Glasgow included in £200m commitment launched by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help UK areas

Glasgow is set to become the first of nine areas across the UK to benefit from a £200m National Lottery Fund to help places of interest ‘unlock the potential of their heritage’.

The investment will come from The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s initiative “Heritage Places”.

The project aims to “ignite people’s imagination, offer joy and inspiration and build pride” in places by connecting the past with the future.

The funding will also help to nurture business across Glasgow to ensure the city continues to forefront heritage when place-making inclusive spaces.

One area of Glasgow which will be invested in is Sauchiehall Street.

The funding will allow officials to focus on the street’s strong physical and cultural heritage while connecting with contemporary audiences and future proofing its buildings.

Ray Macfarlane, chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland Committee, is excited by what could be “achieved” in Scotland with help of the investment.

“With Sauchiehall Street as our first Heritage Places area in Scotland there’s a great opportunity for the Heritage Fund to bring our people and place focus to the wider regeneration plans for Glasgow city centre,” he said.

“Ensuring the combined impact of investment over time is truly transformative.

“We hope the impact of this and other successful projects on communities and places will continue to inspire more applications for funding of heritage projects across Scotland.”

Susan Deighan, chief executive of Glasgow Life, said the funding can help “transform how people live, visit and experience” culture around the city.

“Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council are working closely with the National Lottery Heritage Fund to explore how cultural organisations and the community in and around Sauchiehall Street will be at the heart of shaping the long-term vision for the area.

“So many of Glasgow’s best known and best loved cultural institutions are already based in this part of the city and the organisations and communities there will play an active role in developing this exciting partnership,” she said.

The first nine of 20 Heritage Places across the UK are Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, County Durham, Glasgow, Leicester, Medway, Neath Port Talbot, North East Lincolnshire, Stoke-on-Trent, and Torbay.

A further 11 Heritage Places will be considered as part of the development of the Heritage Fund’s next three-year delivery plan.