Manchester Town Hall gets extra £95m for revamp

Councillors have signed off a further £95m in spending for the refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall.

The revamp of the Grade-I listed Victorian building, which closed for refurbishment in 2018, will now cost nearly £525m and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2027.

Manchester City Council's executive committee approved the decision at a meeting, despite criticism from opposition councillors.

The town hall closed for refurbishment in 2018, and the original cost was projected at £330m with a planned reopening in 2024.

Garry Bridges, the council's deputy leader, previously said the authority was "frustrated" at the latest delay and spiralling bill, but believed no further money would be needed.

"If we had not acted decisively to invest in the future of this Victorian masterpiece - many parts of which were reaching the end of their natural lifespans - we would have seen it become unusable and obsolete," he said.

This latest increase in funding comes after councillors were asked to commit a further £76m to the project last year.

Opposition councillors branded it a "disaster of project management".

Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester Withington, John Leech, said; "It's an absolute scandal.

"We were originally quoted £330m and it's now gone up to way over £500m, with incremental increases time and time again."

He added: "I'm still not confident that this will be the last time they come back for extra money and people in Manchester quite understandably are angry that it's now costing so much."

While construction costs generally have increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, in the past year a number of contractors have gone bust, causing knock-on delays as parts of the work were not finished as scheduled.

Project bosses have denied suggestions that construction firms were taking the council for a ride, insisting every taxpayer-funded penny spent was being scrutinised.

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