Historic Environment funding & grants
Preventative maintenance
‘A stitch in times saves nine’ – for advice on how to maintain heritage assets and avoid the need for repairs, please see our advice pages for listed buildings maintenance and care of monuments.
Historic Environment Fund
Repair, Regeneration, Research and Revival
The Department’s principal means of providing support to you, if your heritage assets need repair or if you want to develop an idea to realise the wider value of our heritage, is through our Historic Environment Fund (HEF). This is divided into four streams: Research, Repair, Regeneration and Revival. Subject to confirmation of budgets, it is normally launched in June or July each year. Most streams are only open to applications for a limited time. We can only support expenditure carried out by 31 March. If you would like us to e-mail you when the streams are launched, please send your details to historicenvironmentfund@communities-ni.gov.uk.
The Roof and Window Repair stream
The Historic Environment Fund Roof and Window Repair Stream is currently closed for work in 2025-2026. Please contact Historic Environment Division if you would like to add your name to the list of owners who wish to be notified should new funding become available. Applications for the Repair Stream in 2026-27 will likely be invited in advance (late 2026/early 2027), and support will be subject to Departmental budgets in the next financial year.
Work must be carried out in compliance with the HEF Advisory Standards.
The Regeneration stream
This is a strategic part of the Fund mainly focused on supporting partners such as: Ulster Architectural Heritage, the Architectural Heritage Fund, and the National Churches Trust to develop projects to tackle Heritage at Risk and problems faced by historic churches.
Open to application in 2025/26, was development support for eligible listed building owners to obtain support to develop proposals for their building and support for communities to develop preliminary works to monuments to prepare for future repair work.
The Historic Environment Fund Regeneration stream is currently closed for work in 2025-2026. Please contact Historic Environment Division if you would like your name added to the list to be notified should new funding become available.
The Historic Monument Regeneration stream
Open to application in 2025/26, was a small scheme of up to £2,000 per project to help historic monument owners to carry out minor works administered by our Field Monument Wardens.
The Historic Monument Regeneration stream is currently closed for work in 2025-2026. Please contact Historic Environment Division if you would like your name added to the list to be notified should new funding become available.
The Research and Revival streams
Open to application in 2025/26 was support for those, including communities and District Councils, interested in carrying out research and development activity.
The Historic Environment Fund Research and Revival streams are currently closed for work in 2025-2026. Please contact Historic Environment Division if you would like your name added to the list to be notified should new funding become available.
- The impact of the Historic Environment Fund Research stream
- The impact of the Historic Environment Fund Revival stream
Other support
Support for social enterprises/charities to tackle Heritage at Risk
Through the Regeneration Stream the Department supports the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) to work with communities to realise the potential of heritage assets. Its Northern Ireland Harnessing Heritage project includes funding to provide project viability and project development grants.
Village Catalyst
The Village Catalyst grant scheme is a partnership initiative between the Department (DfC), the Department for Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE). Applications are invited from charities, social enterprise and other not for profit groups in rural villages of less than 5,000 people, who want to tackle rural poverty and social isolation in their area, by developing a sustainable use for a disused historic building in their village.
The programme builds on a three year pilot, which resulted in four projects being developed, highlighted in a short film.
To be eligible, the building must be listed or within a conservation area. The three available funding routes and details on how to apply are listed below:
- Project Viability Grant – To carry out viability work, with support offered up to £10,000. Please complete the enquiry form prior to making an application. This is a rolling scheme. More information on what this grant can fund is available.
- Project Development Grant – To further develop your plans with support offered up to £20,000. For enquiries and applications for this scheme, please contact our partners AHF (Ahf@ahfund.org.uk). Please note, this scheme will close once our available budget has been expended. Therefore, early application is recommended.
- Delivery Grant – To deliver your project, with capital funding offered up to £240,000. For enquiries and applications for this scheme, please contact Villagecatalystsupport@communities-ni.gov.uk. Please note, this scheme will close once our available budget has been expended. Therefore, early application is recommended.
As awards are subject to available budget we recommend early submission of proposals.
Heritage Impact Fund
The Department has also provided funding to the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) to support it to provide loans to applicants in Northern Ireland seeking to ‘acquire, reuse or redevelop buildings which are of historic or architectural importance - these may be buildings which are listed, in a Conservation Area, or may be of special significance to the community.
Community Ownership Fund
The Community Ownership Fund provided financial support to communities across the UK to take ownership of assets, amenities and facilities at risk of being lost but have value for the local people and place. Unfortunately, it is no longer open for applications.
The current UK government has advised it will deliver on its manifesto commitment to the community ‘Right to Buy’ Assets, creating a robust path to ownership. It encourages community groups seeking funding to preserve community assets, including those who may have submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) but did not submit a full application, to continue to use the guidance and tools available through the development support provider on the MyCommunity site. These tools have been designed to help any organisation seeking to save an asset that is important to them and their local community and will remain available beyond the COF programme.
The Devolution White Paper, which was published on 16 December 2024, set out plans which demonstrate commitment to communities and there will be further announcements relating to communities in the new year, including on the community ownership of assets.
This information will be updated when further detail becomes available.
Funding for places of worship
Historic Environment Division (HED) has supported the National Churches Trust to develop the Treasure Island funding stream for churches in Northern Ireland. The project which is also supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Pilgrim Trust, started in 2020 and closed in June 2025. NI denominations seeking assistance and advice on repairs should now apply for funding through the National Churches Trust main grants programme. Its aim is to make it easier for those responsible to look after church or chapel buildings. The Historic Environment Fund continues to support the NCT’s capacity building project.
National Heritage Memorial Fund
National Heritage Memorial Fund supports communities in repairing and conserving local war memorials. It exists as a fund of last resort to support the UK’s most outstanding heritage, which is at risk of loss.
£2 million funding has recently been announced for the restoration of war memorials. The funding will be distributed via the National Heritage Memorial Fund as a top up to the Memorial Fund endowment, and as such will be UK-wide.
Other sources of funding
The Heritage Funding Directory is managed by The Heritage Alliance and the Architectural Heritage Fund, and provides a free guide to financial and other support for anyone undertaking UK related heritage projects. Organisations such as the Pilgrim Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation have a history of supporting work in Northern Ireland and may be willing to support suitable projects.
There are eligibility quizzes on the websites of many of these philanthropic funders that take less than 5 minutes to complete. Please note they are mainly aimed at community groups and not for profit organisations.
The Heritage Funding Directory’s entries cover historic buildings, landscapes, parks and gardens, churchyards and cemeteries, industrial heritage, archives, historic churches, museums, archaeology, environmental, heritage skills, conservation and more.
Another useful source of funding is Grants Online. This is a UK-wide e-newsletter, which encourages subscription and can be filtered to enable a refined search for Northern Ireland. It covers a wide range of resource and capital funding, again largely aimed at community organisations.
Groups may also wish to search the NI Executive’s Government Funding Database, which can be searched by Department, Local Council or funding programme name.
Other Historic Environment information
More in this topic
- Historic Environment Toolkit
- Historic Telephone Kiosks
- Support for the Historic Environment during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The impact of the Historic Environment Fund Regeneration Stream
- The impact of the Historic Environment Fund Research Stream
- The impact of the Historic Environment Fund Revival Stream
- Village Catalyst Pilot case studies