A special ceremony has been held in Belfast, Northern Ireland to mark the unveiling of the threshold stone on the site of the new £18m Lyric Theatre, which is scheduled to open in 2011.

Designed by Dublin-based architects O'Donnell and Tuomey, the new building on Ridgeway Street will be almost four times the size of the city's former Lyric Theatre, which first opened in 1968 and closed in January 2008. Construction work started in March on the new theatre, which will boast a 400-seat capacity auditorium, a 150-seat studio theatre, a rehearsal room, riverfront foyers and a bar, dressing rooms and technical facilities.

The scheme has received more than £9m from Northern Ireland's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, as well as contributions from Arts Council Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council. A fundraising campaign has also generated more than £5m. McCausland said: "It is essential that we nurture the wealth of artistic talent which we have here in Northern Ireland. Investment in culture and the arts brings many dividends, including their contribution to physical, economic and social regeneration.

"The Lyric is one of Northern Ireland's most widely recognised theatres. It has been a springboard for many artists from Northern Ireland and I am confident that this tradition will continue well into the future when the new Lyric opens for business." Image: Rosemary Kelly, chair of Arts Council of Northern Ireland; poet Seamus Heaney; Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long and arts minister Nelson McCausland.