www.ahfund.org.uk

Building community enterprise through heritage

Ian Morrison

13.10.2016

www.ahfund.org.uk

Who we are

• AHF set up as a result of a 1971 Civic Trust

study and 1975 European Year of

Architectural Heritage

• Advice, grants and loans, plus lobbying and

capacity building

• Promote the role of historic buildings in

regeneration

• Ongoing support to >500 projects a year

• Network of support officers throughout

England and Scotland

• Loans of £124m to 900 historic building

renovation projects, and 1,200 grants

totalling over £10m

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Impact

Client outcomes

• 89% of AHF clients more confident

• 87% of organisations have engaged with a

wider audience

• 91% of clients have increased their

credibility to other funders

• 66% of AHF-supported projects resulted

in the re-use of a historic building

• 2000+ acquired new skills in business

planning, community engagement etc.

• 88% have developed new partnerships

thanks to AHF support

Community outcomes

• 77% feel their community is a better place to

live/work

• 4,000+ training opportunities established

• 2,000+ new jobs created

• 646,000+ people visited an AHF-supported project in

the last year for leisure or recreation

• 7,000+ community events

• 12,000+ volunteering opportunities

• 500+ new commercial businesses run from AHF-

supported projects

• GVA £106m during building phase

• £400m of additional investment levered in over last

15 years3

www.ahfund.org.uk

The economic and political context in 2016

• Economy fragile outside of London and the South

• State of economy impacting on not-for-profit sector groups’ ability to create

viable business plans

• Property market unstable and inconsistent across regions

• Huge restructuring of the public sector

• Decline in local authority conservation services and support

• Localism and empowerment of local communities – assets of community

value

• Opportunities through Asset Transfer though some Local Authorities guilty of

‘asset dumping’/’liability transfer’

• Importance of Heritage Lottery Fund

• Rise of the “community business” and the “social investor”

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Community Enterprise

• Significant priority for all UK

governments

• Strategy for social investment

launched in 2011

• Big Society Capital set up with

£600m

• Social Investment Tax Relief

initiative in 2014

• The Co-operatives and Community

Benefit Societies Act 2014

• £150m Power to Change Trust to

grow community businesses

• HLF Heritage Enterprise grant

programme introduced in 2013

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www.ahfund.org.uk

AHF strategy and mission

To ensure as many people as

possible can enjoy the cultural,

social and economic benefits of

a vibrant and well-managed

architectural heritage.

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Our objectives

Objective One: To support people, communities and

organisations to take ownership, to repair and to adapt

historic buildings and places for new sustainable uses.

Objective Two: To attract more investment for the

conservation and sustainable re-use of the UK’s

architectural heritage.

Objective Three: To inspire the start up and growth of

new community enterprises that utilise historic buildings

and places for public benefit.

Objective Four: To demonstrate the value of a well-

managed historic environment by championing and

showcasing the impact of the projects we have

supported.

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www.ahfund.org.uk

The AHF client

1980s/1990s

• Revolving fund Building Preservation Trusts

(BPT), some set up and resourced by local

authorities.

• Market purchase of historic building at risk.

• Repair costs mainly financed by a short-term

AHF loan.

• Additional grants from statutory agencies and

local authorities.

• Building sold to private buyer on project

completion for moderate profit.

• Requires skills in delivery of a capital repair

project.

2016

• Single project BPT or other community organisation, or

partnership between BPT and social enterprise.

• Historic buildings increasingly acquired through asset

transfer.

• Repair costs mainly financed by HLF grant with

supplementary AHF loan to make up shortfall.

• Additional funds increasingly raised through social

investment – e.g. community shares.

• Building retained on project completion and run as a

community business.

• Requires skills in delivery of a capital repair project AND

running a business.

