Ross Eccles
artist - architect - concepts designer
creative thinker since 1937
11.1
Belfast Port Concept
Introduction
The Heysham Ferry arrived in Belfast early one spring morning to a spectacular sight.
Tens of thousands of workers were scurrying dock-wards towards the Harland & Wolff shipyard. Most were clad in dark coats, wearing flat caps and carrying sandwich tins. All reminiscent of scurrying figures in Lowry's paintings of MIll Towns.
Lancashire scenes which were quite familiar to me, until the late 1940's.
But the year was 1961.
I was about to enter a visual and political time-warp on my first visit to Belfast!
Much has changed since that distant time.
Perhaps the most critical....our Climate, which is rapidly changing to extremes!
Belfast is now at catastrophic risk from Tidal Surges.
The 5 highest tide surges ever recorded in the City have occurred since 1994.
Sadly, Politicians still treat Climate Change as something that can be ignored for now.
Consequently Northern Ireland's unchanged Tidal Flood Standard of 1:200, compares badly with the Netherlands Standard of 1:10000
Yet the very same Politicians have been advised by Consultants of a possible half-billion £ consequential cost of flood damage to the City.
Wasted Money, which could be used to create many construction jobs, needed to build the Belfast Port Concept illustrated below: