1 Grants Funding Report 2023-24
Our first ever Grants Funding Report provides information on how our grant funding has supported communities and historic places all over Scotland.
On average, we award around £13.5 million in grants each year on behalf of the Scottish Government to projects that protect and promote the country’s historic environment.
This report:
- Demonstrates how we spend this funding
- Provides insights into how we make our funding decisions
- Shares and celebrates the transformations made possible by this money
- Highlights areas where we could be doing things differently
Key findings from the report include:
- We spent £13.76 million on grant funded projects, meaning for each person in Scotland we have invested £2.53 in heritage.
- We were asked for £23.74 million for future projects, almost twice the amount we were able to award.
- Over the past 6 years, every pound we’ve committed has attracted a further £3.92 investment into Scotland’s historic environment.
- Just 6% of the projects we funded were in the poorest areas of Scotland. That means our funding isn’t being spent as equitably as we’d like, and we will work to improve this.
The report also helps us to direct our efforts. Nearly two thirds of funding applications for our grants reference the climate crisis. In 2024-25 we will be focusing on supporting the heritage sector to adapt to the impacts of the climate emergency.
Download the Grants Funding Report 2023-24 Download our funding snapshot2 Case studies
We spend our funding on a wide range of Scottish heritage, from brochs and bothies, to towns, turrets and towers. Below are some examples of where we have invested this year.
Pier View Cottage, Tiree
Thatched roofs were once widely spread across much of Scotland, and we grant aid surviving thatched properties when they are due for repair or renewal to preserve the traditional skillset, materials and heritage. This property on Tiree was awarded a grant to rethatch using locally-harvested materials.
Aberdeen City Heritage Trust
Aberdeen City Heritage Trust has been working for twenty years to improve the condition of the city’s built heritage. In partnership with Aberdeen City Council our funding has supported over 300 capital projects and a supplementary education programme since 2004.
Crown of Thorns, Linlithgow
St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow received a Grant to support the restoration of its iconic 1960s Crown of Thorns spire. Involving both repairs to the timber structure and renewal of the exterior cladding, these works preserve the spire’s iconic presence in the skyline for generations to come.
Voices from the Lost Village, East Ayrshire
This project was designed to capture the oral histories of people who lived in the ‘Row Villages’ of the East Ayrshire coalfields. Local groups in Ayrshire received training in capturing oral history, followed by recording the interviews in audio and film. These testimonies were archived to preserve their history and local traditions for future generations.
Scatness Broch, Shetland
We have provided grants for archaeology projects including post- excavation publications. ‘Excavations at Old Scatness, Shetland Volume 3: The post-medieval Township’ was a post-excavation publication that we grant-aided in order to provide further understanding of the Broch at Scatness.
Union Chain Bridge, Fishwick
Spanning the River Tweed, grant support enabled the repair and conservation of this bridge. The Union Bridge was the first road suspension bridge constructed in the UK. The repair works secure the future of the structure for at least 120 years, continuing its role as a critical crossing point over the border with England.
Pandemic & Covid Recovery
We established the Covid Recovery Fund in 2020, through which we funded 41 projects with urgent requirements as a result of the pandemic. The fund was available to heritage organisations to help them address their immediate needs relating to re-opening to the public; protecting jobs, capacity and skills; and enabling organisations to undertake planning to regain longer-term financial sustainability and adapt to new ways of working.
Ardnamurchan Lighthouse: we funded urgent repair works required to allow the reopening of the former lighthouse keepers cottage, so that this building could once again be operated.
Download the Grants Funding Report 2023-24 Find out how funding works