary work for less promising applications and minimise competition among potential grantees at the award stage.
CEO of The National Lottery Heritage Fund Ros Kerslake said: ‘The National Lottery has generated huge sums of money to invest in heritage projects and every part of the UK has benefited from some of our biggest funding awards.
‘This year we’re celebrating the 25th year of The National Lottery and it’s an important moment to reflect on just how transformational this unique funding model has been for our heritage. We are tremendously excited about the next 25 years and this £100m is a hugely important step on that journey. ‘
‘We are now looking for bold plans – projects that demonstrate real ambition to deliver positive change within the communities they serve and put diversity and inclusion at the centre of their plans. We want to see striking initiatives that demonstrate genuine transformation for places and communities.
A shortlist of 10-12 successful bidders who are invited to make an application will then be publicly announced, with development funding available.
