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bath & wells: diocesan information
Grant Applications
A Parish Guide to English Heritage (EH) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Grants 2002-2005
Repair Grants for Listed Places of Worship for the period 2002 - 2005 are funded jointly by English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund. The grants are administered by EH on behalf of both organisations. Funds are available to contribute towards urgent, high level structural repairs to churches which are listed Grade I, II* or II.
Demand for grants continues to outstrip supply and even a good application for urgent and eligible works may not succeed. Applications for grants are a competitive process and EH must always prioritise those applications they receive in strict order of urgency.
Applications for grants should be made to EH in Bristol. Phone 0117 975 0700 in the first instance.
Grade I and II* churches are able to apply for joint funds from both organisations. Moral objectors to lottery funds having Grade I and II* churches can apply for EH funding only in this scheme. Grade II churches can only be funded by the HLF as EH grant giving powers do not extend to Grade II buildings. Moral objectors with Grade II buildings are therefore ineligible under the scheme.
To qualify for a grant:
- The church will need to be accessible outside the usual hours of worship on at least 28 days of the year and at other times by clearly advertising how a key can be obtained
- The project must be for urgent "high level" structural repairs - funds are finite and must be targeted towards keeping buildings fundamentally wind and watertight.
- The work must have been identified as necessary within 2 years - a QI report or recent professional report supporting this has to be provided - otherwise the application will be rejected on the grounds that the work is not urgent
Value of grant:
- Funds are targeted at single repair projects costing under £200,000 in order that as many churches as possible can be helped
- Large scale projects costing over £200,000 will only be funded in exceptional circumstances and will be considered on a national basis
- Applications where the total project cost is less than £10,000 will not be considered - there is an element of challenge funding in EH calculations of need and it is hoped that such sums should be available for all congregations
- The unrestricted funds available to congregations (plus any pledges of support already received) must amount to less than 80% of the total cost of eligible repairs. A contribution will not normally be made where the shortfall is less than 20% of the cost of the eligible work. EH consider that keeping the fabric of the building in fundamentally sound condition is the highest priority and all unrestricted funds should be directed towards this end.
EH assessment process:
- There is a desk top assessment of the application for eligibility, urgency and financial need. The estimated grant requirement is set against the available budget. The application is either rejected or is moved to the next stage in the process
- The next stage is that an EH architect visits the church together with the parish's architect / surveyor. The EH architect writes a costed report of the works agreed to be necessary and this estimated cost is set against a detailed assessment of the resources available to the congregation. EH work out a potential grant contribution.
- All cases where a potential contribution from the scheme have been identified as necessary are ranked in order of relative urgency and as many as possible are sent grant offers up to the maximum budget available. All other cases in the batch are rejected on grounds of insufficient resources or lack of financial need by the congregation where the need assessment shows this
What happens if you are successful?
A grant offer is made in 2 stages - project development and repair phase. 75% of the cost of the first stage is offered and a flat rate contribution, based on need, is offered towards the second stage which at this stage is an indicative offer and may change when the results of stage one are known.
Stage one - the development phase
Investigative works to define the extent of the repair are undertaken. This involves:
- The church architect / surveyor (who must be accredited in building conservation) writing a specification for the repair which must be approved by EH
- The specification being sent out to tender and tender analysis being undertaken
- Maintenance plans and access audits being compiled
- The congregation fund raising their contribution
- A cash flow diagram being compiled
EH recognises that all this work is costly and therefore pays 50% of the stage one grant at the outset. All the parish has to do to trigger the payment is to sign and return the grant contract. The remaining 50% is released when stage one is completed and all the documentation is submitted and deemed satisfactory.
The congregation submits the above information to EH to ask for their stage two offer to be confirmed. If the original offer is sufficient it will be confirmed. If the original offer is shown to be insufficient, than an enhancement may be requested, and up to date financial information submitted to support this. EH will undertake a new need assessment and may increase or decrease the stage two offer according to the results.
Stage Two - the repair phase
The amount of work undertaken in stage one means that stage two becomes relatively straight forward:
- The grant for the second stage is confirmed and a grant contract for stage two is issued
- The grant is made in agreed stage payments set against milestones in the project
- The first grant payment is made as soon as the contract is signed and returned
- Usually 50% of the grant is released at the outset with the remainder being paid in two or three further stages
- EH retain the final 5% of grant until practical completion is reached.
DAC and faculty approval
You will need to apply to the DAC for a certificate for the approved specification.
June 2004
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