Although the Saracen's Head and the Old Grammar School won the BBC Restoration 2004 series, the Project still have to demonstrate that the money will be spent in a way that will conserve & enhance the heritage of the buildings, that they have a sustainable future and that everyone will be able to learn about, have access to and enjoy their heritage.

The stages involved in obtaining the funds to undertake the Restoration are as follows;

Two Stage Process
Normally, if HLF funding is being sought for schemes expected to cost more than £1million then the process is in two stages . The Stage 1 application involves providing;

• details of the proposed project
• outline costs
• details of research undertaken
• information on the organisation making the application
• the educational benefit of the project
• outline design drawings
• a conservation management plan
• impact assessment
• an outline business plan
• an options appraisal
• a feasibility study
• a training plan
• a development plan, etc.

Once HLF have accepted the Stage 1 Application a 'Stage-One Pass' is given and a development grant may also be given by HLF at this point.

Stage Two
By winning the Restoration 2004 series, the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School were given an exemption from making a Stage 1 application.

This, however, meant that some of the base information normally developed during the Stage 1 Application process was not available as a starting point for the Stage 2 Application. Thus a lot of the normal Stage 1 work still had to be done, but within the Stage 2 process.

HLF therefore granted an extension to the normal 12 month limit on submitting a Stage 2 application. The Stage 2 process requires a scheme to be worked up demonstrating sustainable use for the buildings with the proposed physical restoration acceptable to the various heritage regulatory bodies. Among the documentation that has to be produced for the Stage 2 Application are;

• Conservation Management Plan
• Audience Development Plan
• Access Plan
• Business Plan
• Designs

The output from many other documents, research, surveys and consultations feed into these and other documents that are submitted to the HLF.

Planning Applications

In parallel to these plans, planning applications and building regulations applications have to be made to the local council planning department, in this case Birmingham City Council.

Some of the development costs of producing this detailed information is provided by grants/awards from the HLF (including the development grant mentioned earlier). These costs pay for 'qualified professionals' to research, design and develop the specialist information required for the submission.

Matching Funds
The HLF will contribute 75% towards the total restoration costs of the heritage element. The project must demonstrate that it has, or will obtain the remaining 25% (the matching funds). The money donated by the voting in the BBC2 Restoration 2004 series can count towards this 25%, but any shortfall will have to be made up with donations or other grants.

Stage Two Approval
Stage 2 Approval is given when the HLF are satisfied with all the information presented. Only at this point will the £2.5million ‘pledged’ by HLF to the winner of BBC2's Restoration 2004 be released to the project.

The above is only a summary of the funding process, with specific emphasis on the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School project. Details of the full HLF application process can be found on the HLF website at www.hlf.org.uk, or specifically in the document HG_Intro.pdf