Titanic attraction looms large on Belfast horizon

The first steps have been taken towards the development of a £100 million visitor attraction to bring the story of Titanic ‘home’ to Belfast.

Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board this week have been given first sight of a vision for the Titanic Signature Project – an iconic, world-class attraction bringing together all the key historic sites associated with Titanic.

The concept put forward includes a centrepiece building – three times the size of the City Hall – based on the slipway where Titanic and her sister ships were built.

The adjacent Harland and Wolff Drawing Offices, the Hamilton and Alexander Dry Docks also are included, while the Thompson Dry Dock would be brought back to life with the creation of a ‘Ghost Ship’ – a unique light-sculpture of the ship that would be visible across the Belfast harbour skyline. A large-scale industrial sculpture park would sit alongside a hotel, conference and convention centre.

The detailed concept, and accompanying economic feasibility study, were presented in a report to Belfast City Council’s Tourism Sub-Committee Committee on Wednesday and will be presented to the full Council on September 1.

Commenting on the overall concept, Councillor Diane Dodds: “The Council’s goal of marking Titanic’s birthplace in the ship’s home city is now one step closer.

“Finally and rightfully the city that gave birth to the ship has begun to acknowledge its part in the tale: this concept would celebrate the achievement that was Titanic, while also commemorating the tragedy and educating the world about our city’s role in the Titanic story.”

Alan Clarke, NITB Chief Executive added: “Over the past nine months, a widespread consultation process has garnered support from all quarters and has shown that an attraction based on the theme of Titanic holds great economic, cultural and regeneration opportunities for all of Northern Ireland.

“The concept captures the imagination of people throughout Northern Ireland and interest within the international marketplace.”

Today’s announcement follows nine months of work by Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) who committed £70,000 to a widespread consultation exercise on the Titanic Signature Project last November.

It brought together an international team of specialists – led by international tourism strategy consultants, CHL – to assess the feasibility of a world-class visitor attraction based on both Titanic and Belfast’s industrial heritage.

(MB/SP)