Titanic Quarter, Belfast
The Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland is a blue-chip technology district, including apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and a major Titanic-themed attraction under development on reclaimed land in Belfast Harbour, known until recently as Queen's Island. The 185-acre (0.75 km2) site, previously occupied by Harland and Wolff shipyards is named after the company's most famous product RMS Titanic.
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History
The area first came to public attention as 'Titanic Park' in 1995 when it was officially launched by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the Washington Peace Conference. Plans accelerated in September 2002 when the former head of public-private investment company Laganside Corporation, Mike Smith, was appointed as Chief Executive of the renamed "Titanic Quarter".
Titanic Quarter was largely a brownfield site, notable only for the presence of the abandoned headquarters of Harland & Wolff (now relocated). Since 2005 it has also been the home of the Northern Ireland Science Park, a hi-tech science park affiliated closely with Queen's University Belfast and University of Ulster.[1]
In July 2006, work began on phase one of the development. On 31 October 2006, BBC News reported that Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education plans to build a new £44 million campus in Titanic Quarter, moving from its Belfast city centre sites on Brunswick Street and College Square East.
In October 2007 the second phase of the development was given planning permission, which includes the development of over 2,000 homes. The application was the largest ever submitted to the Department of the Environment's Planning Service.[2] The Odyssey Complex is adjacent to Titanic Quarter.
Titanic Quarter may eventually develop into a hi-technology orientated village, a new-model futuristic sector, in the mould of Paris's La Défense.[3] In the past, entrepreneurship in specialist technology sectors has been evident in Northern Ireland, in such areas as shipbuilding and aerospace. Harland and Wolff and Shorts Bombardier, the province's two key players in the above industries, have downsized substantially, at the loss of a great number of jobs.
