Immediately north of NOMA and Manchester Victoria station lies the area earmarked for Victoria North (formerly known as the Northern Gateway) — one of the largest housing-led regeneration schemes Manchester has taken on. Where NOMA has historically been more commercially led, Victoria North is explicitly framed around housing delivery at a scale the city hasn't attempted before, and it's worth understanding both for what it will eventually mean for the city's construction pipeline and for what's already underway.
Victoria North's masterplan spans a large area across Collyhurst, New Cross, Miles Platting, Monsall, Harpurhey, Beswick, Bradford and New Islington, stitching together neighbourhoods that have historically been physically and economically disconnected from the city centre despite their proximity. The plan is built around tens of thousands of new homes delivered over roughly two decades, alongside new parks, schools and improved transport links — explicitly designed as a long-term, generational project rather than a scheme with a fixed end date in the near term.
It's a joint venture between Manchester City Council and a private development partner, structured similarly to NOMA in that it's a long-term partnership overseeing a rolling pipeline of individual phases and sites, rather than one contractor building the whole thing in one go.
Early phases have focused on neighbourhoods like Collyhurst and New Cross, where new housing has started to replace ageing stock and previously underused land, alongside investment in green space (including the ongoing Central Retail Park and Angel Meadow-adjacent public realm work that connects Victoria North back into the city centre and NOMA). As with any scheme of this size, delivery happens site by site and phase by phase rather than all at once — which means the opportunity for local trades builds gradually over years rather than arriving all in one go.
Individual tower developments get more attention, but housing-led regeneration schemes like Victoria North are arguably more significant for the broader Manchester construction sector for a few reasons:
As Victoria North moves through its early phases, the sites and housebuilders involved will become clearer, and with them the specific opportunities for local subcontractors. For now, the key takeaway for Manchester's construction sector is that this is a multi-decade pipeline of housing work concentrated in the areas immediately north of the city centre — worth tracking closely if you're based in or near Collyhurst, Harpurhey, Miles Platting or New Cross.
If you're a tradesperson working in these areas, make sure your business is visible on Wojo so housebuilders and principal contractors sourcing for Victoria North phases can find you directly.
Written by
Lee Matthews
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