By David Watt  

The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Board and Māori Heritage Council have agreed on the range of investment priorities to incentivise in this year's National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund. The Fund is now open for applications.  

The 2023 grant round will close on 24 June 2023 with decisions to be made by the Board in mid-August. Applications should be lodged with regional offices of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga before the closing date.

The priorities for funding grants are:  

• conservation and preservation of sites of significance to Māori
• conservation work to heritage places to increase resilience and respond to the impacts of climate change, including repairs, and site stabilisation relating to land and archaeological sites
• seismic strengthening and risk management planning.

The National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund has been operating since 2004, with a significant number of private heritage property owners receiving funding support for conservation projects from Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Until 2018, only private owners of Category 1 heritage listed properties were eligible for funding assistance. The fund was then extended to also cover private ownership of Category 2 heritage listed properties, and funding is also available for wāhi tapu sites and wāhi tapu areas.  

Charitable Trusts, Churches, Schools and similar are not eligible for funding from the National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund. Funding is available through Lottery and other institutions for these groups.

For successful applicants, the fund contributes up to 50% of the cost of conservation work in any particular case, and individual grants will not normally be greater than $100,000.  

Property owners can go to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga online to get details regarding this year's grant applications or contact regional offices for assistance in obtaining application forms and criteria for grants.  

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga regional offices are located in Kerikeri, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.