Future
To truly understand Belfast, go down to the waterside. Here by
the docks are the origins of the city, the source of its wealth,
pride and personality, and today, along the ever-changing skyline,
the shape of its future.
Belfast has arrived at
where it is today because it had huge ambition but that
ambition has been matched by the ingenuity and quality of
workmanship that remains the cornerstone of the city's progress.
Who else could have given birth to a ship of the scale and
magnificence of RMS Titanic as well as many of the world's
other great cruise liners too? When the world's most-famous liner
was built in 1912, the sense of pride in Belfast was substantial.
In 2012 the centennial anniversary of the ship's launch and
ill-fated journey will be marked by city-wide events.
The old docks area where
the Titanic was built and launched was a city in itself. At
the Lagan Lookout Interpretative Centre, situated by a new weir
built by Harland and Wolff, you can trace the history and character
of the area. You can look out at the future too.
The new city is emerging
on a scale so great that only from the air, tracing the new
developments taking shape by the docks and along the twists and
turns of the river Lagan that snakes through the city, can you get
a sense of the massive investment. Striking new apartment blocks,
great buildings like the copper-domed concert venue the Waterfront
Hall, the five-star Hilton hotel and the extraordinary new Odyssey
Complex, built at a cost of over £100 million, define the new
Belfast as the City Hall and Custom House define the old. The
seemingly endless scaffolding announces the arrival of yet a new
generation of buildings but most significantly signals
a bright and prosperous future lies ahead
for Belfast.