Titanic to rise again in Belfast

2005-08-16 10:47

Belfast - The Titanic is set to return to the Belfast dock from where it was born, a century after the famous ocean liner sank to its watery grave.

The ship of legend is to return in 2012 in the guise of a giant light-sculpture, the centrepiece of an exhibition commemorating the tragic mammoth ship and Belfast's shipbuilding past.

The Titanic, then the largest passenger steamship ever built, hit an iceberg and capsized during its trans-Atlantic maiden voyage in April 1912, claiming 1 503 lives.

On September 1, Belfast city council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board should give the go-ahead to start work on an unprecedented regeneration of the city's waterfront.

Very costly project

The project is to be funded by a £100m mix of public and private investment, according to local councillors.

When the Titanic breached the waters of Protestant east Belfast for the first time in 1911, the Harland and Wolff shipyard employed some 30 000 workers.

But the dockyard launched its 2 000th and final vessel in March 2003 before closing the gates on a shipbuilding past both glorious and controversial in equal measure.

The two giant yellow gantries, named Samson and Goliath, will continue to spread their arms over a dockyard where industry has given way to science, technology and the service sector.

And by their side will soon stand a composite replica of the Titanic.

Belfast's Titanic Quarter promises to be a vast mixed-use complex covering 75ha and stretching 1 600m along the waterfront.

The regeneration, "comparable to Canary Wharf in London or the Albert Dock in Liverpool will comprise 50% office use, 25% residential and 25% commercial or leisure," explained Mike Smith, the director of Titanic Quarter Limited.

Cementing Titanic's history

A conference hall with an exhibition centre is planned for the heart of Titanic Quarter, and a themed restaurant and galleries will surround the foot of the replica ocean liner.

The Harland and Wolff headquarters are to be restored and opened to the public.

The offices where Titanic's blueprints were drawn up, which remain intact, are to become a museum where the naval archives will be kept.

The dry docks and the ocean liner slipway are also to be preserved.

"The council's goal of marking the Titanic's birthplace in the ship's home city is now one step closer," said Diane Dodds, chair of the Belfast city council tourism Sub-committee.

"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 commemorating the tragedy and educating the world about our city's role in the Titanic story."

If the city council gives the project the green light, the Titanic Quarter should open in 2012, in time for the anniversary of the sinking of one of the world's most famous ships.

- AFP