The North’s most troublesome projects

From the Parthenon to the town hall

Whether you’re building a data centre, refurbishing a town hall or improving a railway station, much like Benjamin Franklin’s famous idiom about taxes and death, one thing is certain: the project will likely be delayed and the costs will almost certainly increase, writes Stuart Wilks of Limeslade.

While every project is different, which is what makes our sector so interesting, sometimes it seems every project is beset by problems.

This is not a new thing; the Parthenon in ancient Greece was famously late, and more recently, Sir Christopher Wren had his salary halved for delays to St Paul’s Cathedral. So what are the causes and why do we still see projects delayed and disrupted in 2026?

When things go wrong

In 2024 the specialist contractor, T Clarke was ordered to pay a subbie over £2m for incorrect issuing of notices on a data centre project. Here, it seems that not keeping to the terms and conditions of the contract landed the contractor in hot water and ultimately led to a costly legal battle.

Closer to home, the Building Safety Act has impacted Urban Splash. The pioneering developer, famous for Sheffield’s Park Hill and Manchester’s New Islington is facing a £48m building safety bill from the government. The MHCLG is seeking to cover costs of remediation to a number of projects. The bill arose as a result of the unusual step of the retrospective enactment of legislation impacting any party to a project. This means that parties involved in buildings completed even before the legislation came in, are nevertheless impacted by the BSA. The decision is expected this autumn.

Over in Trafford, Manchester United’s stadium is already delayed and it’s not even off the ground yet. The club encountered a dispute with a local rail landowner who valued their land at £400m, compared to United’s valuation of £40m. The grand plans for a new stadium were stymied by the landowner, forcing a change of tack by the club. With disruption and change come cost increases and delay, and of course the lost opportunities of increased revenue, concerts, events, ticket sales and the like. All of which are vital to modern premiership grounds.

Then there’s the monolithic Manchester Town Hall. Planning for the project started in 2014, and the cost almost inevitably escalated from £330m to £525m. The project spanned Covid, Brexit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, heritage issues, and a host of unexpected challenges on the project itself. It’s possibly more remarkable that the cost hasn’t escalated more than it has.

Visitors to Leeds Railway Station will know that the entrance seems to have been in bits for what feels like at least the last 500 years! This month the £46.1m project (originally budgeted at £35m) announced that works have been delayed yet another month by what are described as “complex engineering challenges”. Of course, running under the station is the River Aire, which has created some unexpected surprises for the project team.

And up in the North East, as well as the Newcastle stadium project, the West Denton leisure centre project has finally seen work start, six years later than planned. Once again, costs are escalating – so far from £22m to £40m. Issues here have included the added costs of tackling old mine works, changes to scope which led to delays in getting planning approval, and the replacement of the main contractor.

A solution to the problem

So, what can be done to improve this track record, and avoid the costly legal bills that inevitably result? The Chartered Institute of Building and Limeslade will present a half-day event in Manchester on 4 November to address exactly that. The team of around 20 speakers and panellists will be looking at the opportunities and the challenges that face the sector in the coming years.

From a discussion with Pete Swift of Planit landscape architects to a talk on procurement, with panel discussions on building safety, planning and dispute resolution – the day is set to provide attendees with the very latest information needed to win and deliver successful projects across the region.

Find out more, and sign up at www.limeslade.com/masterclass.

• Stuart Wilks is a director at Limeslade