BCD 2018

C AT H E D R A L COMMU N C I AT I O N S C E L E B R AT I N G T W E N T Y F I V E Y E A R S O F T H E B U I L D I N G CO N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C TO R Y 1 9 9 3 – 2 0 1 8 176 rethink its strategy. It concluded that in order to evolve into a more effective and resilient organisation it needed to make important changes including reviewing its governance, broadening its membership, encouraging the private sector and individuals from outside the BPT movement to get involved, and connecting with members throughout the UK through a regional network. Fortunately, the association was successful in securing transition funding from the HLF and in October 2016 the Heritage Trust Network was launched. HERITAGE TRUST NETWORK The Heritage Trust Network has absorbed the membership of the UK Association of Preservation Trusts, but with a new name and governance model to reflect the fact that it is a separate and independent new charity. It has also absorbed the association’s 27 years of project and conservation experience and its practical guidance on everything from lime mortar to VAT. The HTN has checked and updated this guidance, expanding it with case studies and member requests. Network members now have access to an online heritage toolkit, over 200 accessible videos and guidance notes, including legal advice and model constitutions. The network is based at the Newman Brothers Coffin Works site in Birmingham, also home to the Birmingham Conservation Trust (BCT). It shares an office with the BCT and Civic Voice, connecting it to the needs of both members and the wider heritage movement, and enabling wider partnership working. In England, the network’s membership of the Heritage Alliance ensures members’ issues and concerns are heard at a strategic level to influence local, regional and central government policy. AVAILABLE FUNDING With the introduction of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the mid-1990s, the funding landscape changed significantly. As well as the increase in funding and introduction of clawback clauses (making the revolving fund BPT model unnecessary and less viable), eligibility criteria were refined by the new body, placing greater emphasis on the need for community benefit and public engagement with heritage. This too favoured those BPTs which retain buildings and make access available to the public. The flexibility of modern heritage trusts and their embedded social and community focus, means a wide variety of funding sources are now available: grants from central or local government, trusts, foundations, the National Lottery or local philanthropy. Grants often need to be blended with loans, community shares and crowdfunding. Traditional long-standing funding sources remain, but funding by local authorities and the statutory national heritage bodies (Cadw, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland and Northern Ireland’s Historic Environment Division) has been reduced, and grants are limited. The AHF, however, has been able to expand and increase its influence and capability. With experienced funding advisors in every UK region, AHF should be the first port of call for any community group with aspirations of building restoration. The largest heritage grant giver remains the HLF. Its Heritage Grants programme is well established and very flexible. Heritage Enterprise is a newer programme that could be custom-built for BPTs and many have been successful in accessing its annual funding of approximately £25 million. The focus is again on finding sustainable new uses for buildings at risk, to drive long-term economic growth for the local community. The Heritage Enterprise programme is based on evidence that commercial businesses based in listed historic buildings generate a heritage premium of, on average, 4.4 per cent more wealth than non-listed buildings across the whole economy. The programme is intended to engender partnerships between heritage bodies and the private sector and unlock long-standing but highly challenging conservation priorities. The first completed project for the programme was by a BPT, the Northern Counties Club in Derry by the Inner City Building Preservation Trust. It is now the boutique Bishop’s Gate Hotel. To assist projects at an earlier stage, HLF has introduced the Resilient Heritage grants programme. Many trusts have already benefitted from it, either through using it to develop new, more professional legal and governance structures or to revise their business models for new challenges. It is often partnered with viability grants from the AHF, particularly for viability appraisals for Heritage Enterprise projects. Crowdfunding and community shares are newer forms of funding made more accessible by social media. Crowdfunding raises funds by attracting small donations from a large group of people via specialist websites. Crowdfunding can prove highly effective for time-limited campaigns for popular causes such as historic buildings or features. In July 2017, Historic England raised £22,000 to restore and return The Sunbathers to public display at London’s South Bank. This unique sculpture by Peter Laszlo Peri from the 1951 Festival of Britain was presumed lost until it was rediscovered at a London hotel. Crowdfunding is used by an increasing range of trusts and is even being considered by local authorities as their central funding is cut. Community share projects, as the name suggests, are financed by the sale of shares in the ultimate business to community investors. The investment represents an ownership stake, rather than a donation, so there are risks attached. It is also not possible for all groups because companies limited by guarantee are unable to issue shares. However, community heritage projects can attract investment unavailable from banks or traditional lenders. Further, community share projects can raise pound-for-pound match funding from Power to Change, a charitable trust set up to support community businesses to create better places across England. The Hastings Pier Charity accessed both crowdfunding and community shares in a project which transformed one of the UK’s oldest piers. As part of an overall £14 million HLF project, it undertook the first ever share issue for a charity in 2014, and raised over £590,000 from over 3,000 people, who are now the pier’s owners. A subsequent crowdfunding appeal raised £258,200 from 1,697 investors in just 70 days. The restored pier reopened in 2016 and won RIBA’s 2017 Stirling Prize as Britain’s Best New Building. To conclude, any current or prospective group interested in restoring its local heritage has a range of options and advice available. HLF, AHF and the statutory national heritage bodies all have area networks and development officers and work closely together. However, all three tend to refer community groups to the Heritage Trust Network for specialist heritage expertise and grass-roots experience where a building preservation trust model would help. JEREMYFENN isadirectoroftheHeritageTrust Network (www.heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk ). Trainees and volunteers at Grade II* listed St Margaret’s Church, also known as Hopton Ruined Church, Norfolk. The medieval church burned down in 1865 and the ruins, previously on the Buildings at Risk Register, have been stabilised in a project involving a range of partners including the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust.

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