The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.

History

The fund's predecessor bodies were the National Land Fund, established in 1946, and the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund which had fulfilled the ...

, established in 1980. The current body was established as the "Heritage Lottery Fund" in 1994. It was re-branded as the National Lottery Heritage Fund in January 2019.

Activities

The fund's income comes from the National Lottery which is managed by

Camelot Group The Camelot Group is the operator of the UK National Lottery whose current franchise period started in 2009 and runs until February 2024. It has also operated the Illinois State Lottery in the state of Illinois in the United States since 20 ...

. Its objectives are "to conserve the UK's diverse heritage, to encourage people to be involved in heritage and to widen access and learning". As of 2019, it had awarded £7.9 billion to 43,000 projects. In 2006, the National Lottery Heritage Fund launched the Parks for People program with the aim to revitalize historic parks and cemeteries. From 2006 to 2021, the Fund had granted £254million to 135 projects. In January 2019 it simplified its funding schemes under one banner – National Lottery Grants for Heritage – with awards from £3,000 to £5 million. Funding requests for projects over £5 million will be considered as part of two time-limited national competitions to be held in 2020–21 and 2022–23. Its funding routes include the Digital Skills for Heritage Fund, a £3.5m fund for grants to support digital volunteering in the heritage sector, launched in November 2021.

Structure

The chair of the trustees is appointed by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

; René Olivieri served as interim chair from January 2020 following Sir Peter Luff's retirement at the end of 2019. Dr Simon Thurley CBE, former Chief Executive of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, became the chair of trustees on 1 April 2021. The Chief Executive from July 2016 to December 2021 was Ros Kerslake OBE, former CEO of

The Prince's Regeneration Trust The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...

. In August 2021, the Fund announced that Ros Kerslake would be stepping down at the end of 2021. The Chief Executive since January 2022 is Eilish McGuinness. The Fund's head office is in London, and it has offices elsewhere in the UK.

Major projects

Major projects have included: * Restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

– awarded £25 million in 1996 * Restoration of

Heaton Park Heaton Park is a public park in Manchester, England, covering an area of over . The park includes the grounds of a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country house, Heaton Hall. The hall, remodelled by James Wyatt in 1772, is now only ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

– awarded £8.5 million in 1999 * Creation of the

National Waterfront Museum The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea or NWMS ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau) is a museum in Swansea, Wales, forming part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. It is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

– awarded £11 million in 2002 * Refurbishment of the

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

– awarded £13 million in 2002 * Restoration of Greenhead Park in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

– awarded £3.8 million in 2005 * Renovation of the

Piece Hall The Piece Hall is a Grade I listed building in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was built as a cloth hall for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth "pieces" they had produced. History The earliest known reference to the new Piece H ...

in Halifax – awarded £13 million in 2012 * Acquisition of

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

Diana and Callisto ''Diana and Callisto'' is a painting completed between 1556 and 1559 by the Italian late Renaissance artist Titian. It portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid Callisto has become pregnant by Jupiter. The paintin ...

for the

National Gallery London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director of ...

and National Galleries of Scotland – awarded £3 million in 2012

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lotteries in the United Kingdom Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government