Our contribution
- We supported 64 community projects, events and initiatives including the Green Energy Street at the Festival of Transport, Autumn Fest and the Shipyard Memory Boxes project.
- Our STEM Ambassadors have provided 7516 hours of support to young people in schools and colleges, a significant increase from 4134 hours in 2023.
- In the 2023/24 academic year, we commissioned MADE Training, a local training provider, to deliver impactful and progressive Key Stage 4 mentoring and coaching programmes. The programmes’ aims were to help raise the attainment and aspirations of students, increasing their effort levels and providing them with skills and techniques to help them succeed on their academic journey.
- We delivered education outreach support to 97 schools and colleges in 2024.
Portland Walk's The Bridge
We expanded the BAE Systems footprint into Portland Walk in 2023, with the launch of the Careers Inspiration Hub and in 2024 we opened The Bridge. A shared, agile space which allows local organisations and third parties to take over the Hub to promote their career opportunities.
The space is the first of its kind, which showcases the importance of Submarines as a critical part of the UK's security and tells the exciting story of Barrow's future. It makes an important contribution to the ongoing regeneration of Barrow’s town centre at a critical time, supporting the attraction and retention of the skills needed to deliver our programme commitments and grow our business.
The new facilities we create in Portland Walk will play a significant role in accelerating the delivery of learning provision to our growing early careers population, as well as supporting the skills needs for our existing workforce.
A new Learning Quarter and Community Resilience Hubs
The Learning Quarter will provide an integrated further education and higher education presence, with a focus on enhancing the employability of secondary school students and increasing their potential to go to university. It will not only enhance progression into higher education for local people, but will support the retention and attraction of talent to the area, and enhance the reputation of the town. It will provide new jobs for Barrow both directly and indirectly, and additionally it will generate spend in the local economy.
The Community Resilience Hubs will provide an opportunity for local people to develop skills, access services and come together to build thriving communities. The project will also support access to and use of digital technology, and address health inequalities across Barrow. A social enterprise project will be set up and delivered from the Hubs once these are in place. The challenges at Barrow require a long-term, evidence based, collaborative and well-resourced response, but the initial indicators of the effectiveness of our involvement are really encouraging.