The Lowry has warned of a “a major challenge” in the coming months over fears its energy costs could triple this winter.
The CEO of the Salford Quays-based theatre, gallery, and arts entertainment complex said it was facing a bill “substantially” higher than the £860,000 annual grant it receives from Arts Council England, which looks to pose a “a major challenge” for the charitable organisation.
It’s even believed energy costs could total £1 million throughout the winter months.
“Compared to the previous year we’re projecting that the Lowry’s electricity bill for the year 2022-23 will have increased threefold,” CEO Julia Fawcett told The Guardian.
“To give an idea of the scale of this increase, this amount is substantially more than the figure the Lowry receives annually from Arts Council England’s National Portfolio funding programme.”
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Ms Fawcett said she could not reveal the exact projected electricity costs for the complex as they are “actively working to renegotiate contracts and suppliers”, and this unfortunately means they are unable to publicly reveal the exact figure as it is “commercially sensitive”.
The Lowry theatre fears its energy costs could triple to £1 million this winter / Credit: The Lowry
While The Lowry – which opened in October 2020, and welcomes around 850,000 visitors through its doors each year – is known for being a modern steel and glass-clad building in comparison with many of its older theatre counterparts across Greater Manchester, it is still expensive to run – with with annual building-related costs alone being £1.9 million, according to Ms Fawcett.
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The Lowry receives 6.3% total funding from the Arts Council England, Salford City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
The venue is also known to be heavily-supported by public funding.
Ms Fawcett said the “anchor institution” that is The Lowry is one of the most-visited cultural destinations in the north west, and has a business model that is “flexible and built for resilience”, which allows it to “pivot when needed and in the face of external changes”.
Featured Image – The Lowry
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Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
“A full flight schedule is expected to operate [today] but the airport may be busier due to rescheduled flights,” it added.
Passengers were then thanked for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the past 24 hours.
Featured Image – Ivan Shimko (via Unsplash)
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Hundreds of staff at four Greater Manchester hospitals to strike AGAIN next week
Emily Sergeant
Another round of strikes has been called at a handful of major Greater Manchester hospitals.
Amid ongoing disputes following the first set of strikes at the end of last month, it has now been announced that more than 350 Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) employees – including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers – who are members of the union UNISON will once again walk out for three days next week.
According to the union, the dispute centres on the NCA’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime.
When covering staff shortages, workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay – however in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, and some have even been missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union added.
Operating theatre staff were previously on picket lines in June, and although an option to resolve the row was initially tabled by NCA bosses, this has now fallen through.
Hundreds of staff at four of Greater Manchester’s hospitals are set to strike next week / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
This means that staff at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury are walking out next week on Monday 14, Tuesday 15, and Thursday 17 September.
The union’s North West regional organiser, Kevin Dolan, said the trust had given ‘no indication’ that it’s willing to re-enter negotiations, adding that operating theatre services were ‘chronically under-staffed’ and staff were choosing to work extra shifts to cover shortages.
Ahead of the August strikes, the trust declared a critical incident to help it secure extra support and keep urgent surgery running, while also announcing that some procedures would have to be postponed.
Understandably, some disruption is expected at each of the hospitals on strike days.
But Gertie Nic Philib, who is the chief people and strategy officer at the Northern Care Alliance, said that the trust will do ‘everything we can to minimise the impact on patients’ and ‘maintain high standards of care and quality at all times.’
“We also have contingency plans in place for emergency situations,” they concluded.
Emily Sergeant -
19th August 2022 
