Grants worth €9m for restoration of historic buildings open for application

Grants worth a total of €9 million for the repair and restoration of protected and historic buildings have been opened for application by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Funding of €4.5 million each will be available for 2023 under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, and the Historic Structures Fund, an increase of €1 million on the 2022 funding package.

The Historic Structures Fund will include two streams: one for “vernacular structures” and another for historic shopfronts.

The vernacular stream will provide total funding of €150,000 for conservation repairs and small capital works to structures, built through traditional local methods, that are not listed in local authorities’ records of protected structures or otherwise legally protected.

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The shopfront stream, which runs in conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Gaeltacht, includes shared funding of €50,000 for the conservation of shopfronts in the Irish language.

The Built Heritage Investment Scheme will include ring-fenced funding of €500,000 for conservation repairs to eligible historic thatched structures.

In 2022, 594 projects were funded by the two schemes, ranging from minor essential repairs of rainwater goods to large-scale roof repairs.

Projects included the conservation and repair to the Shrine of Sacred Heart at DCU’s All Hallows Campus, which was awarded €30,000; emergency conservation works to the pier at Quay Street, Belmullet, Co Mayo, awarded €92,000; a €200,000 project to repair the parapet and roof at Bantry House, Co Cork; €50,000 for repair work to Lambay Castle, in north Co Dublin; and the repair and conservation of 62 windows in Strokestown House, Roscommon, which was awarded €80,000 split over 2021 and 2022.

Both schemes aim to support several hundred projects and create more than 50,000 days of employment for skilled conservation professionals and craftspeople, the department said.

Applications are open until January 31st, 2023. Details of the schemes and how to apply are available on all local authority websites and the department’s website.