Two long-vacant buildings on Hartlepool's Church Street are to receive £909,500 of Historic England funding for urgent structural repairs.
The award covers 8 and 9 Church Street, within the Church Street . Hartlepool Borough Council announced the funding on 16 October and said the work is intended to stop further while preparing the properties for a future use.
What the will pay for
The buildings need stabilisation rather than a cosmetic refurbishment. Historic England lists internal structural scaffolding, replacement of the gable wall, new piles and a ground beam to support that wall, and replacement of the roof among the funded works.
Those interventions are designed to secure the structures and protect the surviving historic fabric. The council says both properties have stood empty for several years. Neither the council nor Historic England has announced a construction timetable, completion date or confirmed occupier, so the award should be understood as a repair and project rather than a finished redevelopment.
The money comes from Historic England's at Risk Capital Fund. Its 2026 programme currently includes 23 projects around England, with further awards expected. Hartlepool is one of two North East locations listed in this round; the other is Shildon Railway Institute in County Durham.
Historic England says the national fund will provide up to £75 million over five years to 2030. Its first year, 2025, awarded £15 million across 37 projects. The 2026 list ranges from railway, market and civic buildings to castles and places of worship, with each grant tied to a defined repair programme rather than a general town-centre budget.
Part of a wider Church Street plan
The council intends the repaired buildings to form part of the wider Screen Industries Production Village around Church Street, Lynn Street and Whitby Street. That programme is being developed alongside the existing Northern Studios and is intended to provide production, post-production, workshop, office and support space for film, television and digital businesses.
Council project information describes the Production Village as an £18.5 million programme, supported by £16.5 million from the government's Local Fund. Its plans include 2,750 square metres of flexible commercial and workshop space, public-realm improvements and the restoration of several heritage properties. The separate £909,500 award is specifically for the urgent work at numbers 8 and 9.
That distinction matters. The grant secures buildings that might otherwise continue to , but it does not by itself deliver the full Production Village or guarantee the jobs and investment for the wider scheme. The next test will be whether the repairs are completed and the properties can move into a long-term use.
What happens next
Hartlepool Borough Council says further details about the programme of works and delivery timetable will be announced later. Until then, residents should expect structural safeguarding rather than an immediate opening or public attraction.
For Church Street, the award links two practical aims: part of the town's historic streetscape and creating buildings that can be used again. The funding is confirmed, the repair scope is identified and the wider regeneration is clear. The dates for work on site, final uses and occupation remain to be settled.