Plans approved for new ‘first of its kind’ majority LGBTQ+ housing scheme for over 55s in Manchester

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A CGI of the newly-approved LGBTQ+ Extra Care housing scheme development in Whalley Range / Credit: Manchester City Council

Plans have been approved for the UK’s ‘first of its kind’ purpose-built majority LGBTQ+ social rent housing scheme for over 55s in Manchester.

Great Places Housing Group’s proposals for the site of the former Spire Hospital on Russell Road in Whalley Range – a brownfield site which has been vacant since the hospital was demolished in September 2019 – were approved at Manchester City Council’s planning meeting last week (26 September).

The plans for the majority LGBTQ+ ‘Extra Care’ housing scheme have been co-produced in partnership with the Russell Road Community Steering Group, Manchester City Council, and LGBT Foundation.

According to developers and the Council, this newly-approved development will be made up of 80 one and two-bedroom apartments for older people within a “high-quality sustainable building offering a safe and welcoming feel and inviting presence”.

Designed to “respect the surrounding conservation area”, the low-carbon scheme will also include several shared communal facilities too – including lounges, treatment rooms, and landscaped gardens.

The site will also include a neighbouring development of 40 shared ownership homes.

Plans have been approved for a new ‘first of its kind’ majority LGBTQ+ housing scheme in Manchester / Credit: John Walding (via Great Places Housing Group)

Greater Manchester‘s Extra Care housing schemes are all about increasing the opportunities for older people to move into high-quality accommodation across our region – with all the residents at Russell Road therefore being aged 55 or over.

The majority of residents at the development will also be members of the LGBTQ+ community from Manchester, and they will live alongside allies in what developers and the Council are aiming to be an “open and inclusive place of psychological safety”.

Cllr Gavin White, who is Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said the approval of the plans is “a real celebratory moment” and a “landmark development in every sense”.

He continued: “[This development] has been in the works for some years and is designed to meet a clear need for quality, social rent housing for LGBTQ+ older people to live in safety, dignity, and as part of a welcoming and supportive community.

“We have helped build hundreds of Extra Care homes across Manchester in recent years to meet demand for older people to live in their later lives, many with care needs provided on site, but this is the first purpose-built LGBTQ+ majority Extra Care community in the UK”.

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Work on the new development – which will be funded by Great Places, complimented by grant funding from Homes England, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Brownfield Housing Fund – will begin later this year, the Council has confirmed.

Featured Image – Manchester City Council