Last call for heritage grants

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A final call is being put out for owners of heritage properties in Gisborne to apply for grants through this year’s National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund.

The annual fund provides financial incentives to encourage the conservation of privately owned heritage places.

“The incentive fund represents a great opportunity for owners of privately owned historic places to secure funding for a range of work,” says Ben Pick, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga lower northern manager.

Administered by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, the National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund supports the conservation of significant and valued heritage places entered on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero.

The list includes wāhi tapu, wāhi tupuna, wāhi tapu areas, historic places and historic areas.

Potential applicants can apply for up to 50 percent of the cost of conservation work in any particular case, to a maximum of $100,000. Charitable trusts, churches and schools are not eligible as funding for these is available through the Lotteries Board and other institutions.

The National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund funding grants have three priorities. The first is the conservation and preservation of sites of significance to Māori. The second is for conservation work to heritage places to increase resilience and respond to the impacts of climate change, including repairs.

The third priority is site stabilisation relating to land and/or archaeological sites and seismic strengthening and risk management planning; and all other eligible work.

To learn more about funding priorities and eligibility criteria, or to apply for a grant, people can follow the link to www.heritage.org.nz/resources/funding/national-heritage-preservation-incentive-fund.

Applications close on June 24.