Heartbreak Pier set to get tribute to Irish migrants
The owners of a pier which was the last piece of Ireland walked on by more than 1m emigrants have submitted revised plans for its upgrade.
Initial plans for the refurbishment of Heartbreak Pier, Cobh, Co Cork, were withdrawn by the Titanic Experience centre for further consultation with engineers, archaeologists, and architects and the local planning authority.
The new plans have been lodged with Cork County Council to turn it into a ‘visitor platform’.
The Titanic Experience has carried out a comprehensive preservation project on the pier, which at one stage was in danger of falling into the sea.
Gillen Joyce, managing director of the visitor centre, said they want to upgrade it so visitors will be able to walk in the footsteps of the emigrants who left there for Australia and America.
It was also the place where 123 passengers got onto tenders to board the ill-fated Titanic.
Mr Joyce said: “The new visitor structure for Titanic Pier is designed to create a synergy between the surviving timber pier structure, which rises from the water and stretches out to sea in front of the former White Star Line offices (now the Titanic Experience) and a sculptured structure which moves over and around the historic pier in a form carefully considered to reveal the evocative profile of the historic timber pier.”
He said the latest design is modern and contemporary, to distinguish between the past and the future.
“The new elements of the Titanic Pier will look contemporary, and we have tried to ensure the most aesthetically pleasing structure, whilst also managing visitor engagement, interpretation, safety and preservation considerations,” he said.
Mr Joyce said the visitor centre has also held talks with people in Cobh to come up with a new and hopefully acceptable design.
He said the new design “follows international best practice conservation principles of contemporary intervention to a historic object, and design guidelines for the placing of new works in a historic urban context such as Cobh”.
“From access to the pier to structural, preservation and safety considerations to interpretation, we have worked to provide the optimal solution for all concerned,” Mr Joyce said.
He added that, in sharing the story of the Titanic in Cobh through the Titanic Experience, staff at the visitor centre have seen firsthand the level of interest and respect for the Titanic story from all around the world.
“Thousands of people each year visit Titanic Experience Cobh to learn more about the Titanic’s connection to Ireland,” said Mr Joyce.
