Aspirational Living: Why Manchester’s Strategy Has Been So Successful

By Sara Seravalli, Il Salotto

Last week I was in Manchester to progress another exciting Il Salotto On The Road panel with a few of my contacts there. One of them was Caroline Baker, Managing Partner of Cushman & Wakefield’s North West region.

I first met Caroline during my expedition to Leeds for UKREiiF, when I was targeting Tim Heatley. That trip turned out to be rather fruitful, and reconnecting with Caroline in Manchester felt like the natural next step. Since our upcoming panel will focus on leadership in the built environment, I knew she would be an ideal speaker. After all, she manages over 100 staff and has been shaping the industry longer than I have.

As is often the case when you meet face-to-face instead of on Teams, the first ten minutes drifted to family and life in general. But those pleasantries quickly opened up into a fascinating conversation about how Manchester has changed over the past 10–15 years - and what an exciting city it has become. Within five minutes I was scribbling notes and thinking: “Damn! I should have recorded this!”

Here’s the gist of what I took away:

The City of Manchester made a bold strategic decision to focus on what they called “Aspirational Living.” The Council - under Labour control since the 1970s - believed that by making the city centre attractive for young professionals, while moving social housing schemes further out, the wider region would benefit. And it has, spectacularly.

Developers were pushed to deliver architecturally appealing buildings, while the Council invested heavily in the public realm. The result is extraordinary. Since I started bringing #DesignPopUp to Manchester in 2015, I’ve witnessed this transformation first-hand. Ancoats, and in particular the square outside Hallé St Peter’s, is a prime example - an area reborn with energy and beauty.

Hallé St Peters in Ancoats, image by Daniel Hopkins

Manchester today is a place people want to move to. It offers good jobs, exciting restaurants, beautiful homes and flats, strong transport links, and a vibrant retail scene. The impact? Greater Manchester’s GDP is now growing faster than London’s. More residents are paying Council Tax, eating out, shopping, and contributing to the city’s economy.

Of course, this model isn’t easily replicated. Political stability has been crucial - Manchester’s decades-long Labour leadership has provided consistency and vision, uninterrupted by policy U-turns. But vision is the key word.

Take Glasgow as a comparison. The SNP has also held power for a long time, yet where is the bold vision for the city centre? Glasgow’s heart is slowly dying. The question we should be asking is: can we learn from Manchester and reimagine Glasgow as a city just as cool, vibrant, and unapologetically alive?