Request for Proposals: Heritage Conservation Grants (Canada)

The Heritage Conservation Grants program provides funding opportunities through two categories of heritage conservation grants: Planning Project Grants and Conservation Project Grants. The grants can support owners or stewards in the care of their historic site with financial assistance and professional guidance, helping to achieve a high standard of heritage conservation to sustain heritage places and the many benefits they offer for communities.

Categories

• The Heritage Conservation Grants program provides funding opportunities through two categories of heritage conservation grants:
  • Planning Project Grants: will provide heritage site owners and stewards an opportunity to work with a Heritage Consultant. Planning projects can take the form of research and/or required documentation for nominating a building, structure, or site to the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Register. They can also support the creation of long-term informed conservation reports that map out a prioritized schedule for maintenance, repairs, restoration, or rehabilitation of the site.
  • Conservation Project Grants: s provide the next step in supporting a heritage site’s conservation for the long term and focus on the maintenance, repair, restoration and rehabilitation of a site’s exterior fabric and character-defining elements that embody its heritage values.

Funding Information

• Ownership Types & Heritage Protection:
  • Planning Projects:
    • Private Ownership – $2,000
    • Private Ownership with Heritage Designation – $2,000
    • Non-profit Ownership First Nation – $3,000
    • Non-profit ownership First Nation, with Heritage Designation – $3,000
  • Conservation Projects:
    • Private Ownership – $7,500
    • Private Ownership with Heritage Designation – $10,000
    • Non-profit Ownership First Nation – $10,000
    • Non-profit ownership First Nation, with Heritage Designation – $25,000
  • 5-year maximum per site:
    • Private Ownership – $20,000
    • Private Ownership with Heritage Designation – $25,000
    • Non-profit Ownership First Nation – $30,000
    • Non-profit ownership First Nation, with Heritage Designation – $70,000

Eligible Projects

• Planning Projects
  • Heritage Assessment to apply for addition to the Vancouver Heritage Register
    • Original building permit and/or water application
    • Summary of ownership/tenancy by year
    • Archival images (if available) – of the site and people associated with it to provide social historical context
    • Fire Insurance Maps
    • Photos of all sides of the site, exterior and interior where notable and photos of neighbouring site(s) to provide context
  • Statement of Significance
  • Conservation Plan
    • History of the site
    • The site’s neighbourhood context
    • Statement of Significance
    • Site description and images
    • A description of all exterior architectural elements and their condition
    • Conservation guidelines
    • A list of prioritized activities to achieve conservation of the site
  • Maintenance Plan
    • A detailed account of required maintenance
    • A list of prioritized activities and inclusion of conservation best practice approaches to guide building owners in their choices.
• Conservation Projects
  • Conservation projects that support the repair of a historic site, enabling the longer life of the historic resource, for instance:
    • Conservation of exterior character-defining elements including original shingles, siding, stucco, windows, doors, chimneys, masonry elements, porches, etc.
  • Restoration projects that focus on bringing a site back to a specific period in its history, for instance:
    • Identification of the original paint colours on a building and painting in a historically authentic colour scheme using the VHF True Colours palette (for buildings built 1880s – 1920s) or another documented historical scheme. See
    • below section for more detail.
    • The removal of an enclosure from a once open porch.
    • Rebuilding heritage-equivalent wood windows where the original windows have been lost.
  • Rehabilitation projects that enable new uses or continued use of a heritage site while respecting character-defining elements, for instance:
    • Seismic strengthening of a building structure. For larger grant awards, consideration of improving seismic resiliency will be expected.
    • Structural and envelope preservation such as roofing, foundation repair renewal and rainwater management.
    • Accessibility and other work can also be considered where directly related to the conservation of the structure.
  • Sustainable retrofits that improve building performance where directly related to preserving eligible heritage elements, for instance:
    • The addition of interior or exterior storm windows for historic windows.
• Eligible project costs include materials, labour and professional fees but do not include GST or permit fees.

Eligibility Criteria

• Private Owner
  • Individuals
  • Strata corporations
• Registered non-profit society or federally registered charity
  • Including those with a long-term lease (minimum of 10 years) in a municipally owned building with responsibility for heritage character elements eligible for work.
  • Authorized agent of a site, with written permissions from the site owner
• First Nations

For more information, visit Vancouver Heritage Foundation.