The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) has today announced 25 standout projects as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. This diverse selection of projects stretches across the UK and illustrates what half a century of heritage-led regeneration looks like in practice.

NORTH

Keelman's Hospital

An iconic Grade I listed almshouse on the banks of the River Tyne in Gateshead, originally built in 1701 to house retired keelmen and their families. The AHF announced support for the building's new future in July 2024, backing plans to conserve and repurpose this remarkable piece of industrial social history for contemporary community use.

Morecambe Winter Gardens

A Grade II* listed theatre in Morecambe, Lancashire, designed by Mangnall and Littlewood with Frank Matcham as consulting architect and built in 1897 as the Victoria Pavilion Theatre. The building closed in 1977 and the Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust has been campaigning for its restoration since 1986. The AHF has provided support to the Trust's ongoing efforts to restore this significant seaside entertainment building to its former glory.

Grizedale Arts

A contemporary arts residency and commissioning agency based in Cumbria, with its primary space at Lawson Park hill farm on the edge of Grizedale Forest in the Lake District. The AHF supported Grizedale Arts in 2021 with steps to restore The Farmer's Arms Inn at Lowick, a listed building purchased during the Covid-19 pandemic, transforming it into a hybrid pub and arts centre serving the rural community. Covering all four nations, the 25 projects have been arranged into five regional groups: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, North & Midlands and London & South. Spanning five decades of AHF activity, they range from medieval stone forts and Victorian courthouses to industrial potteries, seaside piers and arts venues created within redundant warehouses. Combined, they tell a story of historic buildings that might otherwise have been lost, given new purpose by the communities that love them.

No two projects in the selection are alike. In Belfast, Riddel's Warehouse is a four-storey Victorian ironmongery warehouse with a spectacular cast iron atrium that is being transformed into a multi-use arts venue and coworking hub, rescued from the Buildings at Risk Register after years of disuse. Kinning Park Complex, located in Glasgow's Southside, was a former Edwardian school famously occupied by local mothers for 55 days to prevent its closure, which has been restored as a thriving space for dance groups, artists, musicians and community projects. In the Lake District, Grizedale Arts used AHF support to bring a listed Cumbrian pub back to life as a hybrid community venue and arts centre. Jubilee Pool in Penzance became the first lido in the UK to be heated by a geothermal well, which is now open year-round and saving over 500 tonnes of CO2 annually. At Penarth Pier Pavilion in the Vale of Glamorgan, a cherished Victorian seaside landmark has been secured for Wales, while Lissan House in County Tyrone is a 17th-century plantation house entirely volunteer-run on its 260-acre estate.

The selection also takes in Middleport Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, where Burleigh pottery has been preserved as a working heritage attraction; the Llanfyllin Workhouse in Mid-Wales, Britain's finest surviving New Poor Law workhouse and now a community enterprise with a café, bunkhouse and events space; and the Observer Building in Hastings, a seven-storey 1924 printworks reborn as affordable workspace and housing in one of England's most deprived coastal towns.

For fifty years, the AHF has worked alongside communities to give new life to historic buildings and to ensure that heritage remains at the heart of regeneration. These 25 projects are a snapshot of what that looks like across the UK. They are hugely different in scale, age and what they've become, while all sharing a similar spirit. They are united by the fact that local communities saw potential in a building that others had given up on, and found a way to bring it back.

Heritage is there to be used, not just admired. The Architectural Heritage Fund champions the impact of heritage and community led-regeneration. And is often the first point of contact for community groups seeking to rescue local historic sites and buildings. The AHF is there through every step of the way, providing advice, loans and grants to local communities to help create new futures for these historic buildings.

Since its foundation in 1976, the AHF has supported 2,432 projects across the UK, awarding 3,079 grants and loans with a combined value of over £182 million. The 25 projects form part of a wider programme, which includes a touring exhibition visiting Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff, and London, a flagship conference in London in Summer 2026, and the launch of a refreshed visual identity and website.