Titanic £97m plan on course for 2012 finish
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
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The £97m Titanic Signature Project is "on course" to be ready for the centenary of the doomed liner after the Executive finalised its financial commitment, according to the government department leading the project.
A spokesman for the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) said the Executive agreed to go ahead with its £43.5m contribution after legal issues were resolved.
All the funders of the project were embroiled in the fine detail of a legal agreement on the funding, development and operation of the project.
Titanic Quarter Limited, owned by Dublin-based Harcourt Developments, has already started work at the site.
The DETI spokeswoman said, "At its meeting on October 1, the Executive agreed to proceed with its commitment to part-fund the Titanic Signature Project.
"This follows the conclusion of discussions with funding partners regarding final elements within the legal agreement.
"Titanic Quarter Limited, the private sector partner in the project, as a signal of its commitment, had at its own risk and pending final Executive approval authorised work to begin on-site some time ago.
"This has ensured that the building remains on course for completion by April 2012."
The remaining funding is coming from Belfast Harbour Commissioners and Titanic Quarter Limited, to the tune of £43.5m, and Belfast City Council, set to ratify the release of £10m at a meeting this month.
Above: Artist's impression
Titanic Quarter Limited refused to comment officially but a source said: "I don't think the Executive would have signed it off if it wasn't confident we could fulfil our end of the bargain."
With council ratification in place, the funding partners are expected to put their signatures to the legal agreement. The project includes a signature Titanic building project with flying theatre, a "dramatic and interactive" Titanic exhibition and a luxury hotel at Harland and Wolff. The signature project - one of five planned by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board - would provide a major boost for the local construction industry and is expected to attract 400,000 tourists every year. Kathryn Thomson, the board's chief operating officer said she was confident tourism would remain a priority for the Executive.
She said: "The last Programme for Government (PFT) was fantastic for us as it put the economy at the heart of government and tourism at the heart of the economy."
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To think that we could have had this in the States.
Hope everything goes as planned and good luck to the museum.
Posted by Richard Goodman | 30.11.09, 03:04 GMT
Disney sure do we not all live in Disney world is it not amazing that the little Nomadic is a direct link to the Titanic and how many investors have pumped millions into that
tourism why not link L/Derry to Belfast with a complete refit off Nomadic up to a standard that would allow her to operate costal tours
So many signature projects have failed before perhaps a government investigation inot these such as the investigation into invest ni
Posted by kevin | 05.11.09, 19:25 GMT
I'm with Mike and BenjiBear on this one, some of the things that help attract people to Belfast and also enhance the lives of the people of Belfast are the Waterfront Hall, City Hall, Ulster Hall, Ulster Museum, W5 etc, all public funded, but just the same as any other european city; I can't imagine Belfast without these public spaces and the new Titanic exhibition would be another great attraction.
I've been out and about with the kids a lot over the past few weeks in W5, City Hall and Ulster Hall, and the amount of southern Irish accents surprised me, but I bet visiting such attractions made their visit to Belfast a pleasure.
What is going inside the Titanic building, I don't know, but it's being built and already the Titanic Quarter looks so much better than only a few years ago.
So well done Belfast, keep growing and keep proving your doubters wrong, if they'd lived in London in the late 80's they'd probably have thought the London docklands was a bad idea.
Posted by Steven73 | 05.11.09, 16:29 GMT
Mike, BanjiBear,
I don't mean to be-little you but....
The Titanic Quarter is already a design failure. (I am an expert in the field).
I advise anyone to investigate other waterfront re-development schemes in Malmo 'Vastra Hamnen'; Copenhagen 'Slusehomen'; Amsterdam 'Borneo Sporenburg'; Stockholm 'Hammerby Horstad' just as a starting point to give you a feel for what other cities in Europe are doing.
I have visited all of these developments (on my own dime - I really am interested) and I would equally live in any of them.
In comparison when I look at the un-inspired, spreadsheet designed Titanic Quarter with one over-arching vision, to enrich investors as quickly as possible I really do despar for this place.
