The protection of heritage buildings is essential because they signpost the narration of a community's past into the future. Investment in the protection of heritage buildings through incentives in the form of government grants provides a lifeline for the future preservation of built heritage, which can boost an urban area's local economy. This study sought to evaluate the distribution of heritage buildings in New Zealand, examine the allocation of significant government funding sources for protecting the heritage buildings, and explore the implications of this allocation on future built heritage protection efforts in New Zealand's provincial regions.

An analysis of existing relevant documents revealed that while the per capita distribution of heritage buildings was highest in New Zealand's provincial regions, major urban centres received the highest share of government funding. Findings from key informant interviews identified three major themes as implications of the current incentive allocation on built heritage protection efforts in New Zealand's provincial regions: (i) disproportionately low allocation of government grants to provincial regions; (ii) lack of sophistication among property investors in provincial regions; and (iii) “emergency solution” mindset of government funding regulators.

These findings imply that though government heritage grant systems are the most extensive non-regulatory incentives for the protection of built heritage in New Zealand, the provincial regions currently struggling with so many underutilised and derelict historical buildings may not be able to keep up with their preservation efforts if they continue to receive a lesser proportion of the available grant. As a recommendation, the central government can assist by directing more discretionary grants to provincial regions to encourage future efforts towards protecting their heritage buildings.

保护遗产建筑至关重要，因为它们标志着一个社区的过去向未来的叙述。通过政府赠款形式的激励措施对文物建筑保护进行投资，为建筑遗产的未来保护提供了生命线，这可以促进城市地区的当地经济。本研究旨在评估新西兰遗产建筑的分布，检查重要的政府资金来源用于保护遗产建筑的分配，并探讨这种分配对新西兰省级地区未来建筑遗产保护工作的影响。

对现有相关文件的分析显示，虽然新西兰各省区的遗产建筑人均分布最高，但主要城市中心获得的政府资金份额最高。主要知情人访谈的结果确定了三个主要主题，作为当前激励分配对新西兰省级地区建筑遗产保护工作的影响：(i) 政府拨款分配给省级地区的比例过低；(ii) 省级地区的房地产投资者缺乏经验；(iii) 政府资金监管机构的“紧急解决方案”心态。

这些发现意味着，尽管政府遗产赠款制度是新西兰保护建筑遗产的最广泛的非监管激励措施，但目前正在努力应对如此多未充分利用和废弃的历史建筑的省级地区可能无法跟上它们的保护步伐如果他们继续获得较少比例的可用赠款。作为一项建议，中央政府可以通过向省级地区提供更多可自由支配的拨款来提供帮助，以鼓励未来保护其遗产建筑的努力。