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Green light for Belfast's £100m Titanic centre
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Work on a £100 million signature project to commemorate the Titanic is set to get under way next month after Belfast City Council gave the project the green light today.
The backing of councillors means all stakeholders have now rubber-stamped plans for a five-storey tourist attraction on the derelict shipyard where the famous liner was built almost 100 years ago.
The council has pledged £10 million toward the project, with the Northern Ireland Executive, Belfast Harbour Commissioners and a private developer providing the rest of the funding.
With all the partners keen to have the centre opened ahead of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in April 2012, engineers will go on site in the coming weeks to begin preparatory work.
The project will create 600 construction jobs, with the finished centre requiring 250 permanent staff.
Today's decision by the council's Strategic Policy and Resources committee will go before all councillors for ratification at the start of next month.
Above: Artist's impression
Committee chair and Democratic Unionist councillor Diane Dodds said the move confirmed the council's commitment to developing the city for the present and future generations.
"By doing so, we are helping to provide employment for the construction industry, which has been badly affected by the economic downturn," she added.
"The benefits do not stop there, however, as the Titanic Signature Project is expected to attract up to 400,000 visitors to Belfast who will spend an estimated £30 million each year, boosting our local economy.
"It is only fitting and right that the Belfast City Council gets involved in bringing the Titanic story back to its birthplace in time for its centenary anniversary.
"This is Belfast's moment. Our unique history and a future full of promise have come together to create a city bursting with energy and optimism. New things are happening, there is a determination to keep what is good and change the things that could be better. A vibrant mix of old and new is a visual proof of a dynamic city reinventing itself."
The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has claimed the new centre will rival Paris's Eiffel tower and Sydney's Grand Opera House when it comes to internationally recognised iconic structures.
One of the main attractions inside will be a 65-seater "four dimensional" flying theatre that will take passengers on a virtual dive down to the liner's final resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The rest of the centre will be split into themed galleries, each designed to take visitors through a stage in the Titanic story.
Halfway through this, the experience ventures outdoors to a balcony overhanging the dock the liner was launched from in 1911.
An integral part of the project will be a memorial to the 1,500 people who died when the Titanic went down on her maiden voyage.
Away from the tourist attraction, the top level of the building will house a 750-seater banqueting suite, where a number of Titanic-themed evenings will be staged.
While on the bottom floor there will be space reserved for commercial premises, with the hope that restaurants and cafes can sustain a night-time trade in the illuminated centre.
Based on the logo of the vessel's owners - White Star Line - the building will be in the shape of the star, with each point designed to look like the bow of the famous ship.
Councillor Dodds said Belfast was fast becoming a must-see destination for tourists from across the globe.
"This project will give them yet another reason to visit this flourishing city and I am delighted that Belfast City Council is getting involved," she added.
"Our support for this project is in keeping with Belfast City Council's proud past of providing investment that becomes a catalyst for major improvements to the city. Our action today will leave a positive legacy for future generations".
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Pretty exciting stuff and a great presentation. I bet the apartments & offices adjacent to the water will go like hot cross buns.
I agree with an earlier comment that the real draw and tourist wow factor would be a replica Titanic, with visitable major parts. It would be large enough to compete with and be part of the new skyline and to accommodate all the virtual theatre trips mentioned.
That would certainly be a recognisable international Belfast Icon, and no mistake.
Remember that when she was built she was the largest moving manmade object in the World.
It probably wouldn't cost any more to build than the pretty tame looking four-poionted centre proposed.
Posted by Thomas J. Kirby | 29.01.09, 14:58 GMT
To Derek below:
In a statistics world you would be looking at a biased sample. Why would tourists who are on a tour of Belfast, of which the shipyard is an inherent part, not convey disappointment at a lack of content? As to accommodation, have you not noticed that occupancy in Northern Ireland has been in decline this year-see NITB.com (although this has not been updated for quite a while, strangely). We have probably reached our peak, and the Titanic will not draw people to the city (a major sporting/event venue would, hint hint).
Posted by Nate | 19.12.08, 10:32 GMT
If, for whatever reason this website does not post my previous post, for whatever your underlying reason, then proves without doubt that it is totally bias to the English posters on this topic, who have obviously not got a single clue from where she was built then may God forgive you. RMS TITANIC!
