Carnaby - H2so.com

THE
SILVER
LINING
When the walkway connecting HMS Belfast to the southbank
of the Thames collapsed, it closed the hugely popular tourist
attraction for six months. But some good has come from the
calamity and signalled a brighter future for the warship.
You can’t just
present a ship,
you need
much more
interpretation
Phil Reed, Museum Director
HMS Belfast
On November 29th 2011, Phil Reed left his
office on board HMS Belfast and crossed
the walkway that connected the ship to the
south bank of the Thames. The Imperial War
Museum Director with responsibility for the
warship tourist attraction was heading for a
meeting in the West End, but before he had
reached that appointment the entire walkway
he had just crossed crashed into the Thames.
He recalls: “We had decided to restore the
brow – most people would call it the gangplank
– which enabled visitors to get aboard from
Queen’s Walk. We’d been doing restoration on
its three separate sections and that day were
working on the oldest section closest to the ship.
“The contractors were actually getting very
close to finishing the job when someone
inadvertently sawed through some metal
work that they shouldn’t, and that was that.”
The result was that the unique attraction was
closed for six months, but the misfortune
precipitated an already planned-for
redevelopment of the quayside ticket office
into a café, shop, admissions area and
fashionable roof-top bar. While it was hardly the
circumstance in which Reed would have wanted
to proceed with the works, he points out that
the silver lining is that it hastened work which
will be a long-term benefit for the attraction.
“The previous building was put up as a
temporary structure more than 20 years ago
and actually belonged to St Martin’s Property
Corporation, which has substantial ownerships
along this Southbank stretch of the Thames.
“The other relevant party to getting the project
off the ground was the Port of London Authority
who basically control all moorings and access
points on the Thames.”
Reed brought in Felix Fiennes of H2SO to
negotiate new leases with St Martin’s and the
PLA so that the future of Belfast’s mooring and
visitor centre would be secured. It was an unusual
and sometimes complex process. Fiennes points
out: “There’s not much precedence for negotiating
leases for 75-year old warships on the Thames”.
However, there are now lease agreements in place
which, as Reed puts it, will essentially apply as
long as the Belfast is moored on the river.
The new £2m visitor centre was completed
at the turn of the year and Reed is excited by
the contribution it will make.
“We wanted to redevelop to make more of it.
It will be more welcoming to people than the old
structure. It’ll make clear the ship is a place to visit
– and it will help generate much needed income
to sustain the long-term future of the ship.
Although the ship is a designated National
Museum it does not get any Government
funding so the Imperial War Museum has to
subsidise, and the ship has got to earn its keep.
After the opening of the new quayside building,
the aim is for the attraction to be fully paying its
way within five to 10 years.
Prior to the brow collapse, around 250,000
people had been visiting the ship each year.
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