Five-star hotel plan for H&W building

Preserving history: A Titanic-themed boutique hotel is to be created at the old headquarters of Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard which built the ill-fated liner;

A planning application has been lodged to convert the listed building, which can be seen in the ariel view of the shipyard;


Tourists visiting the Drawing Room, where the Titanic’s blueprint was drawn up. In January a separate application was made for the restoration of the ornate offices; the mighty White Star liner which sunk on her maiden voyage with a huge loss of life in 1912.

A Titanic-themed boutique hotel is to be created out of the old headquarters of the Belfast shipyard which built the mighty liner. A planning application has been lodged to turn the listed former Harland and Wolff HQ into a five-star, 90-bedroom hotel.

The project will involve the refurbishment, part-restoration and extension of the red brick building on Queen’s Island in the east of the city, complete with provision of swimming pool, gym and spa facilities. The hotel plan is part of the redevelopment of 185 acres of former shipyard land in what has been named The Titanic Quarter.

The developers, Titanic Quarter Ltd, said it was “one of the largest mixed use developments under way in Europe and additional hotel space is an integral part of that mix”. “Given the enormous global interest in the Titanic and the building’s close association with the ship, such a hotel will add to the Northern Ireland tourist experience,” a spokes-man said. “The plans for the hotel have been devised in consultation with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and will help ensure that the building is appropriately refurbished and restored.”

In January a separate planning application was lodged for the restoration of two Drawing Offices where the Titanic’s blueprint was drawn up. The offices form a part of the former shipyard headquarters and the proposal is to make the ornate offices available for public events. Hundreds of millions of pounds are being pumped into the Titanic Quarter in the provision of commercial, residential and educational developments, including a new site for the Belfast Metropolitan College and the Public Records Office.

The hotel is part of the centrepiece ‘Titanic Signature Project’, which is intended to bring alive the area’s history. The project will include the restoration of the Thompson Dock and the slipways where the Titanic and sister ship Olympic were built. A £90 million Titanic Signature building is proposed to stand at the head of the Titanic slipway. The Titanic Quarter development is expected to attract significant numbers of visitors. The recent Tall Ships Festival drew some 500,000 people to Belfast’s waterfront in just three days, and the Titanic Signature Project is expected by the developers to draw around 400,000 a year.

Food standards commission targets dangerous bacteria and chemicals

Measures to make food safer dominate agenda of Codex Alimentarius Commission

6 July 2009, Rome - The Codex Alimentarius Commission, (CAC) concluded a week-long meeting and adopted more than 30 new international standards, codes of practice and guidelines to improve worldwide food safety and protect the health of consumers.



Acrylamide can be produced during the frying of potatoes.


New standards adopted by the Commission include:

Reduction of Acrylamide in foods
The Commission approved measures for reducing the formation of acrylamide in foods. The Code of Practice will provide national and local authorities, manufacturers and others with guidance to prevent and reduce formation of acrylamide in potato products during all phases of the production process. The guidance includes strategies for raw materials, the addition of other ingredients; and food processing and heating. The chemical acrylamide, first identified in food in 2002, is produced during frying, roasting and baking of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as French fries, potato crisps, coffee, biscuits, pastries and breads. Acrylamide is considered a possible human carcinogen.

Reduction of contamination with Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
The Commission adopted the first guidelines for reducing Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) intake through final food preparation. Because smoking and direct drying processes are used both in industry and in private households, the guidance can also form the basis of consumer education programs. Parts of PAH are possible human carcinogens formed during the combustion of fuel both in the smoking and in the direct drying processes involved in the preparation of foods.

Prevention of Ochratoxin A contamination in coffee
The Commission adopted guidance to enable coffee producing countries to develop and implement their own national programmes for the prevention and reduction of Ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination. OTA is a fungal toxin also considered a possible human carcinogen.

Powdered Follow-up Formulae
The Commission adopted criteria for salmonella and other bacteria in powdered follow-up formulae for children six months of age or older and for special medical purposes for young children. A bacterium of special concern is E.sakazakii, for which Codex adopted specific criteria for powdered formula for infants (0 to 6 months) in 2008. The Commission decided that in countries with particular risk for E. Sakazakii from consumption of follow-up formulae (i.e. countries with substantial populations of immunocompromised babies) similar criteria for E. sakazaki could be introduced for follow-up formula as for powdered formula for infants.

Follow-up formulae should only be used for the intended target population. Unfortunately, they are often consumed by babies younger than six months of age. The standard stresses the need to address such product misuse issues through education campaigns and training.

Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods
The Commission adopted parameters for microbiological testing and environmental monitoring for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. A maximum level was set for certain foods where the bacteria cannot grow, while in ready-to-eat products where growth is possible, no Listeria monocytogenes will be allowed. The parameters will help producers control and prevent contamination of ready-to-eat foods with this bacterium that can result in listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease. While healthy people rarely contract listeriosis, it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy.The Commission also adopted regional standards for ginseng products, fermented soybean paste and gochujang.

