Partial success on saving the heritage of King's Yard

1.41.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 8th Oct 2007

Belfast Trusses support a large roof space without the need for pillars

Heritage campaigners have welcomed the assurance from the Olympic Development Authority that one of the rare Belfast roof trusses at the King's Yard site will (probably) be saved.

In a letter to Liberal Democrat Councillor Stephanie Eaton, Simon Wright the ODA's Director of Infrastructure and Utilities has said "It is the Olympic Delivery Authority's intention to try to save one of the trusses in its entirety when we take the building down although this is not guaranteed. There are clearly health and safety issues in removing the trusses intact and we cannot yet guarantee that our programme will allow for this to be done safely so that normal demolition equipment may in fact have to be used".

Councillor Eaton commented: "It is good news that the ODA has accepted that the trusses are worth preserving. I hope that they will do their utmost to save at least one of the trusses intact. The trusses can stand as a reminder of the ingenuity of the designers of these industrial buildings which were once so important to the development of our city, and which will disappear when the demolition is complete."