What criteria a private developer has to meet before, during and after receiving a grant for a historic building from Historic Scotland.

I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Historic Scotland operates its historic building repair grant scheme on the basis of establishing whether there is a need for support from the public purse and, if so, of providing the minimum level of grant support towards eligible costs that is necessary for a project to be completed successfully. Where the grant applicant is a private developer we also take account of the rate of return that a project is expected to achieve. The UK Treasury provides guidance to all government departments on acceptable rates of return where public monies are involved.During the implementation of projects all applicants are expected to comply with all relevant conditions of grant in order to receive staged payments of grant.After a project undertaken by a private developer is completed, a financial re-appraisal is carried out to ensure that the rate of return achieved was in accordance with that projected. If not, the level of grant can be adjusted. Certain conditions of grant concerning future public access, maintenance and insurance remain for the developer to comply with for a set period.