"The standards and guidelines adopted this week will make a positive impact on the lives of people around the world," said CAC Chairperson Karen Hulebak. "The Commission is working faster than ever before to address the most pressing food safety challenges we face." Ezzeddine Boutrif, FAO Director, Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, noted that Codex membership now represents 99 percent of the world's population. "Applying Codex standards and guidelines are an important part of ensuring that consumers in every part of the world can be protected from unsafe food," he said. The Commission also launched new work projects, among them establishing maximum levels for melamine in food and feed. In the last few years, high levels of melamine have been added illegally to food and feed products, causing illness and death. Because it has many industrial uses, melamine may be found in trace amounts in the food chain due to its presence in the environment. Setting maximum limits will help governments differentiate between unavoidable melamine occurrence and the deliberate adulteration of food and feed.

Other new work proposals adopted by the Commission include:

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  Principles and guidelines to assist governments in the development and operation of comprehensive national food control systems that protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade;




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  Practices to control viruses in food, especially norovirues (NoV) and hepatitis A (HAV) in fresh produce, mulluscan shell fish and ready-to-eat foods;




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  Prevention of aflatoxin (toxic substances produced by moulds and known to cause cancer in animals) contamination of Brazil nuts.




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  Setting maximum levels and defining sampling plans for Fumonisins, (toxic substances produced by fungi) in maize and maize products.

"We welcome the participation of more developing countries in the meeting this year which reflects global awareness of food safety issue and the impact of Codex Trust Fund," said Dr. Jørgen Schlundt, Director of WHO's Food Safety department. Approximately 500 people, representing 125 countries, participated in the Commission meetings. Karen Hulebak of the United States was re-elected Chairperson; Knud Østergaard of Denmark, Sanjay Dave of India and Ben Manyindo of Uganda were re-elected Vice-Chairpersons.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, jointly established in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), develops international food standards that protect the health of consumers and ensure fair trade practices in the food trade. The Commission has 181 member states and one member organization, the European Community.

New inspection standards for nursing homes

Wednesday, 1 July 2009 09:26

All public and private nursing homes are subject to an independent and transparent inspection regime from today. The regulations underpin the national quality standards for residential care settings for older people in Ireland. They were approved by Minister for Health Mary Harney last February.

It followed widespread consultations with service providers, residents and their families, the Health Service Executive and organisations representing elderly people. Homes will be assessed under 32 different standards. These include safeguards for the privacy and dignity of residents, the right to a written contract of care, hygiene guidelines and guarantees to protect people from abuse.

Inspections will begin across the country in the coming months. They will take place at any time during the day or night and may be either announced or unannounced. Reports will be published immediately after every inspection on the Health Information and Quality Authority website.

Welcoming the latest development, Ms Harney said the chief inspector of social services will now have the power to inspect all designated centres for older people. Dr Marion Witton, Chief Inspector of Social Services at HIQA, says new nursing home inspections will play an important part in protecting elderly people in care.

An estimated 21,000 people are in full-time residential care in Ireland.

Coughlan launches groceries consultation

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, has launched a public consultation process in relation to the introduction of a Code of Practice for Grocery Goods Undertakings.

It is intended to address concerns raised about the nature of the relationships between grocery goods businesses and, in particular, in the relationships between suppliers and retailers of grocery goods.

Launching the consultation, the Tánaiste said: "We have witnessed significant change in the Irish grocery goods sector over the past year, resulting in lower prices and better value for Irish consumers at home. While this is a positive result, the Government also fully appreciates the need to ensure that, in this drive for better value, there is transparency and a balance in the relationships between the various players in the grocery goods sector. Any Code of Practice must have as its key objective the need to achieve this balance between all stakeholders, including suppliers, producers, retailers and consumers."

The Tánaiste said that she had consulted closely with her colleagues, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, and the Minister of State for Food and Horticulture, Trevor Sargent, in preparing the consultation paper.

"In Ireland, the agri-food sector is one of our most important indigenous industries employing some 50,000 people directly and providing the primary outlet for the produce of 128,000 family farms," she said.

"Given this significance, and the importance of ensuring a vibrant and competitive retail sector, the introduction of a Code of Practice can provide a transparent framework for business conducted between all undertakings involved in the grocery goods route to market."

The consultation process has been welcomed by the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association. Its chief executive Mark Fielding said: "The Association is aware of several instances where small Irish suppliers have been approached and threatened by major retailers seeking exorbitant promotional payments to display their products in retail outlets."

However the farmers' group ICMSA has slammed the move and labelled it a 'cop out'. ICMSA President Jackie Cahill accused the Tánaiste of "operating a system of non-government though endless consultation and prevarication that positively avoids taking necessary decisions in the national interest." IFA Deputy President Derek Deane said the move is a clear acknowledgement that supermarkets are abusing their dominant position in the food chain, with the result that farmers are being forced to accept prices below the cost of production.

