R E V I E W A N D A N A L Y S I S 33 its own apprenticeship programme to encourage young people from the local area to enter the hospitality industry. While Titanic Quarter may never offer the same scale of mass employment locally that the shipyard did, there are opportunities and the hotel has recognised that these must be better profiled. The success of this regeneration project will more than likely be judged by the awards, financial investment, occupancy levels and profits which it generates. However, the litmus test for a building with such history, is the endorsement of the people closest to it. Before the hotel opened to the public, former Harland & Wolff employees were invited to a preview event where they were entertained by the Queen’s Island Victoria Male Voice Choir. The response to the restoration was unanimously positive and the end result received their seal of approval, summed up by a former company secretary, Rodney McCullough: Being the last person to leave the building in 1989, I closed the doors with great sadness. To see the building brought back to how it was, it is absolute magic, it is superb. Titanic Quarter is on an exciting journey into the future. It will be important not to lose the connections with the men and women who worked here and gave the area its identity. The approach undertaken to restore the Harland & Wolff Headquarter Building is a step in the right direction in creating a shared space for the people of Belfast. Kerrie Sweeney is chief executive officer of Titanic Foundation. Once word got out, Titanic Foundation was inundated with visits and calls from former shipyard workers and their relatives, many donating items of interest including text books, indentures, note books and shipyard tools. Over 60 artefacts have now been put on display in the hotel, providing a direct connection with the people who worked in the headquarters building. One contact, Joan Scattergood, was the daughter of a cabinetmaker on RMS Titanic. Like many other workers, Joan’s father used his skills to build the family furniture with similar materials and to the same specification as the furniture he made in the yard. Joan, now 92 years old, donated her wardrobe, bookcase, sideboard and hall stand for display in the Presentation Room. Lost over decades of internal restructuring, this room originally overlooked a drawing office and was used as a sample room to allow Harland & Wolff clients to choose their final fixtures and fittings. Only a painstaking review of photographs and personal accounts from the many former employees consulted during the restoration determined exactly where in the building it was originally located. Hundreds of photos and paintings are on permanent display in the hotel, showcasing what life was like in the yard. Of particular interest are the original paintings in Drawing Office 2, now the hotel’s main bar. Local artist Colin H Davidson was commissioned to produce eight paintings based on his own experience of the shipyard. He served his four year apprenticeship with Harland & Wolff in 1977–81 and spent a further nine years working in different departments. His paintings portray the shipyard from dawn to dusk and feature the key vessels on which he, his father and his uncle worked. Many of the former employees became advisors to the design team, providing invaluable insights into how different parts of the building were used. Stories associated with the section leader’s office on the second floor inspired the interior designer to repurpose the temporary office into a private dining area in the main restaurant. Descriptions of the formal hierarchy within the building influenced an artwork depicting a conversation between a director and messenger boy along the Corridor of Power (garnered from those who once worked in the building, this evocative phrase is now back in common usage in the hotel). The partnership between Titanic Foundation and the commercial operator requires the hotel to provide ongoing public access to the drawing offices, heritage spaces, artefacts and artwork on display throughout the building. While this is a luxury hotel, former workers, their relatives and neighbouring communities are encouraged to explore the building through daily tours, ad hoc visits or during one of the ‘take back’ days which allow Titanic Foundation to open and programme the heritage spaces for at least 12 days per year. The stories of apprenticeships captured the imagination of the hotel operator. Many of the former employees started work at the age of 15 and worked their way up through Harland & Wolff’s various departments. The hotel now runs A former Harland & Wolff employee visits the hotel An original accounts desk repurposed to display artefacts
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