Business

A massive year for Titanic Belfast with three event spaces now on site

Laura Cowan, head of business sales and event planning at Titanic Belfast
Laura Cowan, head of business sales and event planning at Titanic Belfast Laura Cowan, head of business sales and event planning at Titanic Belfast

THE guest list has included Hilary Clinton, film director James Cameron, Queen Elizabeth and Taoiseach Enda Kenny, while events like the G8 Summit reception, MTV Sounds and Giro d'Italia Big Start star among a long list of VIP events hosted at the iconic attraction.

As Titanic Belfast celebrates a fourth year in business - while edging towards the landmark three millionth visitor - the building has been the venue of choice for over 1,000 business and leisure events since a fanfare opening in 2012.

Belfast's principal venue is again hosting this year's Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards and ahead of the awards evening on June 16, Laura Cowan, head of business sales and event planning at Titanic Belfast, said the "event offering" continued to go "from strength to strength".

"Titanic Belfast is pleased to host the Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards for yet another year, especially in this very important anniversary year," she said.

"With the opening last year of the new Titanic Exhibition Centre and SS Nomadic, we now we have three event spaces on one site and can cater for every type of event, from major consumer shows and business conferences, to intimate gatherings on the SS Nomadic in which we have invested significantly with new kitchens."

The refurbished ship, famous as a tender for Titanic, will be relaunched later this month as an exclusive event venue for hire for a range of intimate, private and corporate gatherings.

Nomadic still has some of the luxurious décor that greeted first and second class passengers on board Titanic - including the original ornate doors, panels, plasterwork and staircases which have been much admired by recent visitors calling in for afternoon tea.

At the other end of the scale, the new Titanic Exhibition Centre offers a massive 6,000 square metre venue space which welcomed over 60,000 guests, hosted 10 exhibitions and a total of 25 shows in 2016, with more in the pipeline until 2019.

"In an unbelievable 80 days, the centre was transformed from wasteland to the exhibition space it is today," Laura said. "Already, we have hosted the Wedding Journal Show, Self Build home improvement show and the massive IFEX food event - as well as the first Belfast electoral count.

"It really is a fantastic space and we could not be happier with the number of future bookings that are being marked into the diary. I think we will see Belfast now competing with other major cities when it comes to hosting huge business and consumer shows."

Next up is Belsonic on the slipways and a fanzone area - which can accommodate a capacity crowd of 35,000 - set to bring 'big screen' coverage of the Euros 2016.

It is also some source of pride that Titanic Belfast was recently selected as the operator of the British Music Experience (BME) at the Cunard building in Liverpool.

The BME museum, which brings together a collection of over 600 rare artefacts and digital archives and charts the history of popular music in the UK from 1945, is set to move to the Cunard Passenger Hall following a five-year run at The O2, London.

"The Titanic Belfast team was awarded the bid to become operator of the museum following a highly competitive bidding process," Laura added. "It demonstrates great confidence in us and expands the Titanic portfolio of running culturally significant heritage destinations."