 The building is central to the city's Millennium Quarter |
The director of a �30 million museum in Manchester is to step down, just eight months after the attraction opened. Elizabeth Usher, the director of Urbis, is to leave her job as the firm behind the venture makes plans to increase visitor numbers.
The distinctive glass building was unveiled in June 2002 as the last part of the city's regeneration, following the 1996 IRA bombing.
Urbis, in the city's Millennium Quarter, was six years in the planning.
Four levels of exhibits are accessed via a glass elevator and allow visitors to "travel" to different cities across the world.
Bosses at the museum are planning an overhaul to increase numbers.
Recruitment plans
About 62,000 people visited in the first three months of opening, but the middle of February 2003, the total number of paying customers had only risen to 137,105.
In a statement on Monday, the museum's parent company Hallogen thanked Ms Usher for the "significant contributions" she had made to the museum.
It added: "With a successful launch behind us, we are now looking to press ahead with the wider development of Urbis.
"Elizabeth has decided that this is not a role she seeks to fulfil.
"We have therefore mutually agreed that Elizabeth will leave the organisation and we wish her well in her future career."
Attempts are now being made to recruit both a general manager and a creative director to replace Ms Usher.
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