The Lagan Legacy MV Confiance barge will play host to UCIT's Annual General meeting on the 30th June.

Lagan Legacy was conceived as the result of an important salvage operation of engineering plans and valuable artifacts from the shipyards of Harland & Wolff in Belfast. Through its ‘Oceans in Mind’ project, Lagan Legacy obtained an archive of many hours of film and audio recordings of former Belfast shipyard workers as well as a large collection of old documents and drawings. The organisation is committed to preserving the heritage of the shipyards and ‘The greatest story never told’. Lagan Legacy lacked a permanent location to display and interpret the collection, so the ‘Homeplace’ project was launched with a view to finding a suitable venue.

Analysis concluded that a vessel on the river would be the preferable option. They found a suitable barge in the Netherlands and secured the funding required to bring it to Belfast, where it is permanently moored near the Waterfront Hall. The organisation has been successful in attracting funding from a number of sources to meet the costs incurred in purchasing and refurbishing the vessel to a high specification. In addition, UCIT provided a loan to assist with initial capital costs and to help towards early revenue costs incurred when the vessel became operational.

With the refurbishment now complete, the barge houses a digital maritime heritage gallery and an extremely versatile and multifunctional arts performance space. In addition the venue provides a wide range of other benefits to the City including a unique educational facility, a quality tourist attraction, a unique riverside attraction and social venue, employment opportunities and a valuable contribution to the local economy.

“UCIT helped the project from the initial meeting; it was clear that they grasped the vision of Lagan Legacy's main aims regarding heritage, education and tourism and had the enthusiasm to stick with the organisation over the long period it took to get the project off the ground. The process of application and release of funds to assist setting up the project were not daunting for our board and we would highly recommend UCIT to any social economy enterprises wishing to enter into a financial partnership outside the normal commercial lending institutions.”

Dean Coulter, Director, Lagan Legacy Ltd.

For more information about Lagan Legacy visit www.laganlegacy.com