The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced £14.8m in new funding for projects exploring the UK’s industrial past.

Seven newly funded projects have been announced. They include The Pioneering Sailing Trust, which has been awarded over £2.3m to develop training facilities and deliver a new apprenticeship scheme. It hopes to preserve traditional heritage skills, and as a result secure the future of maritime heritage.

A £3.5m project developed by University of Kent in partnership with Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Medway Council, has secured the largest sum. The project will restore and regenerate the Grade II listed Police Section House of the former Royal Dockyard Chatham, 40 years after it closed. The venue will host artists and creatives, as well as students, the local community, industry and academics to experiment with new technology and present their new work.

Royal Dockyard Chatham is known as a filming location for the 2013 movie Les Misérables, 2011 film Sherlock Holmes and TV show Call the Midwife. The multi-million investment will be built on by wider National Lottery investment in the area. Last year it was announced that Medway would receive a share of £200m from Heritage Fund as part of its 10-year Heritage Places investment plan.

A new signature building to the rear and landscaped gardens will deliver around 1400 sqm of digital production studios, teaching facilities, co-working, business incubation, exhibition spaces and a cafe.

More than £1.6m has been committed to enable a former tobacco pipe factory in Glasgow to open as a cultural centre in the 100-year old Barras market. The centre is hoped to provide space for exhibitions and events, as well as education and career development opportunities for all the community.

In East London, the Gasworks Dock Partnership is working to regenerate Cody Dock in Newham. More than £1.6m has been awarded to the Lighting Up the Lea project which will restore a Thames Ironworks made historic vessel, construct a new heritage centre for Newham, and develop a three-year program of exhibitions, volunteering opportunities and heritage activities.

In Fife, plans to rebuild a 1937 herring fishing boat to become a working community asset have been awarded development funding of £84K. The Cellardyke Trust will use the development funding to develop its plans for the Manx Beauty and apply for a full National Lottery grant at a later date. If successful, the project will create educational training opportunities and develop practical heritage skills.

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “What unites these projects is recognition of the heritage value of our industrial past, the incredible stories to be told and committed people.”

Full funding details

  • Developing Young People Through Practical Experience, Growing Heritage Training and Restoration Project – Essex (The Pioneer Sailing Trust awarded £2,316,889)
  • Docking Station Medway (University of Kent awarded – £3,567,400)
  • Refiring The Pipe Factory, Glasgow (Friends of The Pipe Factory CIC awarded £1,681,836)
  • Old Town Hall – Isles of Scilly New Museum and Cultural Centre (Isles of Scilly Council awarded £4,613,471)
  • Saintfield Community Heritage Park, County Down (Saintfield Community Association awarded – £903,771)
  • Lighting Up the Lea, London (Gasworks Dock Partnership awarded £1,676,987)
  • Cellardyke and Beyond: The Manx Beauty, (Grant – £84,856 towards a delivery grant of £1,286,894)
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