Urbis was funded by the Millennium Commission, European Regional Development Fund, DTLR and Manchester City Council, to the tune of £42m. The master plan for Manchester, developed after the centre was destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1996, suggested using the site for a cultural attraction. The concept of a museum about contemporary urban culture was suggested by Dr Justin O'Connor, director of the Manchester Institute of Popular Culture, who then led the research, development and design project .

Sysco specified and installed Urbis's a-v and control system. The whole building features over 25 projectors, 30 computers and various displays from 12in, 15in and 18in TFT screens to 42in plasma. Each of the four exhibition floors has its own control room.

Video exhibits are fed by over 25 Alcorn McBride Digital Video Machines, and audio comes from the majority of these. Five Alcorn Mc Bride V16+ show controllers were used throughout to control the majority of the exhibits.