• AHF loan term longer and increasingly reliant on trading

to repay capital debt rather than sale.8

www.ahfund.org.uk

Advice

421enquiries were about

projects that are seeking

to rescue and find new

uses for listed buildings

152enquiries were about

repairing historic

buildings officially

designated as “at risk”

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33%of queries all enquiries

relate to projects

involving community

businesses

35%of queries relate to

projects involving a

potential Asset Transfer

In 2015/16:

550 enquiries responded to by AHF,

of which new clients totalled 270.

www.ahfund.org.uk

Grants

97 grant

applications

received in

2015/16 of which

64 grant offers

were made

totalling £375,033.

26 grant offers

were for buildings

on national “at

risk” registers.

23 grant offers

were for buildings

listed at Grade I/A

or II*.

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63% of grantees

were for

organisations

that had never

previously

applied for AHF

funding.

www.ahfund.org.uk

Loans

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Growing our services

• 3-year funding agreement with

DCMS to increase Support Officer

provision and expand grant

programmes.

• 3-year extension of funding from

Historic England for existing

Support Officers.

• Contributions from DCMS and

Historic Environment Scotland to

increase resources for lending.

• Grant from Garfield Weston

Foundation to expand advice and

grant services into Wales.

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Support Officers

• 8 support officers in England

• 1 support officer in Scotland

• 1 support officer in Wales by 2017

• Seeking a support officer in Northern

Ireland

• Additional specialist skills in

o Business planning

o Public relations, media and marketing

o Property management

o Community engagement

o Social investment

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Grants

• £1m per year to award in grants to

projects in England

• £250,000 per year in Scotland

• Expanded grants programme to be

introduced in Wales in 2017

• Seeking funding to increase grants

programme in Northern Ireland in 2017

• Applications assessed according to:

o Heritage need

o Social impact

o Urgency

o Financial need

Project Viability Grants

• Grants of up £5,000 to establish project viability

• Can be used to produce a viability appraisal

• Decisions within 6 weeks

Project Development Grants

• Grants of up to £25,000 to develop a project up to

works starting on site

• Can be used for other funding bids or planning

consents

• Project viability must be established

• Decisions taken at 4 meetings a year

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www.ahfund.org.uk

Loans

Significant capital available for lending at competitive rates for

building acquisition and/or working capital.

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Loan terms of up to 5 years available.

New Community Heritage Support Fund – loans/community shares of up to £50,000 to support and sustain community enterprises in historic buildings.

www.ahfund.org.uk

AHF and HTN – working in partnership

• Formation of UK APT an outcome of

1988 AHF national conference for BPTs.

• For next 20 years most AHF loans and

grants were made to APT members

• APT/HTN representation on AHF’s Board

of Trustees

• AHF keen to help HTN grow and

strengthen its membership

• AHF Support Officers will engage with

HTN regional networks

• Opportunities for AHF/HTN joint

initiatives to promote enterprise

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www.ahfund.org.uk

In summary

For over 40 years the Architectural Heritage Fund has helped charities and social

enterprises across the UK find solutions for vulnerable historic buildings.

• Our ambition is to help more people to enjoy the cultural, social and economic benefits

of architectural heritage.

• We will use our expanding advice, grants and loan services to help BPTs and other

community organisations find enterprising new uses for historic buildings at risk.

• We will continue to support traditional revolving fund BPT projects.

• But we will prioritise support for projects that establish or grow community businesses

trading from historic buildings.

• Specifically, we wish to significantly encourage the growth of community share offers in

the built heritage sector.

• We will work closely with the Heritage Trust Network to build capacity, share expertise

and celebrate the remarkable achievements of BPTs.

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www.ahfund.org.uk18

“Thank goodness, then, for the

AHF who through their advice

and investment gave us the

encouragement to develop our

project and reopen this

wonderful heritage attraction

for people to enjoy for years to

come.”Simon Opie, Chief ExecutiveHastings Pier Charity

www.ahfund.org.uk

Thank you

For further details about the AHF

and our services visit our website:

ahfund.org.uk

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