AN urgent review has been ordered into the multi-million-pound revamp of the Usher Hall, after it emerged the project was running way over budget.

The second phase of the refurbishment is already predicted to have overrun by £165,000, despite only getting under way five months ago.

The council pegged a new budget for the refurbishment at £19 million last October, after admitting costs had soared by £6.5m in three-and-a-half years.

The cost of the project, which has already been put back by a year, was originally put at no more than £9m five years ago.

Council officials have admitted they are "concerned" over the levels of expenditure mounting up on the project.

The complexity of work required on the building, soaring inflation in the construction market and delays to work starting were all blamed.

The revamp, due for completion in early 2009, will see a glass-covered extension of the venue and a range of improvements in the current building.

A spokeswoman for the council said contractors had been asked to carry out a cost-saving exercise.

City culture leader Councillor Deidre Brock said: "It is not unusual for the budgets of projects such as this one to fluctuate.

"In this case, the contractors discovered that the rock below the Usher Hall was lower than anticipated, which will affect the depth of the foundations.

"However, the contractors have been asked to investigate ways of balancing this predicted overspend against the overall budget."

Iain Whyte, Tory group leader on the city council, said: "There is no doubt this is a worry at this stage in the project."

The venue was recently closed for 11 months to curb any further rises in the bill, but the works are already more than a month behind schedule.

The major overhaul had to be ordered after a chunk of plaster fell from the roof hours after a Tony Bennett concert in April 1996.

The venue was closed at the end of 1997 to make way for a £10m overhaul of the main auditorium. By the end of 2000, planning was under way on the second phase of renovations.

The project will also see the creation of corporate boxes, a bar, offices, new dressing rooms and other facilities.

The Usher Hall is due to reopen in time for next year's festival season, but will close again for several months for the finishing touches to be made to the refurbishment.