The Centre for Ageing Better is a What Works Centre [1], part of the What Works Network – an initiative that ‘aims to improve the way government and other organisations create, share and use high quality evidence for decision-making’ [2]. In 2015 the Centre received a £50 million, 10-year endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. Among the community-based activities the Centre is undertaking is synthesising evidence about cost-effective home design and adaptation and working with new housing developments to evaluate efforts to build more age-friendly communities [3]. The Centre is also looking to work with a small number of localities over the next 5–10 years to deliver an evidence-led, place-based approach to ageing [4].