The lack of accessible financial resources is one of the key problems for most governments in the protection and maintenance of their cultural heritage. This issue is of particular importance to the Central European region, where the turbulent history and the geopolitical reconfiguration resulted in a large number of neglected or abandoned historic buildings, which have been suffering from ongoing decay. These buildings are often connected to deprived areas with economic and social problems which require immediate intervention.

RESTAURA project is aiming at identifying, testing, evaluating and promoting good practice on the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for the revitalisation of historical cities and buildings. PPP allows organisations to combine the unique assets and skills of the public and private sectors to protect heritage resources. With limited public resources available for this purpose (e.g. national and EU funds), the involvement of private financing and expertise through PPP is the only alternative to save and provide ongoing management to the unique built heritage of Central Europe. Until now, there have only been a few examples of PPP used in revitalisation projects within Europe, RESTAURA’s aim is to promote a real change for the better in the use of PPP across Central Europe (innovation).

The outputs of RESTAURA project are:

Clear strategies and action plans,

Access to existing tools, and the development of new ones,

Support for pilot actions and the provision of workshops for public authorities who aim to use PPP models to renovate and bring a new life to abandoned and deteriorated historic buildings