Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has visited Coleraine Town Hall to showcase a new heritage trail guide, one of nearly 90 projects supported through the £810,000 Historic Environment Fund for 2025-26. The visit demonstrates how the Department for Communities is distributing funding across Northern Ireland to repair listed buildings, regenerate monuments, and support community-led heritage initiatives despite ongoing budget pressures.
Minister Praises Community Stewardship in Coleraine
During his visit on 21 May 2026, Minister Lyons examined the Coleraine Town Heritage Guide, developed by Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council with support from the Fund’s Revival Stream. The initiative produced an illustrated booklet tracing the town’s commercial, industrial and social history through its central buildings, alongside a portable 3D model of Coleraine town centre.
The project employed innovative “Museum-in-a-Box” technology to ensure accessibility, allowing those unable to physically walk the trail to engage with the town’s history through audio narration. Primary 7 pupils from D.H. Christie Memorial Primary School contributed to the project, which features watercolour images inspired by illuminated addresses held in local museum collections.
“In 2025-26, I committed almost £800,000 for heritage projects across Northern Ireland. Coleraine Heritage Guide is just one example, reflecting the enormous range of creativity and interest our communities have in their historic environment – finding out more about their own places and seeking a sustainable future for our heritage.
I pay tribute to owners of listed buildings and monuments whose work to care for and celebrate their assets helps to attract tourism and investment to our region. Their efforts contribute to community pride and our shared sense of place, while sustaining these high quality environmental resources for us all to enjoy.”
— Communities Minister Gordon Lyons
Joanne Honeyford, Community Engagement Officer for Museum Services at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, highlighted how the funding enabled innovative community engagement:
“The Department for Communities’ Historic Environment Fund 2025–26 Revival Stream has enabled us to launch this exciting new heritage trail for Coleraine. Through the use of a 3D map featuring key heritage buildings, alongside innovative Museum-in-a-Box technology, the project enhances accessibility and ensures that those unable to physically undertake the walk can still experience and engage with the town’s rich history.”
— Joanne Honeyford, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
Four Streams of Heritage Support
The £810,000 fund for 2025-26 represents a doubling of support compared to the approximately £400,000 available in 2023-24. The Department has allocated the money across four distinct streams:
- Repair Stream: £500,000 earmarked for capital repairs to 86 listed buildings, prioritising heritage at risk, thatched buildings, and properties owned by those on qualifying benefits
- Regeneration Stream: Strategic work with communities and groups, plus development work for buildings and monuments
- Research Stream: Funding investigations to improve shared understanding of the historic environment
- Revival Stream: Supporting communities to celebrate and increase public appreciation of heritage, as utilised by the Coleraine project
Applications for the 2025-26 funding closed in September 2025, with successful recipients including the Coleraine initiative and projects ranging from investigations into the 1689 Siege of Derry boom stone to aerial surveys of historic islands in Lough Erne. Further details of funded projects are available on the Department’s Historic Environment Funding & Grants page.
Scale of Need Versus Available Funding
While the increased funding has enabled nearly 90 projects, questions remain about whether this level of investment can address the scale of heritage decay across Northern Ireland. According to the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 10% of listed buildings in the region—over 1,100 structures—are now classified as “at risk”.
The contrast with neighbouring jurisdictions is stark. The Republic of Ireland’s Budget 2026 allocated €256 million for nature restoration and heritage, representing a 15% increase on 2025 levels. Scotland’s “Our Past, Our Future” strategy runs from 2023-2028 with substantial multi-year funding, while Northern Ireland’s single-year budget cycles create uncertainty for long-term conservation planning.
Furthermore, the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council has warned of a funding “cliff edge” in 2026-27 when short-term budget support expires, potentially threatening future heritage allocations.
Questions for Consideration
- Given that over 1,100 listed buildings are currently at risk, is an £810,000 annual fund sufficient to prevent further loss of Northern Ireland’s built heritage, or does the Department need to identify additional revenue streams?
- How will the Department measure the tangible outcomes of the Revival Stream projects against physical repair works, and will success metrics balance community engagement with conservation outcomes?
- With the NI Executive facing significant fiscal pressures and a potential funding “cliff edge” in 2026-27, what guarantees can be given that heritage funding will not revert to the reduced levels seen in 2023-24?
- Should Northern Ireland explore matching-fund models similar to the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s development grants, which recently awarded £223,076 to Belfast Buildings Trust for Carlisle Memorial Phase Two, to leverage private investment in heritage at risk?
Accessing Heritage Resources
The Coleraine Heritage Guide is available to collect from Coleraine Town Hall, local Visitor Information Centres and libraries, or via the Northern Ireland Community Archive. Details of all 90 funded projects are available on the Department for Communities’ Historic Environment Funding & Grants page.
As the 2025-26 projects progress, attention will turn to whether the Executive can maintain this level of heritage investment beyond the current financial year, or whether the “stitch in time” approach advocated by heritage professionals will require significantly more thread.