Annual Heritage Angel Awards for Northern Ireland

logo-uahsThe Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be introducing Heritage Angel Awards to Northern Ireland in 2017. The awards will be supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and the Department for Communities.

From 2017-20 the Heritage Angel Awards will acknowledge and profile the achievement of people-individuals, groups and communities in their projects and best practice to conserve, record, protect and celebrate heritage in Northern Ireland. UAHS will be highlighting the importance of heritage projects and work of the heritage sector to wider society, showcasing best conservation practice and construction in heritage work and skills. Overall the awards aim to recognise and profile achievement, to inspire and increase activity to help conserve and protect built heritage.

It has been announced that the Heritage Angel Awards will be supported by £130,000 over three years from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, (ALWF) Arts and Heritage Fund, with the project featuring as the biggest recipient announced in the 2016 round. The introduction of Heritage Angel Awards follows existing awards in England and Scotland, led by Historic England and the Scottish Civic Trust, also supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. In Northern Ireland the awards will also be funded by the Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division, (HED) with whom UAHS has for over 20 years been a partner on providing the ‘Built Heritage at Risk Register for Northern Ireland’, (BHARNI). HED has committed to providing £10,000 to March 2017. It is hoped that support from HED can continue to 2020.

The first Heritage Angel awards ceremony will take place at the Grand Opera House, Belfast next year, coinciding with the celebration of UAHS’ 50th year.

Heritage Angel Awards for Northern Ireland has been developed by UAHS in consultation with other organisations in the Heritage Sector including: Historic Environment Division, (HED), Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, (CAF/QUB), Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITBNI), Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Heritage Trust Network (HTN), and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC).