Restoration Grants

The AIA is pleased to announce that it can now make available Restoration Grants for range of historic and industrial archaeology purposes. These Grants are made available thanks to a generous donation.

The first awards, for 2009, have now been made and details can be found on our prizewinners page.

Criteria for a Grant:

Criteria for awarding the grants are:

• the grant is for the restoration of historically, technically, architecturally, and/or archaeologically important industrial buildings, structures, machinery, vehicles and vessels within the UK;
• the application will usually relate to a single, tangible structure or artefact;
• the heritage asset must be covered by a Conservation Policy and/or Statement;
• the heritage asset must be sustainably managed, displayed and interpreted for the public, therefore the public must have full access to the asset;
• the grant must not result in another body reducing its revenue funding;
• the grant will be for up to £15,000;
• the grant is to be used as partnership funding, the applicant being in the process of or having already raised matching funding from their own resources, fund raising, an HLF, PRISM or other grant award;
• the grant from the AIA must be a significant part of the total project cost, not just a small contribution to a very large project so that the AIA grant has significant impact;
• the grant can be either for new projects or ones which have begun but need further funding for completion;
• the grant is for capital funding only, not on-going revenue funding.

AIA Council members may wish to visit your site to see the asset it is proposed to restore and seek further information in order to reach a decision.

The AIA reserves the right not to award any grants if no satisfactory applications have been received.

How to apply:

• Please submit your application on four sides of A4 paper and cover all the following areas:
  1. Name of your organisation with full contact details of the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer of the organisation, its status (e.g. Charity, with number), bank details and website address.
  2. What is the heritage asset for which you are seeking funding, why is it important to industrial heritage and history, what is its value to the local community and what do you propose to do with the grant? What is the ownership of the asset for which you are seeking funding?
  3. How much grant are you seeking and what it will be spent on? What is the total project cost? Please give cost breakdown.
  4. Proof of partnership funding, funding-raising activities, other grants etc., secured and not-secured, and details of the volunteer input into the project.
  5. Once the restoration work is complete, how will it be maintained, run, managed, interpreted and displayed for the public (to include public opening times).
  6. When will work start and finish: i.e. what is the timetable for the work?
  7. How you will acknowledge the AIA grant.
  8. Please also include a copy of your Conservation Policy and Conservation Statement.
• Applications to be sent by e-mail to  aia-enquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk as a Word file. Although the preference is for e-mailed applications, paper copies will be accepted – please contact the above e-mail address for details.
• Closing date for applications is 1 June in each year.
• It is anticipated that a decision will be made on all applications by the end of July in each year and all applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by that date.