BAE has revealed ambitious plans to transform Barrow's former Debenhams and help regenerate the town centre.

Work is ongoing after the defence giant bought the former department store and the neighbouring units formerly home to the Body Shop and WH Smith.

In their place will be a training facility, a recruitment hub and a visitor centre.

BAE hopes the new complex will help recruit thousands of new workers as it prepares to start work on major projects in the shipyard.

The company also hopes the town centre can be boosted by footfall brought by hundreds of people stationed at the training centre every day.

It is hoped the development will be ready to open by the last quarter of next year.

Overseeing the project is Catherine Reay, who worked at the Barrow WH Smith as a teenager.

She said repurposing the empty units would help to 'regenerate this area of Barrow'.

Referring to the budding workers who will complete their last stage of training before entering the workforce at the development, she said: "At 4.30pm, 5pm, where will they be going?

"They'll want to socialise, it's a time of their life where that's really important to them.

"We hope to see services come up around us that can take advantage of that footfall.

"In order to grow, we need the whole town to grow with us."

The first part of the development, due to be open by the end of the year, will be the careers inspiration hub in the former Body Shop, which will also act as the main reception.

The Mail: An artist's impression of BAE's proposed Portland Walk development

Under the plans Debenhams will become an 'experiential learning facility', that will be home to at least three hundred recent graduates and new starters each day.

Part of the development will be home to the visitors' experience, where the story of BAE's submarine building in Barrow will be told.

No catering facilities will be on the site in the hope that nearby food retailers, including those due to open in the new Barrow Market food hall, will benefit from the footfall.

More than 80 tonnes of items have been removed from the former Debenhams in a sustainable way. Signs still in place inside the store are due to be auctioned off.

Work to strip out what is left of the store is due to start in two weeks.

BAE estimates it will have around 17,000 workers by the 2030s, with 25 per cent of those new starters.

Barrow MP Simon Fell welcomed the plans, saying: "Moving hundreds of BAE workers to the centre of town will be game-changing for the town centre.

"The biggest issue facing high streets at present is footfall. Without it, businesses falter and footfall drops further.

"This move will directly counter that trend. Combined with the new university campus coming thanks to the Government's £25million Town Deal for Barrow, and also the renewal of the market and Forum thanks to the £16million Levelling Up Fund we have secured, this will give the town centre every help possible to start that process of regeneration."