Ah the usual Daily Fail spoutings without a shred of understanding. It's restoring and refurbishing two beautiful listed buildings, creating more space so that the Council can offload other buildings. It's upgrading the internal structures so they are fit for purpose, and it's providing more services for those of us who live in Manchester. Would you rather the council kept paying millions a year in rent for buildings, and constant repair work. Most of the money is being spent on the library which needed massive repair work. Oh and the money for the project was spent in 2008; before the economy went south. Try a little research - it might help you understand the bigger picture. Or we could just let the buildings go to rack and ruin like Salford and Oldham did - and then spend £15 million a year housing council staff in other office accommodation... yeah that makes sense doesn't it.