THRIVE | Northern and Western Regional Assembly

THRIVE – the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme

The Northern and Western Regional Assembly is pleased to announce the opening of a competitive call for THRIVE – a new €30.7m scheme to renovate derelict buildings in urban centres:

Local Authorities in the Northern and Western Region are cordially invited to submit applications for funding under the THRIVE scheme in accordance with the THRIVE Application Guidelines and using the THRIVE Application Forms. Please advise if you wish to avail of content in an accessible format.
THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, through the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-27, and as such all applicants must comply with the relevant EU and ERDF regulations as outlined in the Application Guidelines and Application Form. Failure to do so will render the application ineligible for funding.
THRIVE supports the following ERDF objectives:
- Policy Objective 5: A Europe closer to citizens by fostering the sustainable and integrated development of all types of territories and local initiatives
- Specific Objective 5.1: Fostering the integrated and inclusive social, economic and environmental development, culture, natural heritage, sustainable tourism, and security in urban areas

Targeting NPF and RSES designated settlements – the regions’ key towns, regional growth centres and cities – THRIVE will support local authorities and their citizens to re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly-owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings within those town centres through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse. THRIVE supports locally developed plans that take an integrated strategic approach to the regeneration of our towns and locally selected projects that assist in creating town centres that function as viable, vibrant, and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit while also functioning as the business, service, social, cultural and recreational hub for the local community.

THRIVE offers 100% grants to local authorities under two strands:

Strand 1: Grant amounts of between €40K and €200K towards integrated urban strategies and project pipeline development
Strand 2: Grant amounts of between €2M and €7M towards the renovation and adaptive reuse of vacant or derelict heritage buildings in public control or ownership

THRIVE promotes a citizen-centred community-led approach to planning and design under the Town Centre First framework and will fund projects that embrace the core values of the New European Bauhaus – sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion. A heritage building under the scheme is classified as structures that form part of the architectural heritage and have unique architectural, historical, archaeological or artistic qualities, or its links to the cultural and economic history of a place. To qualify for a THRIVE grant to renovate a heritage building, the building must be in public ownership and have been identified through locally developed plans and public consultation to establish most viable reuse for the building renewed.

The total funding available for THRIVE under the Northern and Western Regional Programme is €30.7 million. The ERDF co-funding rate is 60% with the balance of 40% co-funded by the Government of Ireland. The indicative funding allocation under Strand 1 is funding up to a value of €2million and under Strand 2 is up to a value of €28.7 million. Funding under Strand 1 will be offered under one call with funding of up to €2 million. Funding under Strand 2 will be offered under two calls, call 1 will fund a maximum of two projects and Strand 2 Call 2 funding will be advised at Q4 2024.

The call start date is 8^th February 2024. The end date and deadline for applications is 17.00 on 5^th April 2024 for Strand 1 and 17.00 on 3^rd May 2024 for Strand 2. Any applications received after this time will not be eligible. Applications should be sent in electronic form (MS Word/Excel/PDF) and should be signed by the Chief Executive or Director of Service of the Local Authority. The application should be sent to thrive@nwra.ie by the deadline.

Online and in person capacity building workshops for local authorities to support the preparation of applications in relation to specific requirements under the THRIVE scheme will be held in February and March 2024.