Former nuclear bunker set for new lease of life as archive
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One of the last surviving nuclear bunkers in the UK is set for a new lease of life as an historic archive. The building, known as the Northern Ireland Regional War Room, is nestled among houses in a quiet neighbourhood in the Malone Road area of south Belfast.
It was one of 13 built across the UK in 1952 to co ordinate civil defence in the event of a nuclear attack at the height of the Cold War, designed to house 45 people, including the leaders of the emergency services. However it was never required, and now it is planned that the thick walls and stable environment will see it become a safe place to store the Historic Environment Record of Northern Ireland (HERoNI) in around a years’ time.
These will include databases, written records, maps, photographic, drawn and digital material covering all aspects of heritage including archaeological sites. historic buildings, industrial heritage, defence heritage and battlefield sites. The B1 listed war rooms themselves are just one of 4,500 defence sites in HERoNI which have been mapped in a survey exercise in recent years.
Behind the heavy doors, the facility includes a high ceilinged map room overlooked with large internal windows which would have been the hub of activity in the event of a nuclear attack co-ordinating the civil response. Another war room was built in Co Armagh in the late 1950s before the most recent similar facility opened in Ballymena, Co Antrim in 1990. It was advertised for sale in 2016.
