Titanic Distillers is seeking permission to develop a whiskey distillery in Belfast's Titanic Quarter.
According to The Irish News, Titanic Distillers wants to turn the onsite café/restaurant at an existing pump house at Thompson Dry Dock next to the HMS Caroline attraction in Belfast Harbour into a distillery and tourist centre.
Thompson Dry Dock was constructed to accommodate White Star liners Olympic and Titanic, and has become a key tourism feature of Belfast's Titanic Quarter. The dock is a scheduled monument and the pump-house is a listed building.
Titanic Distillers' application is currently at the pre-planning stage.
The company has brought Belfast planning consultancy firm O'Toole & Starkey on board for the proposed new whiskey venture.
O'Toole & Starkey stated that all distillery equipment and new internal mezzanine floors would be supported by a floating structure within the pump-house "to avoid any harmful intrusive works to the fabric of the listed building", and added, "All pump equipment and associated internal historic features of the building will also be retained in-situ and available to view as part of the visitor tour."
The exterior of the pump house would remained untouched.
The proposed development would also require the obtainment of an area the neighbouring Catalyst's car park.
Pre-Application Consultation Phase
The pre-application consultation phase will continue until the end of December, and it is expected that the feedback will feed into the overall proposal, which is expected to progress to a full planning application in 2021.
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