Brexit, Covid, falcons and a spiralling debt

Paul Britton reports on budget-busting key projects in the city centre

- Paul Britton

THE soaring, multi-million pound budgets of two key projects in Manchester city centre have laid bare the economic and specialist trade pressures being faced by organisations both private and public across the country.

At the curtain-clad Manchester town hall – a restoration project dubbed the largest ongoing heritage scheme in the UK – the overall impact of inflation to the works has been called ‘significant’ by the council. Exact figures, however, show that description to be somewhat generous.

When the project first started, an allowance for inflation was budgeted at £15m. But since then, reveals a newly-published council report, material prices are said to have skyrocketed by some 44 per cent.

It has led to a quantity surveyor assessing the impact of inflation on the project from its conception to July 2025 will be in the region of £36m, more than double the figure first quoted.

The M.E.N. has reported on pleas for more cash for both the town hall and Aviva Studios, the flagship and critically-acclaimed arts and culture centre at the old Granada Studios site, home of Factory International.

A delve into the reasons behind the budget busts reveals the headaches faced by the design teams – and the state of the economy.