Titanic Quarter in
Belfast,
Northern Ireland, is a large-scale waterfront regeneration, comprising historic maritime landmarks, film studios, education facilities, apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and the world's largest Titanic-themed attraction centred on land in
Belfast Harbour, known until 1995 as Queen's Island. The site, previously occupied by part of the
Harland and Wolff shipyard, is named after the company's, and the city's, most famous product,
RMS ''Titanic''. Titanic Quarter is part of the Dublin-based group, Harcourt Developments, which has held the development rights since 2003.
Completed projects
The largest development is the £97 million
''Titanic'' Belfast visitor attraction which holds the record for the island's largest ever single concrete pour (4,300 cubic metres) for its foundations. The building opened on 31 March 2012 and attracted over 800,000 visitors in its first year. The attraction is owned by a charitable foundation. The architects said that "we have created an architectural icon that captures the spirit of the shipyards, ships, water crystals, ice, and the
White Star Line's logo. Its architectural form cuts a skyline silhouette that has been inspired by the very ships that were built on this hallowed ground."
In 2005 the
Catalyst Inc
Catalyst, formerly known as the Northern Ireland Science Park, was established in March 1999 to create a self-sustaining, internationally recognised, knowledge-based science park in Northern Ireland offering a commercial and research driven centr ...
opened. It is a hi-tech science park affiliated closely with
Queen's University Belfast
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and
University of Ulster and Titanic Studios (aka the
Paint Hall Studios, a film studio originally created by film producer
Jo Gilbert) and used during the production of films including
Tom Hanks's ''
City of Ember'' starring
Bill Murray, ''
Your Highness'' and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's television series ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
''.
The new £30 million headquarters of the
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland opened at 2 Titanic Boulevard in April 2011. PRONI is the national archive for Northern Ireland and holds records dating from 1219.
In September 2011, the largest education facility in Northern Ireland –
Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education (now
Belfast Metropolitan College) relocated to a new £44 million campus in Titanic Quarter.
Belfast Harbour Marina opened in the centre of Titanic Quarter in 2009 as part of the
Belfast Tall Ships Festival. Located in the Abercorn Basin, it features 40 berths for leisure craft, it was funded by the
Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Belfast Tall Ships 2009 Ltd. It is the forerunner to a future 200 berth marina in the Titanic Quarter.
In November 2010 the first hotel, a
Premier Inn with onsite restaurant, opened in Titanic Quarter. Over 40 new jobs were created.
In September 2017 a second hotel,
Titanic Hotel Belfast, opened in the former Harland & Wolff Headquarters and Drawing Offices, billed as the "world's most authentic Titanic hotel".
Belfast
Audi, operated by the Agnew Group, opened its new headquarters in November 2010. Located at 80 Sydenham Road, it created 115 new jobs.
The first residential development in Titanic Quarter was completed in December 2010.
The Arc comprises apartments and shops, and is located adjacent to Abercorn Basin.
Belfast
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
, operated by the Agnew Group, opened its new showroom beside Belfast Audi in December 2017. This replaced the existing showroom on Boucher Cresecent.
Sport
In September 2014,
Northern Irish boxer
Carl Frampton won the
IBF world super-bantamweight title in a specially constructed outdoor arena in the Titanic Quarter in front of 16,000 fans, Northern Ireland's largest ever boxing crowd.
Transport
The Titanic Quarter is served by Translink Metro Services 94, 600A and 600B bus services, which run from Donegall Square North (Across from City Hall) to
Holywood Exchange, Catalyst Inc, and Belfast City Airport, via The SSE Arena, Queens Road, Titanic Belfast and Belfast Harbour Estate East.
The area is also served by
NI Railways services to
Titanic Quarter (Bridge End) station, which is the first station heading towards
Bangor on the
Belfast–Bangor line from
Lanyon Place.
The G2 service, operated by the
Belfast Rapid Transit System (Glider) also terminates at Titanic Quarter.
See also
*
Belfast Quarters
*
*
*
Catalyst Inc
Catalyst, formerly known as the Northern Ireland Science Park, was established in March 1999 to create a self-sustaining, internationally recognised, knowledge-based science park in Northern Ireland offering a commercial and research driven centr ...
References
External links
Official site of the Titanic QuarterOfficial site of the Titanic Belfast visitor attractionOfficial site of Harcourt Developments
{{RMS Titanic
Buildings and structures under construction in the United Kingdom
Quarters of Belfast
RMS Titanic
Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United Kingdom