Future Growth Grant in detail

The grant is designed to support property owners and occupiers in bringing vacant and derelict properties back into commercial or private residential use. The grant will also create opportunities for tenants and improve the vitality and vibrancy of Lisburn City Centre. 

It will initially focus on properties located within the designated city centre boundary as identified in the Lisburn City Centre masterplan, namely Bow Street, Market Square, Castle Street, Seymour Street, Railway Street, Bridge Street and Antrim Street. Following a review of the grant, future consideration will be given to extending the scheme into other streets and other relevant council areas. 

Outcomes of the grant will: 

• attract further investment into Lisburn City Centre 
• increase footfall to the city centre 
• address dereliction 
• contribute to the evening economy 
• improve the city centre commercial offering. 
• increase the opportunity for city centre living as part of a wider mixed-use scheme

Who can apply for financial assistance?

As it aims to encourage vacant commercial property owners to invest in their buildings, attract tenants and reduce long term vacancy and dereliction within the City Centre.  

Those owners of properties within the identified areas of Lisburn City Centre which have been vacant or partly vacant for at least 24 months can apply. 

Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires public authorities in Northern Ireland to consider how their work can promote equality of opportunity and good relations.

This means taking steps to promote equality of opportunity between:

• persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation
• men and women
• persons with a disability and persons without
• persons with dependants and persons without

We will not consider applications from applicants that:  

• discriminate against Section 75 groupings 
• are businesses which have been in deficit for the last two financial years without a justifiable reason  
• relate to land or property which is to be, or could be sold, within 12 months from the receipt of final payment of grant aid. Where an award under this scheme has been offered and paid out by the council, the full grant must be repaid 
• have submitted another application to this scheme 
• social enterprises

In addition, we will not consider applications for projects which:  

• are located outside the defined boundary
• have an eligible total capital spend of less than £200,000 exclusive of VAT or professional fees  
• include or relate to repairs, improvements or construction of your own home / private dwelling 
• are unable to provide most recent audited accounts from the previous three financial years (as relevant to applicant)
• do not meet the objectives of the scheme
• have already taken place or are already underway prior to an offer of funding and permission to start notice being issued  
• are deemed to be commercially unsustainable  
• are of a party political nature 
• promote a particular religion 
• are contrary to council policy  

State aid/subsidy control 

All grant funding will be subject to compliance checks with the UK’s subsidy control regime, including provisions to prevent overcompensation and to ensure that support is aligned with legitimate public policy objectives. 

The fund will include provisions related to both match funding and state aid compliance. Further, projects seeking funding must also comply with the UK's Subsidy Control Act, under its seven core principles. Full details on the Subsidy Control Act can online at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/679ced111d14e76535afb681/statutory-guidance-for-the-united-kingdom-subsidy-control-regime-january-2025.pdf  

What can you apply for? 

This is a capital scheme only. There is no funding towards revenue costs such as training, IT/e-business and marketing expenditure. The maximum level of financial assistance is up to 60% of total capital costs submitted and approved through a successful application, capped at a maximum of £300,000 grant award per applicant.  

The scheme has a limited budget and grants will be made through a competitive process. However, we reserve the right to restrict a funding offer to certain elements of a project proposal.  

Programme criteria - what we will and will not fund

The Future Growth Grant will fund:

• construction works (e.g. renovations, extensions, modernisation, conversion, flooring, lighting, electrical, wiring, plumbing and heating works) as required for the delivery of the project may be considered;
• non recoverable VAT; and
• purchase of items which are attached, or 'fixed,' to the property which are an integral part of the project.

The Future Growth Grant will not fund:

• land purchase or leasing
• costs incurred or any commitment to costs incurred prior to any offer of funding and permission to start notice from us (retrospective funding)
• non-project specific costs
• costs representing poor value for money; items purchased outside of our Council procurement guidelines
• recoverable VAT
• an item which can or is already being funded through another grant source
• professional fees
• insurance costs
• interest / banking fees
• cash expenditure will not be eligible for refund
• projects where contractors have already been appointed to undertake the work; or ongoing maintenance costs (e.g. painting) or consumables - i.e. goods used by individuals and businesses

Completion of an expression of interest (EOI) form is mandatory for anyone considering applying for a grant. We will assess the information provided at EOI to decide whether or not to invite applicants to submit a grant application.

The grant has a limited budget, and grants will be made through a competitive process. The scheme is limited to one application per applicant.

EOI eligibility criteria

EOI responses will be evaluated using a two-stage process. Responses will have to demonstrate how they met the eligibility criteria at stage A, before proceeding to be scored against the EOI assessment criteria in stage B.

EOI eligibility criteria stage A

The following eligibility criteria is assessed on a pass / fail basis as part of the evaluation process – the property must be located within the areas of consideration as set out below.

• Market Square
• Market Street
• Castle Street
• Railway Street
• Bridge Street
• Bow Street
• Antrim Street

EOI assessment criteria stage B

All applications that PASS the above eligibility criteria will then be assessed using the following six key objectives:

• attracting further investment into Lisburn City Centre
• increase footfall to the city centre
• address dereliction
• contribute to the evening economy
• improve the city centre retail/hospitality offering.
• increase the opportunity for city centre living as part of a wider mixed-use scheme.

Expressions of interest applications will then be ranked in order of score. The highest-ranking applications will be invited by email to move forward to grant application.

Applications may be held on a reserve list to be considered at a later stage if additional funding becomes available.