Historic places, such as archaeological sites and heritage buildings, are a unique part of Tāmaki Makaurau and an important part of the city’s identity.
Auckland Council has opened funding applications for 2024 for the Regional Historic Heritage Grant Programme. The programme preserves and enhances these taonga to ensure they can be enjoyed by future generations.
Individuals, iwi or Māori groups, community groups and trusts can apply for up to $50,000 for the preservation of heritage places.
“Auckland has many heritage places which all contribute to making Tāmaki Makaurau a unique and vibrant place,” says Councillor Richard Hills, chair of Auckland Council’s Planning, Environment and Parks Committee.
“To ensure these taonga live long into the future, it’s important that they are maintained and preserved.
“This grants programme offers a meaningful way for communities to restore, preserve and enhance heritage sites for the use and enjoyment of Aucklanders now and in years to come.
“There are many Māori cultural heritage places across Tāmaki Makaurau which are extremely important parts of the city’s history. Once again, this year we’re really keen to support the kaitiakitanga of these heritage places and emphasise we welcome applications from groups wanting to preserve and enhance these taonga.”
Applications for this year’s Regional Historic Heritage Grant Programme (RHHGP) funding round are open from 12 August 2024 until 07 October 2024.
The funding priorities include:
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Conservation of regionally significant historic heritage places, including places in a historic heritage area.
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Conservation of at-risk historic heritage places, including initiatives which address the impacts of climate change.
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Supporting kaitiakitanga of Māori cultural heritage places.
Success story: Terrace of shops on upper Queen Street
The terraced shops at 456-486 Queen Street are Auckland’s longest continuous row of early twentieth century shops, still in use today. The terrace of shops would once have been on the shoppers’ route between the department stores of Queen Street and Karangahape Road, where early tenants included furriers, milliners, jewellers, and tailors.
The shops were also tenanted by printers, confectioners, volunteer organisations and music shops. Many shop owners or other tenants lived above these buildings.
The shops were constructed between 1908 and 1912 and were designed by two architects, Alexander Wiseman and Thomas William May. Wiseman is best known for his design of the Auckland Ferry Building. The 16 shops were built in a group to an Edwardian Eclectic style of design.
Recently the shops, now mainly tenanted by restaurants, received a Regional Historic Heritage grant from Auckland Council to assist with renewal of their degraded shop awnings. Over the years the tin had visibly rusted allowing leaks onto the footpath. The awnings have now been repaired in keeping with the original design, ensuring foot traffic stays dry on the walk up Queen Street.
“This grant absolutely ensured that we could go ahead with this project”, says Clare Doherty, Chairperson of the Upper Queen St Shops.
“The promise of these funds was hugely significant as the project simply could not go ahead without it. These historic buildings require huge money to simply keep insured and maintained so to undertake a project such as this is beyond our budget. Auckland Council’s help was critical to us.”
The terrace of shops is protected under the Auckland Unitary Plan as a category B historic heritage place. It is also listed in the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga - List Rārangi Kōrero as a category 1 place.
Learn how to apply through a grant workshop
Learn more about these grants and the application process at an online workshop.
Date: Tuesday 20 August 2024
Time: 12.15pm to 1.15pm
Please RSVP by emailing grants@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz for the calendar invite.
More information about the Regional Historic Heritage Grants Programme, and a link to apply can be found here.
