Louth County Council 'delighted' to receive €170k funding for historic structures

Louth County Council says it is delighted to receive the news of grant funding under the Historic Structures Fund, for 4 projects in Louth. As announced yesterday, a total of €170,196 was awarded under the Historic Structures Fund (HSF) for 4 projects, in Louth.

This is in addition to confirmation of grant funding earlier in the month under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme where a total of €126,400 was awarded under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) 2022 for 13 projects in Louth. Application for funding is a two-tiered competitive process and a total of 30 applications was received in Louth between the 2 schemes, these must be assessed by Louth County Council in the first instance with further assessment of those successful applications then being carried out by the Department. 

The aim of the BHIS is to leverage private capital for investment in a significant number of small-scale, labour-intensive conservation projects throughout the country and to support the employment of conservation professionals, craftspeople and tradespersons in the repair of the historic built environment.  The HSF scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures, to assist in their safeguarding into the future, for the benefit of communities and the public. 

Through grants of up to €15,000 (BHIS) and between €15,000 and €200,000 (HSF), the grants assist owners of heritage structures – including those on the local authorities’ Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas – to meet their obligations to care for their properties. 

The Chief Executive of Louth County Council, Ms. Joan Martin praised the level of applications received and stated: “We are privileged to live in county steeped in heritage and culture where residents take pride in their history and their place. I congratulate the successful applicants and commiserate with those who were not successful on this occasion."