Brent Cross confirmed: Mayfield Villages announces 147-home London development in landmark regeneration partnership

Mayfield Villages will deliver 147 retirement living homes at Brent Cross Town — one of London's most ambitious regeneration projects — in a landmark partnership that brings the brand to the capital for the first time and signals a major acceleration of AEM Living's London strategy.

A site that demanded Mayfield

Finding the right location for Mayfield's London debut was never going to be straightforward. The capital presents unique challenges for retirement living development — land values are higher, planning is more complex, and the competitive set more crowded than in the regional markets where both Audley and Mayfield have historically operated.

But Brent Cross Town presented something rare: a large-scale, masterplanned regeneration site with the space to create a genuine community rather than an isolated residential block; developer partners — Related Argent — with both the vision and the track record to deliver at the required quality; and a catchment area with clear, demonstrable demand from North London's substantial and largely underserved older population.

"We assessed more than 40 sites across London over a three-year period," said Emma Thwaites, Chief Development Officer of AEM Living. "Most offered a building plot. Brent Cross Town offered something much rarer — the opportunity to build a genuine Mayfield village, with all the community character that means, in a location that will only become more desirable over time."

Brent Cross Town — a new kind of neighbourhood

Brent Cross Town is a 180-acre, mixed-use regeneration of the former Brent Cross shopping centre and its surrounding land in the London Borough of Barnet. Led by Related Argent in partnership with Barnet Council, the development will deliver 6,700 homes, 50 acres of public park, schools, offices and a new high street, phased over approximately 20 years. The first residents moved in during 2023.

The masterplan's scale and ambition are precisely what make it suitable for Mayfield. A retirement village requires a neighbourhood, not just a building — residents need amenity, connectivity and a genuine sense of place. Brent Cross Town will, when complete, be exactly that: a fully realised urban neighbourhood with the vibrancy and infrastructure that later life residents increasingly expect.

The Mayfield Brent Cross scheme will occupy a dedicated parcel within the masterplan, delivering 147 one- and two-bedroom apartments across a carefully designed village setting. The Mayfield Club — a 20-metre pool, gym, fitness studio, sauna and treatment rooms — will be purpose-built within the development, alongside the brand's signature M Bar & Kitchen dining facility.

 

"Watford showed us that the Mayfield vision resonated with residents and their families. Brent Cross will show the world what Mayfield can become." — James Harrington, Chief Executive, AEM Living

 

Addressing a critical London gap

The undersupply of retirement living options in London is, if anything, more acute than in the rest of the UK. The capital is home to more than 1.1 million residents aged 65 and over, concentrated particularly in the outer boroughs — yet the number of purpose-built retirement communities serving this population is vanishingly small compared to equivalent cities internationally.

The reasons are familiar: land values that make retirement living financially challenging to deliver, planning frameworks that have historically provided little guidance on later living typologies, and a development culture focused on maximising unit count rather than creating the amenity-rich environments that retirement communities require.

Barnet's support for the Brent Cross Mayfield scheme reflects a growing recognition — shared by an increasing number of London boroughs — that meeting the housing needs of older residents is both a moral obligation and a practical necessity for creating age-balanced, sustainable communities.

Design and programme

The scheme has been designed by award-winning architects with an extensive later living portfolio whose work includes several of the UK's most admired retirement communities. The design prioritises natural light, generous private outdoor space, and a considered internal specification — wider corridors, level thresholds, thoughtful kitchen and bathroom layouts — that makes a home genuinely liveable for life without feeling institutional.

Landscaped courtyards connect the residential buildings to the club facilities and the wider Brent Cross Town public realm, creating a sense of arrival and community that distinguishes a Mayfield village from a standard later living apartment scheme.

Construction is expected to commence in Q4 2025, with first completions targeted for 2027. An off-plan reservation programme will open in autumn 2025, with pricing to be confirmed ahead of launch.

What Brent Cross means for Mayfield

For the Mayfield brand, Brent Cross is more than a second village — it is a proof of concept at the most demanding possible scale. The brand launched its first community in Watford in 2022 to considerable critical and commercial success, demonstrating that the Mayfield model — outstanding quality, accessible pricing, genuine community — could be delivered and that demand for it was real and substantial.

Brent Cross will test the model in the capital city, in a high-profile regeneration context, at a scale that requires every aspect of the operational and development model to perform. We are building with confidence — because Watford showed us it works, and because the need in London could not be more clear.

For enquiries regarding the Brent Cross development and off-plan reservations, please contact the Mayfield Villages sales team at brentcross@mayfieldvillages.co.uk