Council agrees funding for Trusts supporting Glasgow's built heritage

The council will give £50,000 core funding to the GBPT and £240,000 (£50,000 core funding and £190,000 grant funding) to the GCHT.

GBPT, established in 1982, has in recent years delivered projects such as the Kelvingrove Bandstand, Parkhead School and the West Boathouse in Glasgow Green.  The remit of this Trust is to address market failure by redeveloping historic buildings that other organisations cannot and reaching out to communities left behind by traditional heritage approaches.

GBPT is also a key partner in the council's successful People Make Glasgow Communities programme and is working with the council on a Heritage Asset Study to consider how best to restore heritage assets to create community facilities in the city. 

The Trust also runs the annual Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival and delivers community engagement and education activities across the city.

GCHT was established in 2007 and provides grants to owners to restore heritage buildings at risk - from windows in listed tenements to landmark projects such as the restoration of Mackintosh's Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street (pictured above).  Almost 2,000 grants have been given to people and organisations owning such properties in that period.

The Trust also provides a range of outreach and heritage training programmes to develop skills in specialist conservation trades, as well as offering a range of community and education projects such as exhibitions, lectures, podcasts and workshops.

Some of the most notable recent work on heritage buildings delivered by the GCHT includes repairs to the corner block at the Briggait, restoration work at a Park Quadrant tenement, and comprehensive repairs to Miller Hall in Dennistoun.

The GBPT and GCHT will be valuable partners in the newly-established Built Heritage Commission for Glasgow.

Both Trusts also receive funding from Historic Environment Scotland.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "The funding for the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and the Glasgow City Heritage Trust approved by the council will help to protect our built heritage, a core part of our civic, economic and cultural life and identity.  The work that these Trusts do is all the more important given the complex challenges facing heritage buildings in Glasgow, and we will continue to work closely with them to do all that we can to maintain, restore and repurpose these historic properties."