{"id":20667,"date":"2018-11-02T17:16:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T17:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=20667"},"modified":"2018-11-02T17:16:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T17:16:40","slug":"ahf-welcomes-15m-budget-boost-to-help-transform-high-streets-through-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=20667","title":{"rendered":"AHF welcomes \u00a315m \u2018Budget Boost\u2019 to help transform High Streets through Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AHF_website_street_image_021118.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-20668\" src=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AHF_website_street_image_021118.png\" alt=\"buildings\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>The Government has announced \u00a315 million of funding for The Architectural Heritage Fund\u2019s (AHF) Transforming Places through Heritage Programme.<\/h3>\n<h6><em>image AHF website<\/em><\/h6>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>AHF writes of the funding boost:<\/p>\n<p>This will help charities and social enterprises to regenerate and put back into use historic buildings on high streets across England. The funding was announced in the Budget 2018 as part of the Government\u2019s Future High Streets Fund. The total fund for restoring historic high streets is \u00a355 million, with \u00a340 million being allocated to an extension of Historic England\u2019s Heritage Action Zone initiative.<\/p>\n<p>For a number of years the AHF has been assisting communities, social enterprises and charities to develop and deliver imaginative solutions through its unique mix of advice, loans and grants. This funding will help inject impetus into new uses for historic buildings on high streets across England.<\/p>\n<p>The Government\u2019s investment will help support:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Investment to assist the delivery of an estimated 150-200 projects across England, including exemplar, scalable schemes, such as \u2018retail to residential\u2019 pilots, workspaces and cultural venues<\/li>\n<li>In partnership with the National Trust, the piloting of new social enterprise \u2018heritage development trusts\u2019 to investigate taking ownership of and developing historic buildings in urban and town centres<\/li>\n<li>A team of AHF project advisors to support schemes for the delivery of new uses of historic buildings on high streets<\/li>\n<li>Increased investment into alternative use feasibility studies and \u2018meanwhile uses\u2019 for existing buildings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Michael Ellis, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, said: \u2018Historic buildings, whether that be in medieval market towns or on post-war high streets, are incredibly significant to our communities and our sense of identity.\u00a0 By investing \u00a355 million up and down the country, we will help restore and regenerate our towns and high streets most in need of support, creating places that people want to live, work and visit.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the new investment, the AHF\u2019s Chairman Liz Peace, said: \u2018I have long made the case for new use models and approaches in town and urban centres \u2013 and the vital role historic buildings can play in the future of our high streets. Trying to return to past visions of success will not work, but with imaginative ownership, reuse and adaptation schemes \u2013 particularly for our most valued buildings &#8211; we can start to create the conditions for a new vision for our town centres. This new investment from the Chancellor will act as a catalyst for places and communities across the country.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>As an example, Havens Department Store in Southend-on-Sea epitomises the challenges facing our high streets \u2013 and the potential solutions. The business opened in 1901, moving to a new building in 1935 \u2013 the landmark Grade II Art Deco store. It was the last remaining independent department store in Southend-on-Sea until the store closed in 2017 and the business moved online. Now, with support from the AHF, a partnership has emerged with Age Concern Southend-on-Sea (ACSOS) to develop a new use for the building that will see it become a social and community hub for the town, as well as provide office space for Havens to operate its ongoing internet business.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the potential the scheme offered to projects like \u2018The Haven\u2019 in Southend-on-Sea, Michael Nicholson, Chair of Trustees of ACSOS, commented: \u2018Our vision for Havens Department Store is one where it becomes a thriving hub for older people and Southend, building on its historic role as a social as well as retail space. We hope it will become a model for other similar stores and this new investment is a great opportunity to help \u2018The Haven\u2019 and other schemes like it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The Government\u2019s \u00a315m investment will enable the delivery of more projects like \u2018The Haven\u2019 and will also help the AHF develop new partnerships and support the delivery of strategic approaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026The Architectural Heritage Fund is a registered charity, working since 1976 to promote the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic buildings for the benefit of communities across the UK, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas. We are the leading heritage social investor and the only specialist heritage lender operating in the UK. We provide advice, development grants and loans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ahfund.org.uk\/news-source\/2018\/10\/30\/15m-budget-boost-will-help-charities-and-social-enterprises-transform-high-streets-through-heritage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Government has announced \u00a315 million of funding for The Architectural Heritage Fund\u2019s (AHF) Transforming Places through Heritage Programme. image AHF website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20669,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20667\/revisions\/20669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}