Heritage Grants

To be eligible for this program, you must be undertaking conservation work, or preparing documents that will inform future conservation work, on a property listed as a heritage item on Schedule 5 of a draft or current version of the Wollongong Local Environmental Plan.

Works that go beyond minor work or maintenance require Development Consent. If your planned activity needs development consent or other approvals, you will need to make sure you have all approvals before you can receive funding. See our Development pages for more information on approvals.

Heritage grants can be used for projects that start after 1 July in the year you apply and are finished by 31 May the following year.

Examples of projects that are supported through this program include:

• Repairing, maintaining, or reinstating missing items on heritage places
• Preparing technical reports or a Conservation Management Plan that will lead to conservation work.

Council will consider the following criteria when assessing applications.

• Does the project provide significant conservation outcomes and demonstrate good conservation practice?
• Does the project contribute to broader conservation goals? For example, is the item in a conservation area, part of a group of heritage items, and/or likely to encourage the conservation of other heritage items?
• Is the heritage item accessible to the public, or highly visible from a public place?
• Is the project urgently needed to protect a heritage item?
• Would not doing the project be a risk for damage or loss?
• Is the heritage item used as a private residence or by a not-for-profit group? (ie not as a business premises)
• Will any innovative methods or technology be used?
• Will the project provide employment opportunities or heritage experience for local tradespeople?
• Has the project, or the site of the project, recently received funding from Council or another source?

Note that a project does not need to meet all of these criteria to be considered. Applications will be scored and ranked in order of priority.

You can talk with Council's Heritage Officer about your project before you submit an application. To do this, please call (02) 4227 7111 or use the button at the bottom of this page to make an online enquiry.

If your application is successful, you'll need to sign an agreement with Council to receive funds and follow the Conditions That Apply to All Projects PDF, 87.55 KB.

We generally will not provide funding for these activities:

• Work that is not conservation work.
• Purchase of a heritage building, site or item.
• New additions to a heritage building. This includes new internal fittings like kitchens and bathrooms.
• Relocation of a heritage building.
• Work on government-owned buildings or sites, except for some grave conservation work to significant graves within cemeteries, or similar situations.
• Projects that have already received substantial assistance from Council.
• Work where assistance is reasonably available from another source, including large strata bodies or developers.
• Projects that have already been completed, unless the works received pre-approval from Council's Heritage Officer as urgent, and you were given written confirmation that they could still be considered for this funding.
• Applications by anyone who has previously received support from Council that was not acquitted.

Funding is available on a dollar-for-dollar-spent basis and Council will consider funding up to 50% of the total project cost, to a maximum of $10,000 (excluding GST). We reserve the right to offer less than 50% of the total project cost.

Funding of more than $10,000 may be considered in some cases, but only with the approval of Council.

If the funding recipient is registered for GST, Council may pay the grant amount plus GST as long as we receive a valid tax invoice, and receipt of payment with the project acquittal.

Please note, approved grants are paid as a reimbursement when projects are finished and proof of your expenses has been given to Council.