10/06/2005 INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION CLOSES
The competition to design the new building for the Giant's Causeway is now closed. Four hundred and eighty architects have registered for the competition, and they will now have until 5 August 2005 to submit their designs.
27/05/2005 LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION FOR NEW GIANT'S CAUSEWAY VISITOR FACILITIES
A joint Ministerial initiative for the Giant's Causeway was launched on 23 April 2003 by Angela Smith (then Minister for the Environment) and Ian Pearson (then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment).
The initiative had three strands: a Management Plan for the Causeway World Heritage Site; a Tourism Masterplan for the Causeway Coast and Glens Area; and most significantly, an international competition for new visitor facilities at the Giant's Causeway.
With the agreement of all the stakeholders (Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Department of the Environment, Moyle District Council and National Trust), the international competition, which is being run under the auspices of the Union of International Architects, commenced on 23 March 2005 with the publication of a Design Contest Notice in the European Journal.
The Notice invited architects from around the world to register their interest in entering the competition. The response was extremely encouraging with over 600 responses from all over the world.
On 27 May 2005, Angela Smith MP, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, launched the Competition Brief at the Causeway. The Brief specifies the preferred scale, size (1800 sq m), location (existing site) and estimated cost (£14 million) of the new facilities. Competitors have until 5 August to produce a design based on the Brief. An international jury will judge the designs, with the winner to be announced in October 2005.
