Investing in historic buildings and places usually makes good economic sense as it pays to conserve a valuable asset. Taken over the long-term, research by English Heritage has shown that listed buildings outperform unlisted buildings for their rate of economic return. Although initially more costly, traditional materials used in the building and for the repair of listed buildings generally have a long lifespan. On a year-by-year basis, the cost may be less than if using cheaper but short-lived materials. This is the so-called whole-life costing method.
However, owners are not always able to justify the expense of repairing an historic building nor of keeping up an historic site. The end value of the property may be less than the cost of putting it into good shape. There is a case for some public and charitable funding to help meet the gap. The best single source of information nationally is Funds for Historic Buildings which can be accessed through the link. Some of the more common grant cases are:
- For owners of Grade I and some Grade II* listed buildings from English Heritage.
- For historic assets owned by public or charitable bodies from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Other lottery funders may be able to help if historic environment projects meet their objectives. The largest of the funders is the Big Lottery.
- For historic places of worship, either listed or in a conservation area, from the joint scheme run by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
- For any eligible historic asset from charitable fund-giving bodies. Details of these can be found from the Charities Aid Foundation website
- For approved alterations to listed buildings in domestic or non-business charitable use through relief from VAT. The HM Revenue and Customs website has further details.
In Leeds there is no city-wide system of heritage grants but some financial help can be identified for certain cases:
- For historic buildings in residential use which could attract housing improvement grants, these grants may be inflated in recognition of their listed status
- For target historic buildings within an area covered by a Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS). At present, the only operational scheme is the Chapeltown HERS and then only for targeted buildings
- For historic assets owned or managed by community groups who could benefit from grants from the Neighbourhoods and Housing Department of the City Council