There are several sources of funding for earthquake strengthening projects. You may be able to access more than one of these funding sources, although conditions are likely to apply.
The Heritage Fund is for projects that conserve or restore the heritage value or character of a property that is recognised under the Horowhenua District Plan for its historical significance.
Eligible to apply are:
- owners of property listed in Schedule 2 of the Operative Horowhenua District Plan; and
- owners of property within the Town Centre Heritage and Character Areas of Foxton and Shannon (as shown on Planning Maps 15A and 21A of the Operative Horowhenua District Plan)
More information is available on our Heritage Incentives page.
Heritage EQUIP offers funding towards seismic strengthening work for heritage buildings.
To be eligible for funding, applications need to meet the following criteria:
The building must be privately owned
The building must be privately owned. The applicant must be the owner or part-owner of the heritage building, or give evidence that they have the authority to submit the application on the owner’s behalf.
The building must be earthquake-prone, as defined by law
The building must be considered earthquake-prone by your council, under the Building Act. If you have no council notification that your building is earthquake-prone, you will need to provide an assessment of the building’s ‘earthquake resistance capacity’ from an engineer.
The building must have heritage value
- Category 1 historic place on the New Zealand Heritage List or
- Category 2 historic place on the New Zealand Heritage List and also in an area considered medium or high risk, as defined in the Act.
If your building is listed on another category of the New Zealand Heritage List (as a wāhi tapu, wāhi tūpuna, wāhi tapu area or historic area), or scheduled on a district plan, it may still be considered for a Heritage EQUIP grant. Your grant application for these buildings would need to include independent verification of the building’s heritage values.
How to apply and more information is available on the Heritage EQUIP funding site.
Heritage New Zealand administers the National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund. It provides funding to encourage the conservation of nationally significant heritage places.
The fund is open to private owners and gives priority to heritage places of national significance where conservation work is planned and could be improved through extra funding.
Heritage New Zealand and Heritage EQUIP funding managers coordinate efforts where possible. In general, if your building is on the New Zealand Heritage List, applications for funding seismic upgrade professional advice should go to Heritage New Zealand and applications for funding seismic upgrade works should go to Heritage EQUIP.
National Heritage Preservation Incentive fund - Heritage New Zealand website
As well as administering Heritage EQUIP, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage also manages the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund (RCHF).
This fund provides grants for not-for-profit organisations (including councils) that own buildings used for art gallery, whare taonga, museum, performing arts, or heritage purposes.
Projects can involve heritage or newer buildings, and includes seismic strengthening, renovating, restoring, adding to, or constructing buildings.
The projects must be focused on improving the existing building stock or adding new buildings to our arts, cultural and heritage infrastructure.
Regional Culture and Heritage fund - Ministry for Culture and Heritage website
Providing grants to improve or build new facilities for communities, and for studies to find out if a community facility is needed and can be achieved
The following may be funded:
- projects to build new community buildings or facilities
- projects to improve or enlarge existing community facilities
- feasibility studies to work out if planned projects are needed, can be achieved and fit the long-term vision for the community
- Seismic strengthening and engineering reports
- building purchases (but only if this is a better and less costly option than building a new facility).
Community Matters - Lottery Community Facilities.