18 Jun 2026
Glasgow City Council has approved funding for the 2026/27 financial year of £290,000 for the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (GBPT) and the Glasgow City Heritage Trust (GCHT) to help support the valuable work they do for the city’s built heritage.
“Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Convener for Built Heritage and Development at Glasgow City Council, said: “Glasgow’s built heritage is a core part of the city’s identity and plays a significant role in our cultural, economic and social life. Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and the Glasgow City Heritage Trust are integral partners of the council and I am delighted that we are able to work together on multiple projects across the city. While the responsibility for buildings ultimately sits with owners it is funding like this that enables us to support, advise and step in where necessary.”
Of the £290,000, the GBPT will receive £50,000 core funding to the GBPT, with £240,000 awarded to the GCHT (£50,000 core funding and £190,000 grant funding).
The Trusts are the main heritage charities in Glasgow, and are key partners in Glasgow’s Built Heritage Commission (BHC), the body established in 2024 to support the city’s historic environment and maximise the economic, cultural, and social value of its built heritage through the provision of strategic oversight, guidance, and advocacy for heritage assets across Glasgow, with a focus on sustainability, regeneration, and community benefit. The BHC brings together stakeholders from the heritage, planning, and regeneration sectors and is co-chaired by representatives from the council and the two trusts.
GBPT repurposes historic buildings in the city, giving them a new sustainable future, and works in partnership with a variety of groups and others to deliver heritage engagement and outreach including delivery of the annual Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival, Scotland’s largest annual celebration of built heritage. The Trust has developed 23 historic buildings at risk, supported the development and fund raising of seven other properties and carried out over 40 feasibility studies. Through its work, funding for and investing over £54million of capital investment has been made into Glasgow’s built heritage - generating in excess of £100million in economic benefits to the city.
Other key projects for the Trust will see work on historic council-owned janitor’s houses in Calton, Royston, and Govanhill to make them available for social housing and engaging with the council and Glasgow Life on future projects under the Sauchiehall Street Culture & Heritage District project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
GCHT is an independent charity which delivers a city-wide grant programme to help owners restore built heritage at risk, as well as a variety of outreach and heritage skills training initiatives. The Trust is funded through a partnership between Glasgow City Council and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) in recognition of the value of Glasgow’s built heritage and the complex challenges it faces. In 2025/26, the Trust’s work saw a focus on pre‑1919 tenements and notable buildings such as Queen’s Cross Church, the Tobacco Merchant’s House, the Clydeside Distillery, Tureen Street School and survey work at The People’s Palace.
Alongside funding from the council, GCHT is also supported by Historic Environment Scotland, with the latter providing a five-year (2026-2031) programme of support to provide more certainty in planning. As part of this longer-term funding package GCHT’s Strategic Plan 2026/31 will prioritise tenements, city centre commercial properties, buildings at risk, and community-led heritage projects, and explore a ‘Stitch in Time’ pilot scheme, to build a preventative maintenance culture and encourage behaviour change among tenement owners. GCHT will manage the council’s Heritage Building Viability Grant Scheme to bring empty heritage properties which are now liable for Non-Domestic Rates back into productive use and will run as a pilot during 2026-27.
