Lead Organisation
Sustainability West Midlands Project Manager: Alan Carr (Senior Sustainability Adviser)Overview
SWM has been supporting the Heritage Fund since March 2018 and has previously run a series of sustainability training workshops for the organisation and we have since assessed 118 development stage applications for their sustainability credentials. This third project brought to a head our support to the Heritage Fund as we ran a webinar on 11 May 2020 for around 65 staff or potential applicants. This was born through our positive relationship with our members Fit for the Future Network who helped broker the discussions with the Heritage Fund initially.Aims
- To outline the process SWM has used to assess the 118 applications to date.
- To provide an interactive platform for Heritage Fund staff and applicants to ask questions on this process and sustainability in the heritage sector more generally.
- To provide our top ten tips that application assessors should consider with respect to sustainability.
Outcomes
After assessing the sustainability aspects of Heritage Fund applications for over a year, we were able to impart our newly found knowledge onto the 65 webinar attendees to enable them to a) understand what to include in applications to make projects more sustainable and resilient for the longer term and b) for the Heritage Fund to better able to assess applications for their sustainability credentials so that those that successfully embed it into their applications are more likely to receive the funding they are seeking. This will have a significant impact over time as more projects perform better on this agenda and put sustainability at their heart; ultimately a more sustainable project is likely to preserve the project’s heritage for a longer period of time.“We worked with partners Fit for the Future to identify SWM as a suitable partner to help us assess prospective grantee applications for their sustainability credentials. After a successful year, we were pleased that they were able to share their experiences and knowledge with our staff and potential applicants at a well-attended webinar. This meant that the structure and approach used by SWM to assess the applications has now been articulated to a wide range of colleagues which will help us to achieve our aims of enhancing and protecting the environment.” – Drew Bennellick, Head of Land and Nature Policy UK, National Lottery Heritage Fund
