Emirates Spinnaker Tower mid-2005. Because of the six-year delay in opening and not having been ready for the Millennium as planned, the tower was renamed as Spinnaker Tower. The overall development project was over budget, with the tower costing £35.6 million alone. Taxpayers were never intended to fund the tower, but Portsmouth City Council eventually contributed £11.1 million towards construction. In March 2004, Portsmouth Council's former leader Cllr Leo Madden resigned as leader of the Labour Group on the council after a highly critical report of the council's handling of the project and its failure to exploit revenue opportunities, such as the Millennium.
Emirates Spinnaker Tower Barry Smith, the project's legal advisor, also retired after being suspended on full pay, mostly because of controversy over the contract with the builders, which at one point would have cost the council more to cancel than to complete. The tower has suffered from a number of issues since opening, including a malfunctioning external glass lift. During the final construction phase a protester from the rights group Fathers 4 Justice scaled the tower wearing a high-visibility jacket and unfurling a banner in the process. Another incident happened a year later when a base jumper managed to get past site security