25 January 2000
BRIDGING THE GAP
Nigel Dodds, MLA, Minister for Social Development today opened two new bridges in Belfast city centre.
Representing an investment of £1.3m the pedestrian bridges have been created to allow easy access to the Lanyon Place site in the heart of Laganside. The bridges will forge important new links in the Laganside walkway network and will ensure that the fast developing area lives up to its objective of being genuinely ‘people friendly’.
Officiating at the hand over of the new bridges to the people of Belfast by some of the construction workers who were involved in building the bridges, Mr Dodds said: "People make cities, not buildings. While we have good cause to celebrate the development of Lanyon Place, we must always remember that our ultimate objective is to bring new life to the site. The two bridges, which are officially opened today, are an important step towards that goal.
"The bridges, a ‘people friendly’ venture, demonstrate our wish to draw people down to this site and beyond. They open up new links from the city centre into East Belfast and will be a significant asset to the city as The Odyssey and the redeveloped Sirocco site open."
Welcoming the official opening of the bridges Mr Tony Hopkins, Chairman of Laganside Corporation said: "The two footbridges bring tremendous practical advantages to people using the Lanyon Place site or coming to and from East Belfast. They also bring a dash of architectural interest and, in quite different ways, the structures are dramatic and eye catching. The emerging Laganside theme of blue wash lighting has been used on both bridges to great effect, ensuring that the bridges will be attractive additions to the city’s night skyline."
Neither bridge has as yet been officially named and Mr Dodds today announced that Laganside Corporation will launch a public competition in its community publication, Lagan Lines to select appropriate titles for the city’s latest bridge building venture.
One of the bridges, supported by funding from the European Union, runs alongside an existing railway bridge and will link East Belfast with Lanyon Place. The pedestrian bridge was first proposed in the early 1970’s when the railway viaduct was constructed but the idea remained ‘on the drawing board’. Now the new 100 metres long covered bridge, built by Laganside in conjunction with NIR, will link the communities of East Belfast with one of the city centre’s most significant development sites. It will also provide easy access for people wanting to walk to The Odyssey and to the Sirocco site which will shortly be redeveloped.
The other bridge, some 60 metres in span, will take pedestrians between East Bridge Street (opposite Central Station) and Lanyon Place. Making a dramatic design statement into the bargain the new bridge boasts a spectacular copper clad entrance feature with two ‘fins’ rising high above the rest of the stainless steel structure.
Notes to Editors.
- The bridges will be officially opened at 10.30 am on Tuesday January 25th 2000 at a reception in The BT Tower, Lanyon Place.
- The two bridges – the first to have been created in Belfast since the Lagan Weir footbridge opened in March 1994 – have been designed by Kirk McClure Morton (Structural & Civil Engineers) and Camlin Lonsdale (Landscape Architects). Farrans Construction Ltd was the main contractor with F P Copeland as Fabrication Engineers and The Harvey Group as Electrical Engineers.