In the 10 years since it was first set up, the Architectural Heritage Fund has lent over £4m to help restore old buildings. These loans, ranging from £2,000 to £250,00, have helped to make possible a total expenditure of £15m on restoration work in the United Kingdom. Over £2.4m has so far been repaid without a single bad debt having been incurred.
There is a growing realisation that rehabilitation and conversion can frequently offer a desirable and economic alternative to demolition and redevelopment. Conservation, the fund says in its annual report,(*) is not only important in “heritage” towns; it can be equally relevant on the less grand scale of the workaday environment in which most of us live. So, as ordinary citizens have come to appreciate that they can do something positive to protect what is of quality and character in their surroundings, the network of local building preservation trusts has spread. “The trusts are as varied as the people who run them, but an impressive self-confidence is becoming apparent among those carrying out a rolling programme of work; and the realisation that even the most daunting of projects can turn out after all to be a practical possibility and not just a romantic pipedream has spread beyond the trusts themselves and encouraged other charities with responsibilities for old buildings to ensure that these, too, have a viable future.”
(*) The Architectural Heritage Fund, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1.
