Titanic apology to city shipyard

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7030552.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The developer behind the Titanic Quarter has apologised to Harland and Wolff after a model showed the area occupied by the shipyard as apartments.

The architect's model also depicted the yard's cranes straddling a marina.

Harland and Wolff said it had reassured staff and customers the Queen's Island site would not be sold for development.

The model was put on show earlier this week when planning permission was granted for apartments, offices and the Titanic tourism centre.

Harland and Wolff said workers were concerned when they saw the architect's model which shows rows of apartment buildings where the yard's massive fabrication sheds are sited.

A spokesman said the company had a lease on the Queen's Island site running for more than 100 years and it has no plans to sell off the yard to property developers.

'Regret'

Titanic Quarter said it regretted any concern caused to Harland and Wolff.

"The model is only an indicative concept and should not be viewed as a detailed scale model of the actual development."

"There is no reason why Titanic Quarter and Harland and Wolff can not co-exist.

"Such developments work elsewhere in Europe - indeed Titanic Quarter's proposals are very similar to those first put forward by the shipyard's owners Fred Olsen in the 1990s," a statement said.

The yard's order book for the next five years includes maintenance contracts for oil and gas rigs as well as the construction of off-shore wind turbines.

The yard has recently moved into ship breaking and the front section of the Napoli currently fills part of the yard's massive dry dock.

Harland and Wolff has been taking on staff recently and the workforce has grown to more than 400.

The row erupted on the day that Harland and Wolff's Goliath crane re-entered service after a five year break.

A company spokesman said the re-commissioning of the second crane underlines the increasing workload at the yard.