AROUND 1,000 shipyard apprentices will soon have a new home to learn their trade as BAE's £25m training centre takes shape.
Construction of the shipyard's new training facility started earlier this year and the 54-week project is due to be completed next March.
Once finished, the centre will be used to deliver courses to the almost 1,000 apprentices employed by BAE in Barrow.
The building's metal framework of the building is now finally in place, thanks to around 600 tonnes of steel.
The amount used represents a quarter of the amount used to build Blackpool Tower.
Its total size will be 8,000 sq metres - enough to fit 210 buses in the building's footprint.
The centre will contain a teaching block, classrooms, offices, workshops and welfare facilities and a canteen.
Construction firm Wates, one of the three companies selected to deliver the shipyard's £350m facilities redevelopment, is building the training centre.
Other projects within the redevelopment include the already-completed Dreadnought building - a huge 28,000 sq metre warehouse at the docks and a £90m 'mini DDH', known as the Central Yard Complex, which is due to be finished by September.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here