£2.5 million investment for heritage-led projects in Glasgow

Glasgow City Heritage Trust is delighted that it has been announced today that we will benefit from over £2.5 million of investment from Historic Environment Scotland for heritage-led regeneration projects over the next three years.

The funding is being released through the City Heritage Trust programme, administered by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which will see an overall total of £8.6 million invested throughout Scotland’s seven cities through City Heritage Trusts (CHTs).

The grant has been given to Glasgow City Heritage Trust to enhance the condition, maintenance and understanding of the historic environment in the city.

Delivered from 2018-2021, the HES funding will allow the Trust to direct resources to local heritage-led projects that will create jobs, regenerate buildings and city precincts, provide training opportunities in the sector and lever additional funding from other sources.

Past funding has enabled Glasgow City Heritage Trust to deliver significant transformative projects, including the project to convert the B-listed ‘Pump House’ building on the River Clyde into a working whisky distillery, bar, café and shop, and the refurbishment of the A-listed Queens Cross Church, home of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh society.

Alex Paterson, Chief Executive of HES, said: “Through schemes such as City Heritage Trust funding, organisations best placed to understand local needs have the opportunity to not only improve the condition and quality of their local historic environment, but align projects to deliver the best possible outcomes in their communities.

“We want to ensure more of the money we spend is directed by communities themselves – by the individuals and organisations who know best how to tackle the issues affecting their communities and harnessing the energy of local people.”

“We are seeing the positive impacts previous funding rounds have had on local communities, including the employment opportunities generated and stronger economies from successful commercial ventures.”

Our Director, Torsten Haak, said: “Since 2007 Glasgow City Heritage Trust has invested more than £10million in repairing Glasgow’s historic buildings – improving the condition of over 500 buildings, supporting over 1600 people and organisations to look after their historic properties and helping thousands of people understand and celebrate Glasgow’s heritage through our outreach projects and events.

“Glasgow City Heritage Trust is very grateful for this commitment to continued funding from Historic Environment Scotland, whose support is crucial to ensure that our charitable work facilitating the conservation and celebration of Glasgow’s historic environment through funding and partnership working can continue. The volume of requests for grant funding we receive every year shows how much there is still to do, and we are looking forward to another three years of fruitful work in the city.”

The Trust will be reopening our grant programmes to new enquiries in July, following confirmation of our grant conditions and new policies and criteria by HES and our Board. Please keep an eye on our website and social media accounts for further updates.