Report - Birmingham Civil Defense bunker, June, 2012

[bubblehead]

Finally gotten around to actually uploading these pics onto the net. A chance visit to the site led to us speaking to the right person and getting an opportunity to get in and look about. Unfortunately were told that someone had broken in a couple of months previously and started a fire leading to some smoke damage inside the bunker. Also the owners had converted it partly into a company social club installing a bar, bowling alley, pool table etc. Other parts of the bunker where used as practice rooms for bands.

In 1954, a heavily protected nuclear bunker was constructed in Edgbaston, a quiet suburb of Birmingham. It was a single-storey, concrete structure big enough to accommodate up to 80 people. The bunker was buried under a grass bank at the rear of an Edwardian mansion.

If the Soviet Union had launched a nuclear attack, the bunker would have been used by Civil Defence officials to direct emergency services - assuming there was anything left to direct. The bunker had its own power and water supply. It was also built with special filters against poison gas and nuclear fallout.

Despite moments of high tension during the Cold War, the world was spared the devastation of a nuclear war. And so the bunker at 8 Meadow Road was never used for anything other than training Civil Defence volunteers and storage in anticipation of a nuclear attack. But in 1956, the bunker did play a part in another aspect of the Cold War when, for several weeks, it housed Hungarian refugees who had fled the failed Uprising.

In April 1990, the Edwardian mansion at was put up for sale by Sandwell Metropolitan Council on behalf of the West Midlands Fire and Civil Defence Authority. Included in the asking price was the nuclear bunker.

The sale generated a great deal of media interest. It was reported on by ‘Sky Television’ and in numerous newspaper articles. It was the first major nuclear bunker to be put on sale, although considered to be just an adjunct of the Edwardian mansion.

In one local newspaper article, a former neighbour claimed she was surprised when she found out where the bunker had been built. It was well known locally that just uphill from site, there was a large water reservoir. If the reservoir had been damaged, the bunker would have been flooded.

The mansion, along with the bunker, was sold to a firm of structural engineers. A condition of the sale stipulated that the bunker must be demolished by 2003 if there was no nuclear war. The mansion was used for offices, but as the structural engineering firm did not have a specific use for the bunker, it became just a storage area.

In 2009, the bunker had still not been demolished. It would not be a simple matter - how do you effectively demolish a structure that was built to withstand a nuclear attack?

The bunker remains dilapidated and full of rubbish.

Source:whatliesbeneath.org

An unassuming doorway in an overgrown garden

just inside the door is the air intake room which houses the filtration and the generator

The main corridor area which had been converted into the bar and skittles alley

training room

storage, unfortunately the paperwork pertained to the current owners and not civil defense. Numerous other rooms were used to store assorted rubbish and evidence of the raves that were held there in the 90's

the only real sign of its real use

rooms used for band practice

what appeared to have been a communications room

fancy a picnic?

Finally a view from the garden, hard to guess there is a bunker hidden below the lawn​

 

[Mick789]

During the mid 70's my dad was a teacher at St Phillps School on Hagley Road. Some children needed to be relocated because of the high alumina cement problems prevalent at that time. They were moved to this Meadow Road location. Makeshift classrooms were set up in the bunker and the kids were educated underground with break times on the grass above. I visited on a few occasions with my Dad and I wandered around freely whilst he did whatever setting up was needed. I remember lots of road safety educational equipment was stored in there. Although a little messy it had obviously been maintained reasonably well up to this point. This link dates the pupils move to Sept 1974 http://www.macearchive.org/archive.html?Title=21904

I can also recall a well organised Bonfire Night display with lots of people attending and food catering in the house.

 

[HughieD]

Fantastic find!

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Must have missed this... Nice work ! Better late than never I suppose.

 

[mrlee]

I know the company that owns this we are contracted with them I'm going to see if I can get permission