It was announced in October 2007 that Manchester City Council were taking legal action against the makers of the sculpture , with the aim of completing the necessary repairs to the sculpture . In November 2008 this culminated in an out @-@ of @-@ court settlement being reached between Manchester City Council , the project 's designers Thomas Heatherwick Studio Ltd , and the engineering and construction subcontractors Packman Lucas Ltd , Flint and Neill Partnership and Westbury Structures Ltd . The agreement was to pay the council £ 1.7m in damages for breach of contract and negligence .