18 C O N T E X T 1 4 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 6 that applications should be developed to RIBA work stage 3 to enable them to meet the requirement for projects to receive formal permission to start within six months of the award. The programme could support costs to allow investigative works and specialist surveys, such as bat and structural surveys. The deadline for applications was 30 January 2015. Despite the extremely tight turnaround time (which included the Christmas period), just over 1,900 applications were received, with a grant request of £105 million, for decision in March 2015. Two things in particular were clear from the outset. First, the number of applications for projects with a stated urgency of 12 months to two years stood at roughly three quarters of the total number of applications. This was considerably in excess of the £15 million available, so these projects were prioritised. Second, many projects were at an earlier stage of development than RIBA work stage 3, and would need support with determining the scope of the work required. One likely explanation for this is that developing a project to RIBA work stage 3 will require a degree of funding that many potential applicants do not have. In response to the huge demand, the chancellor allocated further funding to the programme.This meant that it was possible to award grants with a value of £26.4 million to 502 projects across the UK with a contingency budget of £2.5 million to allow for any grant increases arising from the first round. It also meant that a second round of the programme would take place in the 2016–17 financial year, with a budget of £25 million. The majority of the 502 awards went to Anglican places of worship, with 74 per cent going to the Church of England.This was not a surprising figure, given that the building stock of the Church of England accounts for 45 per cent of all Grade I and 20 per cent of Grade II* listed buildings. Awards went to a range of denominations and faith groups, including Jewish and Buddhist organisations. This also meant that groups which are unable, or choose not, to receive National Lottery funding on faith grounds are able to access support. One example is the People’s Church, in Falkirk, Scotland, by Thomas Stirling. Listed Category B, the church is Falkirk’s oldest public building, opened in 1799 as a breakaway or ‘relief church’ from the Church of Scotland.The main body is a simple, gabled rectangle of two-storeys with two tiers of windows, but it boasts a striking Italianate frontage, added by James Boucher in 1884. A grant of £76,500 was awarded to the Pentecostal congregation now occupying the building.This was for a project that included works to re-slate the back end of the main roof, carry out slate and sarking repair to four other areas, and re-route all rainwater outlets from existing internal rainwater channels. As a result of the works the roof is now watertight and should not need repair for many years.A further benefit is that the church will now be able to make use of some upstairs rooms which had previously been unusable. Once the first round awards had been made and grantees were beginning the task of developing their projects to apply for permission to start, the LPOW team turned its attention to developing the second round of the programme, based on lessons learnt from the first. It seemed clear that urgent repairs to roofs and rainwater goods should remain the focus of the programme, and that the scale of grant should remain at £10,000–£100,000, to encourage smaller-scale and, hopefully, more manageable projects. The number of applications for schemes where the repair was identified as being necessary within the next two years suggested that it was sensible to narrow the criteria to projects that met that timeframe, instead of five years. The requirement for work to be at RIBA work stage 3 was amended to work stage 2. The schemewas always intended to be flexible, responding to issues as they arose. A number of applicants in the first round had sought funding for repairing tower roofs and spire coverings. Cupolas had been expressly included in the guidance for the first round but spire coverings had not been, so eligibility was formally extended to include these elements. Structural spire projects, or repairs to stone spires, remained beyond the scope of the programme. The longer lead-in time meant that the LPOW team was able to provide development workshops to help groups understand the programme requirements.There was a real desire to target communities outside the usual audience, so efforts were made to work with other denominations and to build contacts within nonChristian faith groups.This was not always easy where there was no clearly identifiable central organisation. The second round was announced as part of budget 2015.The deadline for applications was 26 February 2016. Just over 1,500 applications have been received, with a grant request of nearly £88 million.This echoes the level of applications received for the most urgent projects in the first round. More analysis will take place over the coming weeks, but while Anglican – and Church of England – congregations form the largest constituency, there has been an increase from applicants in other groups, with applications fromCatholic, Jewish,Muslim and Quaker congregations, and other independent and non-conformist congregations. The LPOW Roof Repair Fund will have made a considerable difference to the overall condition of listed places of worship across the UK by the time the scheme comes to a close, and it will make a valuable contribution to reducing the number of buildings on the heritage-at-risk registers. Works at the People’s Church, Falkirk, included re-slating the back end of the main roof, carrying out slate and sarking repairs to four other areas, and re-routing all rainwater outlets from existing internal rainwater channels. Charlotte Dodgeon was programme support officer for the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund and is now a freelance consultant working to support places of worship.
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