Grant increases (SFF)

Union Chapel's Sunday School Stories – a tale of dissent and social change

Applicant: Union Chapel Project

Project description: To fully adapt and repair Union Chapel’s Grade II* listed Sunday School and create a publicly accessible home for the Union Chapel’s 200-year-old collection. To invite London’s diverse communities to help discover the lost history through a range of activities, new interpretation and partnerships to celebrate the heritage stories of nonconformists, dissenters, pop stars, play schools and the homeless. To deliver an inclusive three-year programme of heritage-led engagement and volunteer and skills development to reach diverse audiences often underrepresented within heritage.

Decision: Award grant increase of £973,149 making a total grant of £2,277,649 (67%)

SFF delivery round

Creating Futures at Alice Billing House

Applicant: Creative Land Trust

Project description: To save, conserve and revitalise Alice Billing House North Block, a derelict historic building, and remove it from the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register. To revive its neglected wider civic quarter and create an inclusive and representative legacy. To use Alice Billing House to invest in Stratford and its residents, to connect people where they work, live, and visit.

Decision: Award delivery grant of £2,885,867 (76%)

One item yet to be announced.

100 Years of Ashburton Park

Applicant: London Borough Of Croydon

Project description: To use a combination of three significant events surrounding Ashburton Park to engage local people – particularly young people and those from underrepresented groups – with the heritage landscape of their park. To restore central heritage features and inspire people to connect with nature, feel safe and welcome in their local greenspace, and consider qualifications in the sector.

Decision: Award delivery grant of £1,593,762 (77%)

The UnMuseum: Collecting, Preserving and Sharing Stories of Black Identity and Belonging in the South West Project

Applicant: Black South West Network

Project description: To embed a decolonial approach to the cultural heritage of Black communities in the South West. To take ownership over the identification, collection, preservation, interpretation and curation of their cultural heritage. To leave a legacy of more Black and racially minoritised people engaging with cultural heritage, a digital collection to preserve at-risk cultural heritage, a more resilient Black cultural heritage sector and a new depth of community engagement in cultural heritage management.

Decision: Award delivery grant of £1,256,217 (86%)

Abingdon Abbey Buildings – a heritage asset at the heart of the community

Applicant: The Friends of Abingdon Abbey Buildings Trust

Project description: To revitalise the historically important buildings, secure their future and enable more people to access and enjoy them, whilst amplifying their role as a hub for community engagement, heritage learning and cultural events. To become a thriving and sustainable heritage visitor attraction, connect the town’s rich history to its vibrant present and future, educate and inspire visitors of all ages and contribute to the town’s civic, cultural and economic life.

Decision: Award delivery grant of £3,997,500 (74%)

Life in the Community at the Charity School Edmonton

Applicant: London Historic Buildings Trust Ltd

Project description: To regenerate and restore the Former Girls’ Charity School and adjoining mistress’s cottage to create a new café, community space and garden. To provide training and work experience opportunities for young people marginalised by special educational needs, disabilities, poverty, unemployment, or social and educational barriers. To provide them with the skills to help them transition into long-term employment and promote well-being and greater social integration. To bring local people together in a community space, foster social cohesion and enhance community pride.

Decision: Reject

National Lottery Heritage Grants £250,000 to £10million development round

Kellogg College Oxford Heritage and Environmental Centre

Applicant: The Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford

Project description: To make heritage accessible, foster sustainability and inspire new generations to value and preserve Oxford’s cultural and natural heritage. The project aims to restore the historic villa and gardens and for the Centre to become a public resource for learning, heritage appreciation and environmental awareness. To reach underrepresented communities from Oxfordshire’s most deprived wards and to make Oxford a hub for international learning in heritage best practices.

Decision: Reject

Torre Abbey New Beginnings – Chapter One

Applicant: Torbay Council

Project description: Chapter One is the first part of a two-part project to reset Torre Abbey in its landscape and enable the use of the whole site to generate income and create a financially sustainable future. To raise understanding of the importance of the site and reconnect users with the heritage through creative interpretation of the stories connected with the hidden archaeology and unlock the largest green space in Torquay. To enhance wildlife and biodiversity through planting to ensure the site is sustainable and resilient to climate change.

Decision: Award development round grant of £350,000 (62% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £3,906,976 (80% of total costs)

The Barnstaple Excavations Publication Project

Applicant: North Devon District Council

Project description: To complete the post-excavation and publication of the material evidence excavated in Barnstaple during the 1970s and 1980s. To reduce the volume of stored finds and digitise written and photographic records to create an accessible and sustainable archive. To train volunteers and archaeologists in post-excavation techniques and North Devon pottery types, increasing skills and resources for those who work with North Devon ceramic finds. To increase public interest and sense of place with activities including creative work with local ceramic artists to share the region’s historic pottery skills.

Decision: Award development round grant of £51,924 (77% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £352,770 (73% of total costs)

Chalk Streams in the City

Applicant: The South East Rivers Trust

Project description: To revitalise four urban chalk streams in London and to transform them into thriving ecosystems. To engage local communities through educational programmes for schools, citizen science training and outreach events. To partner with Wild in the City to connect diverse ethnic communities with nature and promote inclusivity and diversity in environmental management. To improve the health of the streams and inspire long-term community protection.

Decision: Award development round grant of £457,458 (81% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £1,592,438 (77% of total costs)

Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm

Applicant: Towner

Project description: To create access to, and broaden understanding of, the heritage and culture of the South Downs National Landscape. To redevelop the historic Black Robin Farm, create a new cultural learning and heritage centre and to connect communities with nature and the landscape. To share and celebrate rural/coastal heritage, with culture and ecology to merge at a new eastern gateway to Britain’s newest National Park.

Decision: Award development round grant of £550,571 (70% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £4,449,428 (77% of total costs)

Building Beyond: Soane Reimagined

Applicant: Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of St Peter, Walworth

Project description: To restore the Grade I listed church and make it fully accessible, more welcoming, flexible and better-equipped for its community work. To become a place to celebrate its communities’ cultural heritage through activities shaped by them, with local partnerships with the London College of Communication (UAL), Mentivity and others.

Decision: Award development round grant of £438,000 (81% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £3,112,000 (69% of total costs)

Didcot's Historic Engine Shed

Applicant: Great Western Society Limited

Project description: To restore and repair the Engine Shed to continue its use as an authentic working shed and to protect the collection. To create fuller interpretation inside rooms to explain the work of the maintenance and train crews past and present. To deliver activities and events designed to engage core and under-served audiences with the building, objects and stories. To signpost people to explore the rest of the site, and double visitor and participant numbers to improve sustainability.

Decision: Award development round grant of £245,326 (65% of total costs) with the potential delivery grant of £3,566,394 (66% of total costs)

Bradwell Abbey – 870 years of pilgrimage to Milton Keynes!

Applicant: City Discovery Centre

Project description: To open the buildings on the medieval site to the public. To install a series of interactive interpretative displays and run activities that explain and involve people in the heritage of the public site. To share and involve the public and visitors in this rich shared history of 870 years.

Decision: Reject         

St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey: Here for Good

Applicant: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Mary Magdalen with St Olave, St John and St Luke, Bermondsey

Project description: To conserve and enhance St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey, a Grade II* listed at-risk historic place of worship. To stop further decay with urgent repairs, conserve and rehabilitate the fabric of the building, work towards net zero and reorder church spaces for future flexible community use. To grow church sustainability to include new audiences, identify and re-interpret its heritage, diversify volunteers, train its workforce, support its community and grow income through hires and individual giving.

Decision: Reject