Posted by MS | 04.11.09, 20:13 GMT
'NI negativity'? Nothing wrong with suggesting what's needed to make the place work.
Posted by Harry Parr | 04.11.09, 19:46 GMT
hello, hamlet again. sorry to be negetive again but ulster museum is not self sufficient, oddessy is not self sufficient, waterfront hall is not self sufficient (read bcc annual report 2006-2008) dont forget the ulster hall, belfast city hall and clara house etc and why are lots of units now empty in victoria sq. i'm not being sour! everything happening in N.I. is government backed. god bless GB tax payers who fund our existance and N.I. rate payers. this place would be a back water without them. i would like to see 10s of millions pumped into the shankill, falls, n/ards, oldpark, springfield, andytown roads etc and let the working class people benefit from these massive funds. then we can squander the rest on what ever we want.
Posted by hamlet | 04.11.09, 17:08 GMT
Mike - I'm with you 100% the exact same garbage was trotted out by the naysayers about the Ulster Museum, Victoria Square, the Odyssey and the Waterfront.
All of which are success stories.
One can only assume these people spend their evenings and weekends alone in their living rooms feeling constantly outraged.
I am 100% in favour of us building a really good Titanic museum, I'm just not convinced that this will be it.
Nobody knows anything about what is going inside this building....
Posted by BenjiBear | 04.11.09, 13:58 GMT
Typical NI negativity to anything new or different. Why do we always have to be so negative about everything? Any other place would be delighted that an eyesore wasteland within the city is being converted into a new use. No wonder the place is so stuck in the past.
Posted by Mike | 04.11.09, 12:42 GMT
Fair play to the builders and investors prepared to take a risk, and to the innovators willing to experiment with modern design.
The whingers opposed the Waterfront Hall back in the 90s and bleated on about it being a "white elephant". The Waterfront and its locale have now proved to be a triumph. Where are the whingers now?
Posted by Watcher | 04.11.09, 12:08 GMT
Hamlet - our tax isn't going to go up on account of this. I'd rather my tax money was frittered away on this rather than on some victim's group or something anyway.
Posted by BenjiBear | 04.11.09, 09:40 GMT
TQ buildings and plans all look sterile - won't attract a sinner. The area is in dire need of proper theming. Serious need for experts like Disney corporation to step in and save the day. The Signature building is relying on avant-garde architecture to attract the public who hate this sort of thing. What's going on?
Posted by Harry Parr | 03.11.09, 19:33 GMT
this is another white elephant. just like the titanic its self. the taxpayers of norniron are going to get hit hard on this one. if the government didnt foolishly plough our hard earned dough into this farce, it would never happen and if anyone disagrees, why did they have to get government backing for this major development if it is going to be the massive success they claim it will be? simple answer, it cannot stand on its own and will founder, just like the titanic. and, with hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space lying empty in belfast alone, where are the tenants for these big buildings coming from? oh silly me, various government departments that will soon move from their suitable and adequate buildings into a nice new one in titanic quarter.
what a farce!
Posted by hamlet | 03.11.09, 17:22 GMT
The Titanic icon is missing! The so called Titanic building looks more like an iceberg! I believe it is suppose to represent the bows of ships.
Pity the architects didn't listen to shipbuilders!
Posted by Jim | 03.11.09, 15:14 GMT
It would be nice if someone could clarify what exactly is going to be in this building. Does anyone know?
Posted by BenjiBear | 03.11.09, 15:13 GMT
So the project is now to include a luxury hotel according to the article above. Could they not convince a private investor to come in (that's right, no investor in their right mind would invest after checking out the figures)? Are we to assume that all profits will be used to service the tax-payers' expenditure? Are there claw-back measures should the hotel be subsequently sold for profit (or are we to repeat the CastleCourt debacle)?
Kathryn Thomson-"The last Programme for Government (PFT) was fantastic for us"-too right it was, it enabled you to employ even more managers for your talking shop whilst your tourist numbers fell.
Posted by Bemused | 03.11.09, 10:42 GMT
Was good to see the video presentation.
Posted by Spanks | 03.11.09, 08:18 GMT