Back in the city centre, the biggest single improvement urbanistically is the Millennium Quarter up by the cathedral. Previously this was a run-down edge zone filled with 1970s tat. Now they have got rid of a fair bit of that tat - though not, unfortunately, the vast Arndale Centre, which is only due for a facelift. A new pedestrian street has been cut through to make a route from the centre to the cathedral, squares and gardens have been laid out. And north of the cathedral you find Urbis.

Designed by Manchester architect Ian Simpson, Urbis is a strange thing. It is enigmatic, a smooth-skinned glass-clad monolith. I said it was an iceberg, but from some angles it is more like the conning-tower of a submarine. Essentially it is that old idea - an observation tower with a restaurant on top - only taking the form of a big sloping building with a sort of museum in it. A “museum of the modern city”. It’s big, and the exhibition promises to be ever so international and interactive, but I’m little the wiser. For most people, the ride up the funicular lift inside to the top will be the main event. If the place is a success, there will be long queues. It also looks a little fragile around its glass base, given today’s vandal culture. Still, we’ll see. What it contains is arguably secondary to its function as an urban marker, a symbol of revival. In which case, it’s a shame that it looks slightly sinister and menacing.