Wednesday 30 March 2011

PRONI reopens

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has reopened to the public this morning in its spanking new purpose-built home in Belfast's Titanic Quarter.

Anyone who has visited the old premises in Balmoral Avenue will be especially appreciative of the scale of the 'upgrade' to the facilities of the £30m reincarnation. The Public Search Room has doubled in size, with 52 computer desks (one of which is height adjustable for disabled users), eight large format desks and 22 microfilm readers, two of which are microfilm printers.

The Reading Room is also considerably more spacious than Balmoral Avenue with 78 seats, most of which have access to power for laptops. Two are height adjustable for disabled users, and eight are large format 'map' tables.

PRONI has also introduced a self service camera facility for digital copying.

The new records office is home to some 40km of records and is located just one mile from the city centre in the burgeoning Titanic Quarter. In addition to the huge Odyssey entertainment complex, local amenities include the Titanic Signature Project (opening April 2012), the restoration of the Titanic and Olympic slipways, the restoration of the Nomadic - the tug boat which took travellers to the Titanic, Belfast Metropolitan College (opening September 2011), a film studio, a hotel and the Northern Ireland Science Park. It is accessible via bus, rail, road and approximately five minutes away from George Best Belfast City Airport.

For further details see www.proni.gov.uk