€110m Titanic centre to go ahead

Work on a €110m 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 €11m 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.