Mr Deane said: "The Tánaiste's proposals for a Code of Practice are a positive development, but to be effective in eliminating abuses by supermarkets, the code must be established on a statutory basis and enforced by a properly-resourced Ombudsman. The legislation must outlaw threats of delisting and other strong arm tactics by supermarkets which compel suppliers to fund price discounting."

Retail Ireland Director Torlach Denihan said: "Retailers look forward to participating in the consultation process on this draft code. In this process the interests of consumers must be taken into account. It is important that no obstacles are put in the way of retailers securing the best value from their suppliers and, in turn, delivering the most competitive price to consumers."

Retail Ireland is the representative body for the entire retail sector in Ireland and is affiliated to IBEC.

Celebrity haunt Sheraton on the Park up for sale

SYDNEY'S old-style celebrity hotels may soon be a thing of the past following word this week that Sheraton on the Park is for sale. Hot on the heels of the closure of The Sir Stamford Hotel, formerly the Ritz Carlton, at Double Bay in March (a hotel favoured by Madonna and George Bush Sr and where Michael Hutchence died) and the closure a few years back of Kings Cross' most famous celebrity doss The Sebel Townhouse, comes news Starwood Pacific Hotels has put the Elizabeth St establishment on the market.


Long before Michael Jackson started dangling babies from windows, he married nurse Debbie Rowe at the 557-room hotel overlooking Hyde Park. In 1996, hours after his Sydney concert, Jackson surprised the world with his civil ceremony wedding. A pregnant Rowe was later spotted contemplating the view from a Sheraton on the Park balcony.

The luxury hotel has continued to house international celebrities on their Sydney stopovers. John Travolta and pop star Justin Timberlake have also enjoyed the room service at the city venue, as have lovebirds Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom.

Hotel managing director Sean Hunt said that although the hotel was for sale, the landmark hotel would not be closing. It was on the market as part of an asset sale by Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide and Starwood would continue to manage the hotel for the new owners. It is one of a number of hotels in the group up for sale.

"The hotel has been a strong performer and has fared particularly well during the current global economic crisis," Hunt said.

Keaton fights for hotel with the sexy curves

Diane Keaton is spearheading a campaign in Los Angeles to save the Century Plaza Hotel. Her image is more Manhattan than LA, but the actress Diane Keatonis in no comedy mood as she spearheads a campaign in Los Angeles to save the Century Plaza Hotel, a curving glass and steel memento of American 1960s architecture that may soon be razed by the wrecking ball.



One year after purchasing the Century Plaza, at the heart of Century City in West Hollywood, developer Michael Rosenfeld has unveiled plans to demolish it and replace it with two gleaming towers designed by the prestigious New York firm of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.

Mr Rosenfeld insists that he has been encouraged by city authorities keen to reconfigure Century City, a complex of offices, restaurants and residences, making it greener and more pedestrian-friendly. Plucking the Plaza from the map would make that possible.

But like the nearby and still more venerable Ambassador Hotel that was torn down three years ago, the Plaza is an important name in Los Angeles lore as the place where stars, politicians and tycoons would regularly hang out to relax and do their deals, Ronald Reagan among them.

"We need to honour our city's history more than we need two new towers," Ms Keaton, who is a board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in an interview with The New York Times. The hotel's distinctive curving facade made it appear, according to Ms Keaton, "like a sexy woman surrounded by ogling men – Sophia Loren in the 1960s".

Ms Keaton will surely be aware, however, that nostalgia is often a poor match for the march of progress and the lure of the dollar. She was also at the forefront of efforts to save the Ambassador, which could claim historical importance as the place where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

On the day it became clear that the Ambassador was definitively doomed – it was finally blasted to bits in 2006 – Ms Keaton appeared before the microphones to bemoan the complacency of a "confused public who could do nothing more than shrug their shoulders in apathy".

The Plaza's architectural significance is that it was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the man behind New York's twin towers, destroyed in 2001's terror attacks. But Mr Rosenfeld, who described the hotel as "a jewel" before buying it, seemed unmoved by Ms Keaton's appeal.

In a statement his company said it was "disappointed to see the Century Plaza Hotel politicised... at a time when the city of Los Angeles is suffering from extreme economic hardship and is in dire need of new jobs... This is not considered one of the more significant Minoru Yamasaki buildings and is not characteristic of his style."

Good News for Jurys During Turbulent Times in Irish Hotel Trade

Thursday July 30, 2009




While a number of hotels are struggling and the Clare-based Lynch group is entering voluntary examinership, there have also been some optimistic news from the Irish accommodation front - Jurys Inns is going against the trend and has announced a planned € 70,000,000 investment in expansion.

The only snag being ... we are not talking about Jurys Inn Christchurch or Jurys Inn Custom House here. The UK and (starting with a hotel in Prague) mainland Europe are the main targets here. Some sites earmarked are definitely geared towards the 2012 London Olympics as well ...

Still, in these days when doom and gloom seems to be everywhere, it is refreshing to see some good news from the Irish hotel trade.