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Areas, buildings and monuments

Safeguarding our historic buildings, monuments and archaeology for future generations.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded over £3bn to almost 10,000 area, historic building and monument projects across the UK.

These projects can help to sustain jobs, support economic growth and protect heritage at risk. They can also bolster local pride, nurture traditional craft skills and help communities enjoy and make use of the places they care about.

What do we support?

Projects we fund include:

  • investment in places of worship
  • conservation and repairs to historic buildings and places
  • finding appropriate new uses for historic buildings
  • community archaeology projects

Places of worship

Places of worship are among the UK’s oldest and most cherished historic buildings. We want to help congregations become truly resilient and their buildings genuinely sustainable.

Places of worship we fund

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • repair and transform a historic building at the heart of their community
  • help volunteers learn building conservation skills
  • rescue a building on a Buildings at Risk register
  • undertake a community archaeology project
  • regenerate a historic town centre or high street
  • look after and learn about a local war memorial

How to get funding

Our National Lottery Grants for Heritage programme is open for applications, with refocused priorities for 2021-22.

Find out more and apply
The current Lord Leycester brethren. Credit: Kevin Fern
The current Lord Leycester Brethren. Credit: Kevin Fern

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A new chapter for the Lord Leycester Hospital

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Help us shape the future of heritage funding and strategy

UK Heritage Pulse is a collaborative research project for the UK’s heritage sector, creating a broad and diverse community – and we want you to be part of it. The information you share through our quarterly UK Heritage Pulse surveys will help shape our strategy and funding approaches. In return, you
Outside the Jubilee Pool in Penzance
Sustainability award 2021 winner: Penzance Jubilee Pool

Stories

Could you be the Sustainable Project of the Year 2022?

The National Heritage Lottery Fund is sponsoring the sustainability category at the Museums + Heritage Awards for a third year running – entries are now open for 2022.
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Thomson Park, Burnley. Credit: Burnley Borough Council

Hub

Thriving Places

We are committed to supporting heritage projects that create better places to live, work and visit.
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Site of the new marine park at Plymouth. Credit: Chris Gorman/Big Ladder Photography

News

Heritage Horizon Awards: £50million to five life-changing projects

From the Scottish mountains to England's southwest coast, these big heritage ideas champion environmental, community and cultural heritage as part of our Heritage Horizon Awards.
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Basic Page

How we're tackling climate change

In our corporate plan we have committed to play our part in tackling climate change – both within our organisation and in our grant giving.
Vidhya Alakeson, CEO of Power to Change

Blogs

Community ownership: the future of high streets

Walking through my local town centre today, where every other shop now stands empty, it’s a sad sight and a far cry from the bustling civic centre it once was. The COVID-19 pandemic and successive lockdowns have had a devastating impact on our town centres. But they’ve only accelerated what has been
Old image of Brockwell hall building in sepia colour
Credit: London Borough of Lambeth/Pringle Richards Sharratt

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£3.3million to transform Lambeth's Brockwell Hall

A National Lottery grant will help restore the Grade II* listed hall, along with its stables and coach house, to better serve its diverse South London community.
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Boundary Way allotments, Wolverhampton

News

Our new report uncovers impact of COVID-19 crisis on heritage

We commissioned Renaisi to find out how heritage organisations across the UK used our emergency funding, which was delivered at speed from April last year. The report reveals the positive impact the Heritage Emergency Fund had on the sector, as we distributed £49,829,600 to 961 heritage