Community Buildings

Summary of the programme

This programme is closed for applications.

The Community Buildings programme will give communities the chance to improve their quality of life by funding buildings that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. The programme will pay for creating and improving facilities that offer a wide range of services and activities to a broad range of local people.

We want to fund buildings that will promote community interaction and self-help. We hope that these buildings will continue to serve communities in years to come while minimising their negative effects on the environment. Community Buildings is mainly a capital-funding programme for to cover the cost of building your project, not running it.

Successful applicants will show that their building will be accessible to as many people as possible and that the local community will be strongly involved in using and managing the building.

The programme aims to achieve these outcomes:

• broadening access to, and more use of, existing services
• creating a greater number and wider range of new services
• improving opportunities for the community to access a wide range of learning
• improving the skills, knowledge and capacity to respond to community needs
• increasing participation by the community in decision-making processes that affect the community
• improving community relationships and networks
• improving financial viability of community premises
• premises that use less energy, pollute less, create less waste and have a reduced contribution to climate change.

You can apply to the Community Buildings programme if you are a voluntary or community organisation, a parish council or a church-based faith organisation. (Voluntary and community organisations include charities, unincorporated associations, not-for-profit companies, credit unions, self-help groups or co-operatives and faith based community organisations).

We have created a separate category for church-based faith organisations but all faith organisations are eligible to apply. We have included the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, the Baptist Church in the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and the Roman Catholic Church in this category. This category is because of the way these churches are established in law, which affects the way they own land. Church-based faith organisations, like parish and town councils, need to satisfy a slightly different set of legal requirements so that we have the same security with them as we can with other voluntary and community organisations. (The guidance notes have more detail on this) If you are a part of another faith organisation (Christian or any other) not on the list, please check if there are legal relationships between you and other parts of your faith organisation which would affect our relationship with you if we award you a grant.

You can apply for grants of over £50,000 and up to £500,000. If your project costs more than £250,000, you will need to find match funding. Development grants of up to £25,000 are available.

There will be a two-stage application process. At stage one we will consider the need and outcomes for your project and how you will run your building. The final deadline for receiving stage one applications is 5 pm on 30 April 2007. Only projects successful at stage one will be invited to apply to stage two.