Unusual obstacles add to expected pressures from covid, cost of living and inflation
Much like when you decided to do up your kitchen, unexpected costs and challenges have arisen with the refurb and restoration of Manchester Town Hall.
The undoubtedly magnificent municipal building in Albert Square is accruing extra costs and encountering new challenges, leading Manchester City Council to declare that the initial £328m budget is going to need an extra cash injection to the tune of £29m.
Nobody is pretending this has been easy but the end result will be something truly special, a source of pride and a remarkable asset for Manchester
It has also announced that ‘uncontrollable elements’ will mean a two-year delay is likely, pushing the completion of the project back from the initial date of July 2024 to something closer to summer 2026.
While many of these ‘elements’ are simply the slings and arrows of a heritage project of this size - the largest on a Grade I listed building outside of the Palace of Westminster - some have proven more unforeseen and certainly more unusual.
Covid-19, the cost of living crisis and high and rising inflation have touched most aspects of life in the last three years, but at least there’s one impediment we haven’t had to deal with - nesting falcons.
The Our Town Hall progress report, to be presented to The Executive (queue Imperial March) on July 26 ahead of the expected approval of the added £29m, explained the following:
“In October 2022, it was noted that whilst still reporting to budget and programme, the OTH project had faced an extremely challenging 18-month period with intense pressures on cost and programme.
“These challenges included significant disruptions from ‘uncontrollable’ elements such as nesting falcons, Covid-19, extraordinary levels of inflation and unprecedented pressure on the supply chain (labour and materials availability).
“When added to the project-specific challenges of design complexity, market appetite and discovery, these contributed to a situation in which there had not been a single month since Notice to Proceed (NTP) in which the project had been in ‘steady state.’
“In a stable economic environment it is highly likely that the project could have been delivered within budget. However, the project will be delayed due to the combination of the external factors and the extent of discovery uncovered.
“The biggest risk to the budget is now the cost of delay. For every month of delay, the project incurs additional costs of circa £1m to £1.5m, depending on the point in the programme at which the delay occurs.”
So it seems the town hall ‘is moving its slow thighs, while all about it / reel shadows of the indignant desert birds’.
But optimism still abounds at Manchester City Council, with Deputy Council Leader Cllr Luthfur Rahman full of passionate intensity.
“This is the biggest heritage project currently being undertaken in the UK,” he said. “It is benefitting Manchester people now, through job creation and spending with city businesses and it will continue to benefit them for generations to come by safeguarding and improving access to this wonderful building and its artefacts, as well as delivering a transformed and enlarged Albert Square as a world class events space.
“There has been considerable national interest in what we are achieving here, including from the team working on the similarly challenging restoration of the Houses of Parliament.
“The length and complexity of the project is such that it has been buffeted by some unprecedented challenges, the cost impacts of which are magnified because of the sheer scale involved. Nobody is pretending this has been easy but the end result will be something truly special, a source of pride and a remarkable asset for Manchester.”
The additional £29m is expected to carry the project through until December 2023, when its position will be then be reviewed.
So let’s hope we can look forward to a summer 2026 opening, and not twenty centuries of stony sleep.
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