Heritage Trust for the North West (Charity Number: 508300) is a Building Preservation Trust registered with the Architectural Heritage Fund. Its aims are to restore and find appropriate new uses for Buildings at Risk in the North West. Its headquarters are at Higherford Mill (Grade II) near Nelson, which it saved from demolition a decade ago; the Mill featured in the BBC TV Restoration Series in 2006.
The Trust’s first project was the formation of Pendle Heritage Centre in 1977, at the time only the fourth Heritage Centre in the United Kingdom. Today it attracts over 100,000 visitors per annum.
Initially the Trust carried out projects across Lancashire, working in most of the 13 Boroughs. In 1996 it merged with the North West Building Preservation Trust and has since developed projects across the region in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cumbria.
It has formed two trading companies which generate funds for the Charity to create a sustainable social enterprise.