Eligible places: Owners of commercial, residential, community (non-profit) properties are all eligible to apply if they are located within a Heritage Overlay (either individually significant or contributory to a precinct).
To be eligible for funding assistance from the MHRF, proposed restoration works must:
- Apply to a place within a heritage overlay in the City of Melbourne;
- Enhance building elements of identified heritage significance and improve the overall appearance of the building;
- Enhance the original or early appearance and the overall improvement of the place;
- Involve works that are visible from the public realm;
- Provide evidence that the work is of a reconstructive nature or restorative nature (this can be established through early buildings plans, photographs and drawings);
- Reconstruct only original features; and
- Be put forward by the property owner or a commercial lessee who has the written consent from the owner and whose term of lease is longer than any completion deadline or loan repayment period.
What the MHRF does not fund:
- Any place within an interim Heritage Overlay
- Anything under a repair or enforcement order from the City of Melbourne
- Council owned properties
- Works that are not visible form the public realm
- Works already commenced or completed
- Speculative reconstruction works where there is no evidence of early appearance
- Development works – such as extensions (even when visible from the public realm)
- Works to interiors
- Painting – except when forming part of larger restoration works
- Maintenance and structural repairs – such as new guttering/down-pipes, general timber repairs, re-stumping
To be eligible for funding assistance from the VHRF, the project:
- must apply to a heritage place protected under the Heritage Overlay (Schedule to Clause 43.01) of the Casey Planning Scheme, or a place recommended to be protected under the Heritage overlay that has City of Casey written support.
- must be for either:
a) Conservation works (including reinstatement of original heritage features, re-roofing, verandah works, re-pointing, addressing structural and rising damp issues); and/or
b) Professional advice and documentation (including drawings, conservation specialist advice, engineering advice, schedules of works, and proposed strategic justification for a nominate heritage place to be included in the Casey Planning Scheme);
- must be put forward by the owner of the heritage place, or the lessee/manager of the heritage place with the owner’s written consent and who’s lease/management term is longer than any completion deadline;
- must have a Planning Permit or Planning Permit Exemption issued by the Casey City Council before works can commence, where a Heritage Overlay exists;
A project is ineligible for funding assistance from the VHRF for reasons including:
- works to Council owned properties.
- additions or extensions to a heritage place;
- works that have substantially commenced or been completed
- proposed works solely involve speculative reconstruction where there is no historical evidence of the earlier appearance of the heritage place.
- vegetation removal and/or lopping unless the lopping is done by a suitably qualified professional to improve he health of the vegetation.
- repair and maintenance works (ie. roof plumbing, re-stumping and repainting unless it can be demonstrated that the maintenance works are conservation works)
- general maintenance.
- works required due to a Repair Order issued under the Building Act 1993, Local Government Act 2020 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 by the Casey City Council.
- works required due to demolition-by-neglect to all or part of the heritage place.
