The Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire are active in preserving and protecting the county's stock of historic buildings for future generations to enjoy. Lincolnshire contains many diverse types of building, from model farms and industrial warehouses, to medieval churches to post war cinemas.

 

Due to changing social and economic conditions, many buildings fall out of use and start to suffer from neglect. Heritage Lincolnshire believe that if a new use can be found for such a building, this will guarantee its survival for the future. The Trust is committed to assisting with any projects which would have a positive effect on historic sites and buildings across the County and help local groups and organisations who may be keen to save a derelict building in their area.

 

 

 

 

The Trust is constituted as a Buildings Preservation Trust, of which there are many around England, Wales and Scotland. Some Building Preservation Trusts (BPT's) act locally (i.e. a specific town or village) or have a specific interest group (i.e. industrial buildings or follies).

 

The main aim of a BPT is to rescue and restore architecturally important buildings from dereliction or possible demolition. There are many reasons why listed buildings fall into such a state of disrepair, but once they are at risk the main hurdle to overcome is that the repair costs are usually too high to attract buyers from the private sector. This leads to an ever decreasing spiral – each year the building is left, the more the cost of repairs escalate.

 

There are two main types of BPT – the Revolving Fund and the Single Project. The Revolving Fund BPT builds up a reserve of capital which can be used in a building project. When the building is repaired and sold on, any small surplus made can be put back into the revolving fund for use on the next project. The Single Project BPT is set up for a single building and the Trust not only repairs it, but also owns and maintains it in perpetuity. Due to their charitable status, no BPT is allowed to make commercial profits, but can only cover administration and management costs.

 

All BPT's are registered with the Association of Preservation Trusts (APT) which are based in London. The Association of Preservation Trusts has a special relationship with another organisation, the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), who are able to grant aid feasibility study costs and provide low interest loans to BPT's in order to assist them with their building projects.

 

BPT's can not only use these funds, but are also having success with grant sources such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, Rural Development Commission and various European sources.