Householder Thatching Materials Grant

The Householder Thatching Grant is best for owners of thatched buildings undertaking rethatching works themselves.

The Householder Thatching Materials Grant aims to encourage owners of traditionally thatched buildings to undertake repair, maintenance and rethatching works using traditional materials and techniques. By supporting these works, the grant helps sustain Scotland's thatched heritage and the skills needed to care for it.

To be eligible for the Householder Thatching Materials Grant:

• You must own a traditionally thatched building in Scotland;

• You must intend to undertake the thatching work yourself;

• The works must not have started before a grant offer is issued, unless agreed in advance with our Grants Team.

For all applications, we request the following information:

• When the thatch was last maintained.

• Why the work is now required.

• A description of what the works include.

• A description of the thatch material to be used and source of the material.

• Photographs of the intended area of works, clearly showing details of the damage, with evidence of the estimated square meterage of the area of the works, using a metre stick or measuring tape in the image if possible.

• An estimation of when you expect to carry out the works.

• Contact details of any volunteer who will be undertaking traditional skills training to be provided during the works, if applicable.

Each application will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The Householder Thatching Materials Grant offers support of up to £5,000 towards the cost of carrying out repair and maintenance of a thatched building. In addition to owner-occupiers, we can support applications from owners who use their buildings for commercial purposes, including holiday rentals. However, we apply a 20% reduction to our grants in these cases.

You may claim up to £35 per square metre towards personal labour costs, or up to £45 per square metre if you are able to provide evidence that you have offered traditional skills training to a volunteer during the works. If you are providing your own materials, you can claim an additional £10 per square metre.

For example, if you are providing your own thatch but not training a volunteer, you may claim £45 per square metre. If you are both providing your own thatch and training a volunteer, you may claim £55 per square metre.

If you are purchasing your materials from others, we will reimburse costs on production of an invoice or receipt.

Transportation costs for materials can also be applied for as part of your project costs at a rate of 45p per mile. In addition, an allowance of £150 or 5% of the total project costs (whichever is the greater amount) can be made for site establishment costs, to ensure safe and appropriate storage of materials and site working costs.

Thinking about materials

You should consider if the proposed thatch matches the historic one, and if not, ensure every effort been made to source the matching type. If the historic type of thatch is not available, then the proposed type of thatch must be the closest match possible (type and geography).

Our preference is for thatch material to be sourced locally, if not, from within Scotland. Materials sourced from outwith Scotland are unlikely to be eligible for funding unless it can be clearly demonstrated that no suitable alternatives were available.

You must not purchase materials or commence any works until you have received a formal offer of grant as this will render your application ineligible for grant.

We expect you source the materials, carry out the works, and provide photographic evidence of completion within six months of the date of the offer.

Example

Seoras owns a thatched cottage of 65 square metres on Tiree and the thatch is now due for a complete rethatch. They have sourced marram grass within ten miles of their property, which they will harvest and transport to their cottage. As part of the works, Seoras is training a local volunteer who wants to learn how to thatch for their own property in the future. This means the local volunteer is helping Seoras with all the tasks associated with thatching, which Seoras is explaining as they go along.

As a result of this, Seoras claims £55 per square metre (£3,575) alongside transportation costs of the materials at 45p per mile (£9) and is eligible for 5% of the total project costs for site establishment (£179.20), leading to a total of £3,763.20 that will be eligible for grant support from HES.

Our Householder Thatch Grant will not support:

• Professional thatcher fees. If you are working with a professional thatcher, you can apply online through our Historic Environment Grants Fund.

• The introduction or reintroduction of thatch where there is no existing thatch.

You should complete the application form and return with supporting photographic evidence to grants@hes.scot or via post to the address in the application form.

We will review your application and respond within six to eight weeks.

If your application is successful:

• We will issue a grant offer letter which will outline the terms and conditions of your grant and any timelines including when we would expect the works to be completed.

• A member of the our finance team will contact you separately to confirm the bank account details for the payment of the grant.

• Once you have completed the works, you should send us your claim form and report, and photographic evidence of the works.

• Grants claims are usually paid in arrears; however, if advanced payment is required you should explain reasons for this in your application.

The fund is open all year.

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