This listed building built in 1875 has been substantially repaired and refurbished to provide a home for the Manchester based hub of the Health and Research Centre for North England. It was funded from the Medical Research Council and nine other Government and charity funders. The centre acts as a hub providing specialist research and teaching facilities as part of a consortium led by The University of Manchester, in conjunction with the Universities of Liverpool, Lancaster and York.

It is one of four such Health Informatics research hubs in the UK and makes use of patient data sets available through NHS sources, undertake cutting edge research that links e-health records with other forms of research and routinely collected data, which has lead to patient and public benefit and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of global medical research.