image for illustration: Peter Badcock
Emily Gee, Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings, reports that the Department’s expanded £5million conservation grants programme is now open for applications.
Emily Gee writes:
I am delighted to share that the Cathedral & Church Buildings Department’s expanded £5million conservation grants programme is now open for applications on our website Conservation Grants | The Church of England.
Our five-year partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) will help us to provide greater national support directly to Church of England parishes, to ensure that this cherished heritage is secure?and fit for mission as well as the joyful appreciation of all who encounter it. A press release with further details of the programme will be shared publicly on Friday morning.
You will be familiar with our conservation grants programme (long funded by The Pilgrim Trust, the Radcliffe Trust and other funders) to support the conservation of special features in church, including bells, clocks, organs, stained glass, wall paintings and monuments. All this remains, with additional funding to help more churches. The expanded programme allows us to make grants towards?building?repairs of up to £25,000 that are linked to the conservation of an object. Bids for specialist surveys and help for existing recipients’ conservation projects to reach completion will be considered for funding as well, and new partnerships with conservation training in churches will be announced later in the year.
The award from NLHF is the first to be made through its new targeted initiative for places of worship, announced in August 2024. This includes around £15million investment in strategic projects that address sector-wide issues and funding gaps facing the UK’s places of worship, and a further £85million to be awarded by NLHF over the next three years, with any place of worship in the UK encouraged to apply.?We remain in conversation with NLHF colleagues about both of these areas.
Please do spread the good news amongst those who may be interested, particularly parish churches.
For further information, please contact the CCB via conservationgrants@churchofengland.org
