What is the Top Floor?

Open to public visitors during programmed events, workshops and public engagements.

The Top Floor Hub is a dynamic, community-centred space for action, sharing, learning and dreaming, used by a range of changemaking individuals/groups working across the city. The hub drives forward Manchester Museum’s mission to build understanding between cultures and a more sustainable world by opening up our space and resources to support local communities taking action on the issues they care about.

The hub is centred around a shared commitment to Social Justice and Environmental Action.

We define Social Justice as a process that recognises the roots of injustice and disrupts cycles of injustice by building understanding, solidarity and collective capacity for change – taking action to rebuild a just and equitable world.   

Environmental Action is about behaviours and practices that reduce our negative impact on the earth and our environment and move us towards becoming a low carbon and low waste society. This includes rebuilding and repairing human connections with the natural world, considering the equal rights of all life on earth, and reimagining how we might live with one another and the planet in a more fair and sustainable future. 

What happens on the Top Floor?

The Top Floor includes flexible and dynamic spaces prioritised for the use of our co-working partners and events and activities programmed in partnership between Manchester Museum and our communities that focus on social justice and environmental action. 

We believe that everyone – regardless of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, economic status, or ability – is entitled to the same human rights and environmental protections and should have meaningful involvement in the policies and action that shape their communities.  

We acknowledge that ingrained societal and global inequality means not everyone experiences these rights. As such, The Top Floor Hub, informed by a social justice lens, prioritises support for marginalised groups that are typically excluded from decision-making and equitable access to resources.

Spaces available in the Top Floor Hub include a classroom, seminar room, lounge, greenhouse, therapy room, co-working desks, community hub and a creative workshop spaces. We are also home to Pinc College, a Specialist College for Creative Education.

Manchester Museum is registered as a specialist education provider and a charity. We are committed to supporting people to take action on the issues they care about and together move towards a more fair and sustainable future for Manchester and beyond. 

For more information about the Top Floor please contact  topfloorMM@manchester.ac.uk, or fill out one of our forms to make a partnership enquiry or a space hire enquiry. 

Top Floor spaces

Community Hub 

Flexible working and meeting space for community groups, organisations and individuals, and home to our social and environmental action library.

Pinc College Open Learning Space 

The Top Floor is a base for Pinc College, a specialist college for creative education that specialises in supporting neuro-divergent young people aged 16-25. 

Workshop 

Used regularly by Pinc College to facilitate art and design sessions, the workshop is a dynamic space for hands-on creativity. 

The Therapy Room 

A quiet space for wellbeing and therapy sessions. We support a range of occupational and art therapy placements. 

Co-working desks 

Practical workstations used by a range of staff and partner organisations with shared values to work and collaborate in a unique and inspiring setting. Co-workers also benefit from regular opportunities to network and collaborate. 

Well Cases 

A curated display which showcases some of the diverse learning and engagement work supported by Manchester Museum and our partners. 

The Foyle Education Suite includes: 

Seminar Room 

A small, private learning space for up to 10 people. 

Classroom 

A flexible learning space for a range of activities for everyone. 

Lounge 

A place to meet, chat and relax. 

Greenhouse 

Housing a collection of living plants, the greenhouse provides inspiration and a unique setting for taking care of our natural world.