Manchester is set to build a pioneering age-friendly, zero-carbon neighbourhood as part of a £1.5bn redevelopment of North Manchester General Hospital. The project will integrate housing, healthcare and community spaces to help older residents thrive
Manchester, once famed for its 24-hour party people, is planning a pioneering age-friendly neighbourhood to ensure life after youth stays just as vibrant. Part of a £1.5bn redevelopment of North Manchester General Hospital, the project will combine zero-carbon homes, healthcare facilities and public spaces designed to help older residents stay active, connected and independent.
It’s all part of a £1.5bn project to redevelop North Manchester General Hospital in the city’s Crumpsall district. A collaborative effort involving Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester City Council, working alongside ageing experts and architects.
Included in the plans is a zero-carbon neighbourhood, which will integrate health and social care facilities with quality housing, a commercial quarter and outdoor spaces.
The design will be shaped by the principles of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) ‘age-friendly cities’ initiative, a global network of communities committed to creating environments where older people can thrive.
“A core part of our work for more than 20 years has been how we create neighbourhoods that are good places to grow older,” says Paul McGarry, who heads up the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub, one of the stakeholders in the project.
“From an age-friendly perspective, you could see North Manchester as a potential exemplar of how you integrate ageing into large scale developments. It’s a huge opportunity.”
The project offers a local response to a global challenge: the world’s population is ageing fast.
According to the WHO, life expectancy at birth reached 73.3 years in 2024, up more than 8 years over the last three decades. By 2030, the number of people aged 60 and over is on track to rise from 1.1 billion in 2023 to 1.4 billion.
Part of a £1.5bn redevelopment of North Manchester General Hospital, the project will combine zero-carbon homes, healthcare facilities and public spaces designed to help older residents stay active, connected and independent. Image: North Manchester General Hospital
Closer to home, the UK’s Centre for Ageing Better (CAB) projects that over a quarter of England’s population will be aged 65 and over by 2065, and more than half will be at least 50.
“People often talk about a demographic time bomb, but it’s a surprise when a bomb goes off,” says the CAB’s deputy director for localities Natalie Turner. “We could see this coming and we still haven’t caught up to that. We’ve come a long way, but the Manchester project is symbolic of the kind of ambition we need.”
The WHO’s Age-Friendly Cities framework lays out eight interlinked ‘domains’ – key areas of everyday life which can help identify barriers to older people’s wellbeing, and inform solutions. They include the ‘hardware’ – physical infrastructure – and the ‘software’ – social and cultural participation – of communities says Turner. “Are there volunteering opportunities? Is the local labour market inclusive of older workers?”
Around 100 communities have signed up to the UK’s Age-Friendly Cities network, stretching from Perth and Kinross in Scotland to Plymouth on England’s south-west coast.
A core part of our work has been how we create neighbourhoods that are good places to grow older
Manchester is widely seen as a trailblazer in this space, propelled by favourable political headwinds and the dedication of people like McGarry, who has spent three decades in local government championing the rights of older residents and tackling ageism.
“It’s the last taboo,” he says. “Ageism shapes older people’s ideas of themselves and about ageing. At the root of all this is the fact that we pathologise old age as something akin to a disease which needs fixing.
“At the hub, we take a citizenship gaze, which is that older people have rights – particularly those in marginalised and low-income groups. We want them to be seen foremost as active citizens, and to have a say in the services they receive and in the places they live.”
'From an age-friendly perspective, you could see North Manchester as a potential exemplar of how you integrate ageing into large scale developments. It’s a huge opportunity' says Paul McGarry, who heads up the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub, one of the stakeholders in the project. Image: Micheile Henderson
In Manchester, that ethos is already visible in age-friendly infrastructure such as accessible toilets, benches on walking routes and step-free access to public buildings, as well as programmes to support older workers and a volunteer-led culture champions scheme promoting engagement in the arts.
Funding for the Crumpsall project has been pledged by Westminster, and spades could hit the ground as soon as 2027-28. McGarry hopes that besides serving as a global centre of excellence for age-friendly innovation, it will also spark a broader national conversation.
“It’s a conversation we need to have,” says McGarry. “There will be significant voices of older people’s organisations calling for it, but also younger people as well. The generational solidarity is there. There’s lots to be optimistic about, and we’ve got lots of good stuff to look forward to.”
Main image: cdc / Unsplash
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