Thriving Places

People sitting in a sunny park, near a bandstand

Pearson Park in Kingston upon Hull

We are investing in places, not just individual projects, to bring about benefits for people, places and our natural environment.

What we mean by place

‘Place’ refers to a meaningful location, and definitions vary depending on where you are and who you ask. It could mean a local community, a natural landscape or an entire city.

How heritage supports thriving places

Heritage plays a unique role in building pride in place by connecting communities and visitors to an area and helping to boost economies.

Buildings and monuments, landscapes, high streets, parks and nature sites all contribute to a sense of place alongside the stories, memories and experiences we associate with them.

Our funding for heritage projects

We welcome applications for heritage projects that take local needs, challenges and opportunities into account by:

considering how the activity you deliver benefits your area
valuing the experience and knowledge of your local communities
partnering or co-ordinating with other organisations to have a wider impact

Projects taking this place-based approach can focus on different types of heritage and can include an individual heritage site or a wider area.

We are delivering strategic initiatives, as part of our Heritage 2033 strategy, that focus on place:

Heritage Places is targeting place-based investment to boost pride in place and connect communities and visitors with heritage, distributing £200million across the UK during Heritage 2033
Landscape Connections is investing £150million in around 20 long-term projects boosting nature recovery by supporting Designated Protected Landscapes across the UK and other world-class landscapes in Scotland.
Nature Towns and Cities is a partnership initiative supporting places to improve the quality of, and access to, historic parks and urban green spaces, distributing £15million in 2025 for projects lasting up to three years

See our funding programmes, area-based projects good practice guidance and strategic initiatives pages to find out more.

Our approach to supporting places

We fund places, not just projects, by:

valuing the local expertise of our Area and Nation Teams and Committees in our decision-making for grants
engaging with a range of organisations and communities across the UK to make connections between priorities and projects
delivering our place-based strategic initiatives: Heritage Places, Landscape Connections and Nature Towns and Cities
working with partners and agencies to bring about benefits for places, such as the Architectural Heritage Fund’s Heritage Development Trusts programme

Discover how heritage can create better places in the project examples below.

Stories

25 years: from church to grime, Waltham Forest celebrates its heritage

“Thank you Lottery, I feel like a winner!” - Rory Sky What links a church, a dry cleaners and grime music? A difficult question but in this London borough at least, it’s clear – it's National Lottery investment and a growing sense of pride. A place of heritage In Lloyd Park, just outside the William

News

£13.6million National Lottery boost for Hull's maritime heritage

800 years of Hull’s maritime history to be placed at heart of its future thanks to "game-changer" regeneration plans.

02/10/2019

Publications

Great Place Scheme evaluation (England)

BOP Consulting evaluation of the Great Place Scheme, an initiative which is piloting new approaches to putting culture at the heart of communities and local policy-making.

Stories

25 years: Derry Girls star takes us on a tour of her home city

Derry~Londonderry Also known as the Walled City thanks to its historic 17 th-century walls, Derry~Londonderry is Northern Ireland’s second-largest city. It is home to over 150,000 people and a wealth of heritage treasures, including museums, arts venues, cathedrals, parks and waterways. Over the

News

25 years: restoring the prosperity and pride of Blaenavon

Blaenavon: a community reborn Perched high on a South Wales hillside, Blaenavon is a community forged from the heat, smoke and dust of the Industrial Revolution. Its ironworks and coal pit provided the majority of the town’s residents with employment until 1980. The town's shops, churches, chapels

24/09/2019

Stories

Long read: the future of The Piece Hall

Read: Part one: what saving Piece Hall did for Halifax. Cultural cachet There has been a knock-on effect on the cultural cachet of the town too. In 2018, BBC 6 Music named Halifax “the Shoreditch of the North”, citing a burgeoning music and craft beer scene. It has also recently been dubbed

Paul White

Stories

Long read: what saving Piece Hall did for Halifax

In part one of two features, find out how National Lottery funding helped save Halifax's Georgian Piece Hall, but also benefited the town, too.

Parks for Health project Camden and Islington. Credit: Islington Council.

Basic Page

Future Parks Accelerator

An initiative set up to secure the future of the UK’s urban parks and green spaces.

A close up of meadow plants in the sunlight

The conservation-themed activity of meadow management, for Wild Ways Well

Projects

Creating Natural Connections in Cumbernauld

The Scottish Wildlife Trust are bringing transformational change to Cumbernauld’s natural heritage, and helping local people engage with its greenspaces to improve mental health.

14/09/2017

Projects

The Tweed Rivers Heritage project

Forming the boundary between Scotland and England, the River Tweed provides a common thread to the natural, built and cultural heritage of the Borders as it meanders across 97 miles of scenic countryside.

19/07/2001