debenhams bae barrow p plandocs

BAE bought the vacant store in 2022. Credit: planning documents

BAE secures VR future for Barrow Debenhams

Westmorland & Furness Council has greenlit the department store’s conversion into a “simulated environments” training centre for the defence giant’s submarine business.

JMP Architects and planner Steven Abbott Associates lead the professional team for the project in Portland Walk, which is described as “an experiential learning and educational facility”.

Thomas Consulting, Saunders QS, Beech Jackson Partnership, Envirotech, PSA Design, Apex Acoustics and Maze Fire Consulting are also working on the scheme.

This forms phase 3 of the Portland Walk Campus project undertaken by BAE, which purchased several vacant shops in the area in 2022 for adaptation, the two previous stages are now either delivered or in construction.

A town centre presence, providing learning through experience, is seen as a key part of the “front-end” of BAE’s drive to recruit young people in Barrow as it grows its submarines business, combining with the now operational Submarines Academy for Skills & Knowledge, and in time, the new campus of the University of Cumbria.

As described in JMP’s design & access statement, the plan is to replicate a working environment and a range of niche skills within the two-storey frame of the former Debenhams. Although it will be a multi-purpose facility, the focus will be ‘Early Careers’.

JMP said that the purpose of the Portland Walk Campus Hall “is to allow everyone using the facility to relate back to the product and have a physical and visual connection to what BAE Systems does”.

The ground floor will remain at around 34,400 sq ft, with a 5,000 sq ft mezzanine inserted. The upper floor will be reduced slightly, to around 31,000 sq ft with the rest of the space going to internal parking.

External parking will be cut slightly, as EV charge points and bike parking re introduced, with the outcome being 81 parking spaces all told. Public realm enhancements include a living green wall.

A report by a council planning officer said that the “proposals are welcomed in bringing a vacant building back into use, with a resultant increase in footfall in the town centre. This is already showing benefits in terms  of ‘trickle effect’ seen with some new shops/cafes recently opening in the vicinity of the site”.

Approval was given in a decision notice dated 3 February. Documents relating to the project can be viewed on W&FC’s planning portal with the reference B12/2024/0536.

BAE also last month secured permission to change the 14,000 sq ft Harding House office building into training space.

As part of ‘Team Barrow’, the aerospace group is working with the local authority and central government on a long-term plan to underpin Barrow’s future, government buy-in signalling the town’s critical role in national security.

The 10-year vision set out by Team Barrow for the town’s future has now been released.

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What a great reuse of the building given the proposals driving economic development in this area. Skills are so important for its success although I suspect more needs to be focussed on construction skills too if the Town’s regeneration is to succeed.

By Rodney Street

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