Historic Environment Grants Fund

The Historic Environment Grants Fund is best for individual projects of all sizes.

This is our main, open project fund, and the most flexible. It supports a wide range of projects that relate to and benefit Scotland’s historic environment, from small community initiatives to large conservation or engagement projects.

The information on this page is a brief summary of the fund. Detailed information can be found in the full Historic Environments Grants Fund guidance and additional resources.

Our Historic Environment Grants Fund (HEG) supports a wide range of projects that care for, celebrate, or share Scotland’s historic environment.

To be eligible, your project must:

• be clearly connected to a Scottish historic environment asset (this can be physical or intangible, such as traditions or skills);

• show how it will help meet our grants priorities;

• demonstrate good value for money;

• be realistic and achievable;

• not have started already (unless you’ve discussed this with and received agreement from our Grants Team); and

• not already be funded by a City Heritage Trust or through another of our funding programmes.

Funding streams

We offer three levels of funding through HEG:

• Express Grants: £1,000 to £25,000

• Small Grants: £25,001 to £100,000

• Large Grants: £100,001 to £500,000

The funding stream you apply to depends on how much funding you’re asking us for — not the total cost of your project. For example, if your project costs £500,000 in total but you’re applying to us for £100,000, you should apply under Small Grants.

Who can apply

We expect most applicants to be formally constituted not‑for‑profit organisations, such as charities, local authorities, Community Interest Companies or religious bodies.

Private owners and commercial organisations may apply, but they are unlikely to be prioritised unless they can clearly show that the public benefits of the project significantly outweigh any private gain.

An exception may apply for owner‑occupied and other non‑commercial thatching projects, which we recognise as having important landscape value.

All applicants must submit financial information at application stage to demonstrate a clear need for grant support.

Project eligibility

To be eligible, your project must:

• clearly relate to a historic environment asset (tangible or intangible);

• demonstrate how it will contribute to our grants priorities;

• offer good value for money, with appropriate match funding;

• not have started (unless agreed with our Grants Team); and

• not already be funded by a City Heritage Trust or through another of our funding programmes.

Additional requirements

As an applicant, you must also:

• demonstrate financial need for our grant

• meet our Fair Work First requirements, if you are an employer

• appoint an appropriately qualified Conservation Accredited Professional for projects involving physical works

• appoint a CIfA‑accredited lead archaeologist for projects involving archaeological fieldwork

• either own the asset or hold a full repairing lease with at least 20 years remaining

Your project can focus on any part of Scotland’s historic environment. This might be something physical, like a historic building, monument, archaeological site or landscape, or something less tangible, such as traditional skills, local stories or cultural traditions.

You can apply for funding for a project made up of one or more related activities. There’s no set limit on how many activities you include, as long as they all contribute to the same overall project.

For example, you might be repairing a historic building and also using the project to pass on traditional skills through training. These would be treated as one project, so you’d only need to submit a single application. We may not always be able to support every element and each activity activity will be considered against the fund criteria and our priorities.

Projects we support through the Historic Environment Grants (HEG) Fund are usually time‑limited, with a clear start and finish. Some examples of typical project and activities include, but are not limited to:

• Archaeological excavations and research

• Repair and consolidation works

• Interim works (max. £50,000 grant)

• Skills and training

• Outreach and learning

• Interpretation

• Maintenance and management plans

• Thatch repair and maintenance

We can support eligible direct project costs and, for applicable third-sector organisations, we may also be able to support an appropriate level of indirect costs (full cost recovery) where there is a clear need for this to deliver your project.

For projects involving any repairs or interim works to properties, monuments or other structures we can only support the cost of those works outlined in our Advisory Standards for Repair Grants.

How much grant can I apply for?

The level of grant we can award to support a project will be determined by a number of factors, including applicant type, project type, eligible costs, match funding and value for money, with each application assessed on a case-by-case basis. Typical grant intervention rates for repair projects, based on applicant type are:

• Charities and not-for profit organisations: up to 40% of grant-eligible costs

• Local authorities: up to 25% of grant-eligible costs

• Private and commercial owners: up to 33% of grant-eligible costs

We may be able to make a higher percentage contribution for projects where there is a strong case for this. However, this is only in exceptional circumstances, and it is highly unlikely that we would award a grant of more than 50% of grant-eligible costs.

Whilst the standard maximum grant request under the HEG is £500,000, larger grant requests can be considered in exceptional cases.

Match funding does not need to be fully secured at application stage, but you should have a clear funding plan and be able to tell us what stage other funding applications are at. All project funding must be confirmed before we can give permission for the project to start.

Our main fund guidance contains more information on what types of projects we can help to support, levels of grant funding and our grant-eligible and non-eligible costs.

If you’re still not sure whether we could support your project after reading our guidance, please get in touch at grants@hes.scot

Expression of Interest (EOI)

All applicants must first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) through our Grants Portal. EOIs are open all year, and we aim to respond within 10 working days.

Following review, we will either:

• invite you to submit a full application;

• request further information; or

• advise that the project is not eligible, with feedback.

Full application

If your EOI is approved, you will be invited to submit a full application using the Grants Portal. Required supporting documents vary by grant stream and are listed in the main fund guidance.

Applications for Small and Large Grants are competitive, while Express Grants are assessed on a rolling basis.

Assessment

All applications are assessed against:

• the heritage significance of the asset;

• contribution to our grants priorities;

• financial need and value for money;

• project planning and deliverability; and

• long‑term sustainability, where relevant.

Submit your EOI on our Grants Portal

Express Grants (£1,000 to £25,000)

Small Grants (£25,001 to £100,000)

Large Grants (£100,001 to £500,000)

Guidance documents

These documents set out in detail the conditions of receiving support from our Historic Environment Grants Fund.

Grant contract and conditions

The legally binding terms and conditions when you accept Historic Environment Grant Fund money.

Templates

Use these templates when applying for funding from our Historic Environment Grants Fund.

Example forms

To submit an expression of interest or application please do so through our Grants portal. These document are for reference only.

Grants portal

Other resources

Many of our resources are standard across all three of the funds we offer. If you can't find the documentation you're looking for here, try our resources page.

Visit our grants resources page