Lister Steps from Liverpool were the victors when four community groups from across the UK got the benefit of industry expertise in a grilling by the Heritage Dragons on the 3rd October.
Organised by the Heritage Investment Working Group (HIWG) the aim of the event was to improve the bid-writing and project pitching skills of small local projects through advice and constructive criticism.
After being advised by their own panel of experts, the regeneration projects’ funding pitches were assessed by the Dragons themselves; Clive Dutton, Head of Regeneration for the London Borough of Newham, Ian Marcus, Chair of the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, and property developer and Bristol Mayoral candidate George Ferguson. Ian Lush, Chief Executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund and Deputy Chair of the Heritage Alliance, was on hand to keep order.
Lister Steps, which is working to reuse a redundant library, received twenty days of pro bono support as their prize. The other teams – from Hill Primary School in Perth, the Old Black Lion Pub in Northampton and the Northern Counties Club – each received ten days of pro bono support. But every attendee was a winner, benefiting from hours of specialised advice and guidance in fundraising and heritage management.
HWIG writes:
The Heritage Investment Working Group is working together to support heritage-led regeneration across the UK.
The HIWG includes leading organisations in heritage-led regeneration and is a cross-sector mix. We believe that restoring and reusing redundant heritage is most sustainable when collaboration is encouraged at both local level and national level…so we have formed a cross-sector group of national organisations with the mission of saving and reusing British heritage!
HIWG Website: LINK
