Ambitious plans have been revealed showing how the Titanic’s birthplace will be transformed into a five-star 90-bedroom hotel.

The former Harland & Wolff Headquarters at Queen’s Island in Belfast — including the Drawing Offices where the blueprints for the legendary liner came into being — are due for a new lease of life as a Titanic-themed boutique hotel, if the Planning Service gives the green light.

Titanic Quarter Ltd, which has driven the redevelopment of the Queen’s Island area, has applied to turn the former headquarters into a five-star 90-bedroom hotel, complete with spa facilities, swimming pool and gymnasium.

Earlier this year the Belfast Telegraph reported on plans lodged in January, which would see the Drawing Offices — which once housed Lord Pirrie, Thomas Andrews and Alexander Carlisle — transformed into function rooms, the toilet wings demolished with the reinstatement of the facade and the addition of pavilions for ancillary uses including a bar.

Under the Titanic Quarter Masterplan, the drawing offices had been earmarked for “offices for Titanic Quarter and a cultural centre” and the only mention of a hotel was at Abercorn Quay.

However, at the time of the January planning application for the restoration of the Drawing Offices, Planning Service noted that there was an indication on the drawings that “a hotel may be submitted in the future”.

The plan is part of the redevelopment of 185 acres of former shipyard land that is now known as The Titanic Quarter.

Developers Titanic Quarter Ltd said it was “one of the largest mixed use developments underway in Europe and additional hotel space is part of that mix”.

A spokesman said: “Given the enormous global interest in the Titanic and the building’s close association with the ship, such a hotel will add to the Northern Ireland tourist experience.

“The plans for the hotel have been devised in consultation with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and will help ensure that the building is appropriately refurbished and restored.”

Hundreds of millions of pounds have been pumped into the Titanic Quarter to create commercial, residential and educational developments, including new sites for the Belfast Metropolitan College and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.

The hotel will be part of the Titanic Signature Project which will include the restoration of the Thompson Dock and the slipways where the Titanic and sister ship Olympic were built. Plans include a £90 million Titanic Signature building which would stand at the head of the Titanic slipway.

The recent Tall Ships Festival attracted 500,000 visitors to Belfast’s waterfront in three days and the Titanic Signature Project is projected by the developers to draw around 400,000 a year.