Posted by Derek Chambers | 19.12.08, 01:46 GMT
Where do I start? Ok.. Put aside those who have commented on this post who are NOT from Belfast, here are my views from a Belfast taxi driver working for the largest taxi company in our city.
on a daily basis our tourist buses are full, of which attend Titanic Quarter, and of which I have literally lost count of the times where tourists have commented on how disappointed on how little the Titanic was remembered. Coupled with this it is near impossible to find accomadation for tourists, particularly at the weekend, proving that dispite our past troubles tourists are flocking to our city and yes, to see part of our past history which involves building the most famous ship in the world, suck or not RMS TITANIC. can the same be said for the Millennium Dome? I think not!
Posted by Derek Chambers | 19.12.08, 00:49 GMT
Why is the birthplace of the Titanic NOT doing something like this??
www.titanicpigeonforge.com
Una from the Titanic Society?
Posted by mickey | 17.12.08, 16:29 GMT
This "idea" sucks. It needs to be a ship, otherwise what's the attraction? A futuristic building? Wow. Majorly underwhelmed.
Posted by mickey | 17.12.08, 16:20 GMT
people arent thinking clearly if they think that a new building with sharp corners is going to be a draw for tourists. they have been caught up in the same euphoria that had people convinced that it was a good idea to build a national stadium in a field in the middle of the country. this signature project is just another slightly unusual modern building with a few titanic artefacts in it. a poor attempt to cover the fact that the main point of the site is to build and sell apartments and (i think) office buildings. there will be better displays elsewhere, no reason to come to belfast.
what they should have done was to make the most of the construction story that ONLY belfast has claim to. they should have built a full sized model of the ship. just a shell, enough to look real from the outside. inside they could have recreated the ball room, the stair case, the bridge, etc. enough rooms recreated in their finery to make a walking tour a really special experience.
Posted by eranu | 17.12.08, 15:20 GMT
This is a total waste of money, not just for Belfast ratepayers but, as I see the Executive are also stumping up money, for all tax and rate payers in NI. 400,000 people per annum! Get real. It will be another white elephant. More awful decisions by our crowd of bozo politicians. Stop voting for them please.
Clinging to a link with a ship that sank is scraping the barrel, just as NI always clings to other desperate links e.g Football teams performance in World Cup in Spain, The Undertones [who had one well-known single], and all the other non-events that would shame any other city or country in the world.
Posted by Gareth | 17.12.08, 11:18 GMT
Great idea, terrible execution - Belfast needs (and deserves) something a bit more iconic than that. This is a once in a generation oppotunity to create something that will draw tourists for years to come, and recoup its costs many times over, but it'll be spectacularly missed if the design above is used. As a radical idea why not start with the shape of the ship??
Posted by Al | 17.12.08, 10:31 GMT
This is a joke that came out of a Xmas cracker. What looks like an elephant and is painted white? The Titanic Signature Project!
It will rival Paris's Eiffel Tower and Sydney's Grand Opera House, will it? And I'm sure their Navan Centre is comparable to Agra's Taj Mahal and Bilboa's Guggenheim Museum.
The NITB have forecast 400,000 visitors. I see a smaller Millennium Dome on the horizon for the Belfast rate-payer to pick up.
Posted by Nate | 17.12.08, 10:13 GMT
Good grief--that building at the head of the old ways is ghastly!
Good on Belfast and its residents for redeveloping a blighted area. But I hope you don't harbor any illusions that what you're doing here will bolster tourist traffic in any meaningful way. If you want to bring Titanic buffs to Belfast, replacing tangible Titanic-era links to H&W with historically-bankrupt star-shaped abominations of steel and glass--even if they are "designed to look like the bow of the ship"--is not the way to do it.
Posted by James Smith | 17.12.08, 04:15 GMT
The Titanic - unsinkable,this madcap project will also be unsinkable.
400,000 visitors a year I think not.
This type of project is not required, as for a memorial - one exsists in the grounds of the amusement centre that is the City Hall grounds.
Posted by H.McKay | 16.12.08, 21:43 GMT
Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought that Belfast City Council had a massive debt already.
Is this pledge of money, a pledge to further add to the debt of Belfast residents?
Is this all borrowed money?
Posted by G. Graham | 16.12.08, 19:13 GMT