Maze Prison development among eight schemes to receive Heritage Lottery Fund cash

Eight major projects, ranging from mills to museums and including the Maze Prison development in Northern Ireland have a share of £76m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The funding awards were part of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) major grant awards. The HLF said the award round was “highly competitive”, with “almost twice the amount of requests compared to money available”.

“These eight projects highlight the continuing demand on HLF for capital funding with the potential for national and local economic impact,” the HLF said.

Dame Jenny Abramsky, HLF chair, said: “This latest portfolio of projects is probably one of the most wide-reaching we have ever seen.

“It covers so much that is important to the UK’s heritage - from cathedrals to national parks and industrial buildings to great museums.

“It recognises the role the UK has played in the development of modern architecture and in doing so will help ensure some of our most-loved places are saved for future generations.”

The schemes include:

• Ditherington Flax Mill Maltings, Shrewsbury, Shropshire - initial support for a £12.1m HLF bid, including £465,300 development funding - internationally important conservation area and home to the world’s oldest iron framed building;
• V&A at Dundee, Dundee - initial support for a £9.2m HLF bid, including £200,000 development funding- a new museum to be located in Scotland’s fourth largest city as a showcase for design talent, past and present;
• The Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London - initial support for a £12.7m HLF bid, including £458,700 development funding - one of the capital’s most famous centres of artistic excellence;
• Northumberland National Park - initial support for a £6.3m HLF bid, including £399,200 development funding - the North East’s ‘cathedral’ of the natural world, stretching from Hadrian’s wall to the Scottish borders;
• The Maze Long Kesh, Lisburn - initial support for a £6.4m HLF bid, including £351,600 development funding- former World War II and prison site set to be transformed into a centre for peace-building and conflict resolution;
• Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent - initial support for a £7.5m HLF bid, no development funding- a grand but jaded estate steeped in 600 years of turbulent history;
• National Army Museum, Chelsea, London - initial support for a £11.3m HLF bid, including £350,000 development funding - a museum telling the stories of the British Army from 1415 to recent campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq;
• Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire - initial support for a £10.5m HLF bid, including £475,500 development funding- one of the UK’s most treasured places of worship and home to the 12th-century Winchester Bible.