1. Overview
  2. Eligibility
  3. Criteria for awarding grants
  4. How to apply
  5. Contact

1 Overview

Owners of historic buildings or ancient monuments can apply for financial help to meet the cost of high quality repairs or conservation made by specialist craftspeople using traditional skills and materials.

The aim of the Historic Environment Repair Grant is to conserve original features of buildings and ancient monuments of special architectural or historic interest. 

Owners must insure and maintain the building, or look after the ancient monument, and allow an agreed level of access to the public in return for financial help.

To apply for a Historic Environment Repair Grant for an historic building you must be legally responsible for the repair of the building, or in the case of an ancient monument be the owner or have the written permission of the owner to carry out conservation works on the monument.

2 Eligibility

Individuals and organisations (public and private) may apply for a Historic Environment Repair Grant.

This includes:

  • private owners
  • trusts
  • commercial enterprises
  • local authorities

Applicants must have legal responsibility for the repair of a historic building or ancient monument.

You must usually either:

  • own the building or ancient monument
  • hold a full repairing lease, which has at least 21 years to run
  • in the case of an ancient monument, have the written permission of the owner to carry out conservation works on the monument

Private owners who have bought the property within the previous 12 months are not a priority for our grant assistance as we believe the purchase price of the property should have reflected the state of repair.



3 Criteria for awarding grants

To qualify for consideration for a Historic Environment Repair Grant:

  • the building or ancient monument must be of significant architectural or historic importance
  • the repairs or conservation proposed must be urgently needed
  • you must be able to demonstrate the need for grant support to enable the repairs or conservation to go ahead

Assessment of applications is a competitive process that also takes account of any wider benefits that the repair or conservation project may provide. Private residences are less likely to receive grants from public funds as a result.

This is because such benefits include:

  • enhanced public access
  • benefits for communities
  • social and economic regeneration
  • promotion of quality
  • development of knowledge and skills

Grants are not available for:

  • routine maintenance
  • minor repairs
  • the repair or installation of services
  • extension
  • alterations
  • demolition

Find out more about the criteria we use to assess grant applications in our Grant Funding – Future direction and priorities document [PDF, 30KB].

We are also moving to a more outcomes based assessment of applications, you can find out more about the outcomes that we would like your application to meet in our Grants outcomes framework document.

Grants for projects which relate to repair work must be carried out in accordance with conservation best practice in order to be eligible. You can find more about what we consider best practice in our Advisory Standards of Repair document.

4 How to apply

We accept applications for Historic Environment Repair Grants throughout the year, however, these are considered in three batches. We are changing the batch closing dates in order to try and deliver a better service to applicants, with the closing dates for 2017 being; 31 May, 31 August and 31 December. Thereafter the annual closing dates will be 30 April, 31 August and 31 December.

Please Note: Before submitting an application for grant assistance from HES we would ask that you contact us to discuss your proposed project, in order that we may provide advice on the scope and timing of your proposal and also ensure that any application is appropriately focused. This pre-application discussion is also intended to avoid any wasted time for applicants, as we should be in a position to identify where a proposal is unlikely to be successful in attracting HES support. Please email grants@hes.scot with details of the property in question, including a short summary of your proposals and one of our team will then arrange to discuss the proposed project further with you.

Application is through our Grants Online Application System. New users must register to use the system.

Apply online now

Historic Environment Scotland is bound by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. This means that any information that you send us or which is provided to help process your application may be made publicly available. However, any sensitive information you give us will be covered by the relevant legislation and will be dealt with accordingly.

5 Contact

Please contact us if you have any queries about the Historic Environment Repair Grant.

Email: grants@hes.scot 
Telephone: 0131 668 8801

Grants Team
Historic Environment Scotland
Longmore House
Salisbury Place
Edinburgh
EH9 1SH

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