Kevin FitzpatrickNorth West
Councillors are expected to sign off an extra £95m needed to complete the refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall when they meet later.
The revamp of the Grade-I listed Victorian building will now cost nearly £525m and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2027.
Manchester City Council’s executive committee is set to agree the latest increase in funding for the structure, which closed for refurbishment in 2018.
Opposition councillors have branded it a “disaster of project management”.
Garry Bridges, the council’s deputy leader, said the authority was “frustrated” at the latest delay and spiralling bill, but he 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.
‘Absolute scandal’
This latest request for more funding comes after councillors were asked to commit a further £76m to the project last year.
Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition Councillor 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.”
The town hall closed for refurbishment in 2018, and the original cost was projected at £330m with a planned reopening in 2024.
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.
The city council’s executive committee is due to meet at 14:00 GMT when it is expected to confirm the extra funding.
