Heritage fund to go where developers fear to tread

THE Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has launched a £25m programme called Heritage Enterprise which will seek to stimulate economic growth by unlocking the commercial potential of unused historic buildings and sites.    

The HLF says the five-year scheme “will empower not-for-profit organisations, such as community groups and social enterprises” to work in partnership with the private sector to rescue and return neglected historic buildings to productive use.  

A campaign group trying to save the Ancoats Dispensary in Manchester is hoping to secure money from the fund and say they already have a potential tenant – AWOL Studios, which rents space to artists and start-ups.

Research conducted by HLF shows that historic buildings are successful in attracting creative industries and new business start-ups. Heritage Enterprise will seek to tap into this potential for commercial enterprise, boosting local economies, jobs and skills.

Ancoats Dispensary has been closed since 1989 and the building has been owned by the Manchester developer Urban Splash since 2001. The firm had previously planned a project to bring it back to life by putting in around 1,800 sq ft of commercial space and 16 apartments.

However, the project was due to receive £1m in funding from the North West Development Agency, which was cut when the coalition government came into power. Last year Urban Splash applied to demolish the building which has already lost its roof due to work that began before the prospect of funding support vanished.

Heritage Enterprise will seek to address market failure – where historic buildings have failed to attract investment to realise their potential because their cost of repair has meant that it is not commercially viable for private developers. Grants of between £100,000 and £5m will plug the gap between the costs of repair and the value of the property after restoration.