Julia Rausing Trust is pleased to announce £16.7 million in heritage grants across the UK. The funding includes £6.2 million to cathedrals, £6.2 million to botanic gardens and £4.3 million to museums and galleries.
The grants will enable crucial repair and refurbishment works to English cathedrals and botanical gardens across England, Wales and Scotland. Funding for museums and galleries will support strategic programme delivery that will benefit smaller regional museums.
Among seven cathedrals receiving support is York Minster, where a grant of £500,000 has been made to complete the fundraising campaign for the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills and Estate Management. It will also enable conservation and protection of three important windows in the South Transept to be undertaken, as well as analysis of the iconic Rose Window, which was last repaired following a 1984 fire. This work will be the first new fabric and repair project to take place using the Centre’s state of the art facilities, providing an opportunity for students to gain practical hands-on experience.
Botanic gardens across the UK received grants towards a range of projects, including repair of historic glasshouses, access and interpretation. As part of this, a £2 million grant has been made to Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG) towards its £19 million restoration project to improve visitor and learning facilities. BBG is one of the UK’s most significant historic Botanic Gardens – Grade II*, which opened in 1832 and today welcomes 220,000 visitors and 19,000 school children every year.
In addition to the heritage aspect, more modern facilities were also supported such as in the case of The National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW), who have been awarded £1.3million towards technical upgrades to the mechanical infrastructure and facilities of the garden’s centrepiece, the Great Glasshouse. It is home to one of the world’s largest collections of Mediterranean plants under a single-span glass roof and serves as a living laboratory for conservation, research and year-round visitor engagement. The grant is the total required to undertake the first phase of a two-phase plan to strengthen NBGW’s position to care for its collections in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way.
Included in support for museums and galleries are a number of projects that will see the funds benefit smaller regional museums across the UK. One such grant is to The Association for Independent Museums (AIM), who will receive £600,000 for the Museum Fundamentals grant programme – distributing grants of up to £20,000 for collections care; covering documentation, research and minor improvements to buildings and environmental conditions to ensure collections are looked after. Julia Rausing Trust support will ensure AIM is able to meet rising demand from small to medium museums and enable AIM to build on its longstanding commitment to help museums conserve their collections, expand access and thrive.
Simon Fourmy, Director of Julia Rausing Trust, said: “From the splendour of a medieval cathedral to the innovation of a Victorian, via a fascinating and inspiring array of museums dotted across the country, the UK boasts exceptional heritage. Supporting heritage for the benefit of all was an important part of Julia Rausing’s giving and so it is fitting to continue her legacy through these new heritage-themed grants.”
Sue Beardsmore, Chair of Birmingham Botanical Gardens said, “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this magnificent support from Julia Rausing Trust for Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Growing Our Green Heritage Project. This generous award is truly transformational and enables the Gardens to progress this important and exciting project.”
The Very Reverend Dominic Barrington, Dean of York said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received such incredibly generous support for York Minster from the Julia Rausing Trust. This exceptional donation of £500,000 will have far reaching impact across our work. It will close the fundraising campaign for our new Centre of Excellence for Heritage Skills and Estate Management, ensuring trail blazing technology, intricate hand skills, outreach and training can be accessed by the next generation of heritage crafts professionals.
It will also enable three beautiful windows in the Minster’s South Transept to be conserved and protected, as well as allowing close analysis of the iconic Rose window for the first time since the 1984 fire which devastated this area of the cathedral. This will be the first major project that will take place in the Centre of Excellence in 2025, with our talented masons and glazier colleagues working closely together to preserve these windows for future generations to enjoy.
All at York Minster are deeply grateful for this gift, which will benefit so many people, from heritage craftspeople from around the world to the many visitors who come to our historic site each year. Our heartfelt thanks to Hans Rausing for his generous support in memory of Julia Rausing.”
Dr Lucy A Sutherland, Director, National Botanic Garden of Wales, said: “As we move into our 25th Anniversary year in 2025, we are thrilled to be awarded this significant grant from the Julia Rausing Trust to help refurbish our iconic, Foster + Associates designed Great Glasshouse. It is a focal point of our Garden and landscape.”
Lisa Ollerhead, AIM Director, said: “With the generous support of Julia Rausing Trust we are now able to help museums with activities they often find difficult to fund. Museum Fundamentals strengthens and broadens the scope of the support AIM can now offer, in direct response to member needs. It will help the many small and medium-sized museums that form the backbone of the UK’s heritage sector, and whose hard work keeps collections cared for and accessible to all.”
The full list of selected charities is:
- Bristol Cathedral
- Chester Cathedral
- Ely Cathedral
- Exeter Cathedral
- Manchester Cathedral
- Wells Cathedral
- York Minster Fund
Chelsea Physic Garden
- Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum
- National Botanic Garden of Wales
- Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
- Tatton Garden Society
- The Birmingham Botanical Gardens
- University of Oxford (Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum)
- Association of Independent Museums
- Garden Museum
- The Art Fund
- The Museums Association
- Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society
