Historic Structures Fund 2026
The Historic Structures Fund 2026 (HSF 2026) seeks to assist the conservation and enhancement of historic structures and buildings for the broader benefit of communities and the public. It is administered in County Longford by the Longford County Council Heritage Office on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The core aims of this fund are to:
- enable larger scale conservation works to be carried out on heritage structures which are deemed to be significant and in need of urgent support;
- encourage the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties and to help to secure the preservation of protected structures and/or culturally significant assets;
- support the investment of private capital in labour-intensive projects to conserve historic structures in public and private ownership for community use.
- support employment in the conservation and construction industries.
- build resilience in our heritage properties to enable them to withstand the effects of climate change.
The Department encourages project promoters to incorporate a traditional skills training element in the project
The Historic Structures Fund provides capital funding for works to qualifying structures which include the following:
- Protected Structures (click here to see if your building is on the Longford County Council Record of Protected Structures)
- Structures proposed for inclusion in the RPS but not yet formally approved for inclusion. (Conditions apply);
- Structures or works within Architectural Conservation Areas (ACA), or within the amenity of a National Monument, (exceptional circumstances apply). To see if your building is within the Battery Road or Ardagh Architectural Conservation Areas,please click here. Please note that an ACA boundary may not include buildings on both sides of a road.
This year, the Historic Structures Fund will offer grants from €50,000 up to €200,000, with a focus on larger enhancement, refurbishment or reuse projects involving heritage structures, where:
- a clear community or public benefit has been demonstrated or
- a clear residential benefit has been demonstrated (such projects must be advanced through the planning process as necessary)
Applicants are required to provide 50% of the total project cost, in exceptional circumstances a higher percentage may be sought with a 80% max of a grant.
It is a requirement of the Historic Structures Fund that the applicant engages an appropriately qualified conservation professional to develop the method statement and oversee the work.
How to apply:
Please submit the following to heritage@longfordcoco.ie, before Friday 16 January 2026, and include 'HSF 2026 [and the name of your structure]' in the subject line. Please do not send the application to any other email address, or a hard copy of the application, as it may not arrive to the correct location.
- Completed and signed Application Form A
- A short, but comprehensive, report giving a historic development and a method statement setting out the works to be undertaken, how they are to be undertaken and which materials. This must be no more than 10 pages in length. Guidance on how this should be carried out is available by clicking here.
- Location maps, marking the structure being applied for, and clear, in-focus and well lit photographs showing the building and its condition to support the application.
Each application will be assessed by equitably by a panel within Longford County Council, however Longford County Council are very limited in the number of applications it may shortlist. The final decision regarding the success of the applications rests with the relevant Minister and the National Built Heritage Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The grant-aided works may commence once the successful grants have been published by the Minister; the name of the project and the amount awarded will be published on the Government website and in the media. The works must commence prior to August 2026 and be completed by the first week of October, to enable the works to be inspected, final reports written and the grants paid prior to the beginning of November. The project should be photographed before, during and after phases, and the images shared with the Longford County Council Heritage Office; these images will be submitted to the Department for use in reports and social media posts, to raise awareness of the work achieved under the Fund.
