Manchester Town Hall: Further £17m may be needed for project

Issues sourcing the required type of sandstone have caused delays

A project to restore Manchester Town Hall could need further funding due to rising costs and soaring inflation, a council report has revealed.

The £325m project to restore the Grade I listed Victorian building may require an extra £17m and could be delayed by several months.

A rise in the cost of materials and issues sourcing stone have been blamed.

Labour councillor Rabnawaz Akbar said it was important to be "clear-sighted" on budget pressures.

Work on the neo-gothic building in Albert Square, which was first built in 1868, started in July 2020 after being delayed by three months due to Covid.

A number of set backs including a rise in the cost of materials in the construction industry by more than 44% in the last two years, labour shortages, and backlog in the fire safety certification process have also impacted the project, the Local Democracry Reporting Service said.

Manchester Town Hall, which closed in 2018, was expected to reopen in June 2024

Existing stonework was also found to be in a worse condition than expected and twice as much stone is now required to restore or replace the 14 million bricks of Spinkwell sandstone.

Strict conservation rules mean a specific type of stone must be used, but the Cumbrian quarry which has supplied the materials so far has now run dry, the report said.

The council, who is funding the project, is now in talks about reopening a quarry in Bradford to supply the rest of the stone required, but this would take 15 weeks to extract.

A specific type of sandstone must be used during the restoration

Mr Akbar, executive member for finance at Manchester City Council, said the project team had kept a tight grip on everything.

"But in a period of exceptionally high inflation and considerable market volatility, it's important that we're clear-sighted on the budget pressures and the work which is being done to minimise them," he added.

Deputy council leader Luthfur Rahman said it was the "biggest heritage project currently under way in the UK" and would "provide a remarkable legacy for Manchester".

The report will be presented to the council's scrutiny committee meeting next week.

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