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The Forum, Barrow-in-Furness

Arts centres in EnglandBuildings and structures in Barrow-in-FurnessCumbria building and structure stubsTheatres in CumbriaTourist attractions in Barrow-in-Furness
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The Forum (formerly Forum 28) is a theatre, media and arts centre located in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The complex is currently home to a large theatre and stage, several conference and function rooms, Barrow's main tourist information centre and a Costa Coffee outlet. The Forum is situated in Central Barrow, opposite the town hall and perhaps is most famous for being the source of one of the world's worst Legionaires outbreaks in 2002. The Forum is one of the area's main cultural and art centres and has hosted many musical artists, comedians and other performers, as well as hosting such events as the local multicultural festival and various career conventions. Many local and international theatre groups have used the Forum for their productions, plays and pantomimes.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article The Forum, Barrow-in-Furness (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

The Forum, Barrow-in-Furness
Duke Street,

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N 54.11223 ° E -3.22776 °
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Duke Street 50-52
LA14 1RU , Hindpool
England, United Kingdom
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2002 Barrow-in-Furness legionellosis outbreak
2002 Barrow-in-Furness legionellosis outbreak

The 2002 Barrow-in-Furness Legionnaires' disease outbreak was a fatal outbreak of Legionellosis which occurred in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It was and still remains among the worst such outbreaks in history. The first fatality occurred on 2 August 2002. The source of the bacteria was later found to be from steam coming out of a badly maintained air conditioning unit. The system was located in the council-run arts centre Forum 28, with the vent emitting the disease over a busy alleyway in the town centre. Ultimately seven people died and 172 cases were reported (a case fatality rate of around 4%), ranking as the second worst in British history and seventh worst globally by death count.The coroner for Furness and South Cumbria criticised the council for its failings with regard to health and safety at the conclusion of an inquest into the seven deaths. In 2006, council employee Gillian Beckingham and employer Barrow Borough Council were cleared of seven charges of manslaughter. Beckingham, the council senior architect, was fined £15,000 and the authority £125,000. The authority maintained that Beckingham was not responsible for the building or the defective plant and dismissed the building Technical Manager Kevin Borthwick. He was later re-instated to his position following a challenge by his union. The borough council was the first public body in the country to have faced corporate manslaughter charges. Beckingham maintained that a contract to maintain the plant was in place but failings of others meant that the work was never undertaken, nor was the lack of adequate maintenance pursued by those responsible for the building. Following the trials, the contractor responsible for maintaining the defective plant, Interserve, settled a £1.5 million claim by the Council for damages.

Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. At the tip of the Furness peninsula, close to the Lake District, it is bordered by Morecambe Bay, the Duddon Estuary and the Irish Sea. In 2011, Barrow's population was 56,745, making it the second largest urban area in Cumbria after Carlisle. Natives of Barrow, as well as the local dialect, are known as Barrovian.In the Middle Ages, Barrow was a small hamlet within the parish of Dalton-in-Furness with Furness Abbey, now on the outskirts of the town, controlling the local economy before its dissolution in 1537. The iron prospector Henry Schneider arrived in Furness in 1839 and, with other investors, opened the Furness Railway in 1846 to transport iron ore and slate from local mines to the coast. Further hematite deposits were discovered, of sufficient size to develop factories for smelting and exporting steel. For a period of the late 19th century, the Barrow Hematite Steel Company-owned steelworks was the world's largest.Barrow's location and the availability of steel allowed the town to develop into a significant producer of naval vessels, a shift that was accelerated during World War I and the local yard's specialisation in submarines. The original iron- and steel-making enterprises closed down after World War II, leaving Vickers shipyard as Barrow's main industry and employer. Several Royal Navy flagships, the vast majority of its nuclear submarines as well as numerous other naval vessels, ocean liners and oil tankers have been manufactured at the facility. The end of the Cold War and subsequent decrease in military spending saw high unemployment in the town through lack of contracts; despite this, the BAE Systems shipyard remains operational as the UK's largest by workforce (9,500 employees in 2020) and is now undergoing a major expansion associated with the Dreadnought-class submarine programme. Today Barrow is also a hub for energy generation and handling. Offshore wind farms form one of the highest concentrations of turbines in the world, including the second largest offshore farm, with multiple operating bases in Barrow.