THIS month marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow.

The key landmark on the Barrow skyline was opened on September 3, 1986 by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Mrs Thatcher unveiled DDH with the Vanguard submarine providing a dramatic backdrop.

The hall was the second largest indoor shipbuilding complex in Europe, at 51 metres high, 260 metres long and 58 metres wide. The massive doors are 29 metres high.

The building cost £70m and its construction was undertaken by contractor Alfred McAlpine.

The dock was filled with more than two million tonnes of sand pumped from Walney Channel. The construction workforce was listed as 764, with shifts covering 16.5 hours every day to build the complex.

The design specification listed eight galleries, 680 car parking spaces and a warren of passages beneath the floor.

Now, thirty years on, the Barrow landscape is changing again with the development of more buildings to joining DDH on Barrow Island to form part of the town's horizon.