Inside NI’s Regional War Room
27/9/23
This article is featured in the September 2023 edition of Perspective magazine, to purchase a copy click here
Nestled in a secluded site within a residential area off Malone Road in south Belfast, is a plain, unassuming structure – a nuclear bunker dating from the Cold War period. Constructed in 1952-53, the ‘NI Regional War Room’ was one of only 13 of its type established across the UK. Built to specifications by the Working Party on Civil Defence War Rooms, and designed to a standard plan, these structures were perhaps the most visible architectural manifestation of the government’s response to the perceived threat of nuclear attack during the Cold War period. As such, the building is a defence heritage asset of national interest, as well as one of the best-preserved examples of this plan type, now protected as a Grade B1 listed building.
Architecturally, the building form follows the intended function. Utilitarian in appearance, the bunker is comprised of a rectangular single storey over basement flat roof structure, devoid of openings, except for two external blast doors (now replaced) on either side. The special interest, however, lies beneath the blank facade, in its practical robust construction, the carefully considered plan form and the ventilation infrastructure.
Constructed of mass in-situ concrete, the external walls are 1.5m thick with a reinforced concrete roof, designed to withstand a direct hit by a 500lb capacity bomb. Internally, aligned with the standard template, lies a central double-height map room with smaller rooms clustered around the void, accessed via a perimeter corridor. The original self-contained mechanical ventilation system, generator and associated controls and switches which remain in the building are of particular interest.
In the event of a nuclear attack, it was intended that the bunker could accommodate approximately 45 local government staff who would take control of the region and coordinate civil defence. The dawning realisation of what nuclear war and its aftermath would actually entail, however, meant that it was quickly understood that the regional war rooms network would not be suitable for a long-drawn-out recovery period. Thus, in 1958-59 under a revised scheme involving much larger facilities acting as ‘Regional Seats of Government’, the building’s role was transferred to Gough Barracks, Armagh. Subsequently, the bunker was assigned a more localised function as the Belfast Corporation Control. It was mothballed in the late 1960s, but following another defence reorganisation in the early 1980s was reactivated as a ‘Regional Government Headquarters’, until superseded in 1990 by a new RGHQ at Ballymena. In recent decades it has been used as records store for the Courts Service.
Now vacant once again, the Department for Communities is currently exploring options for the sustainable reuse of this important and resilient relic of Northern Ireland’s Cold War heritage. A new chapter in the narrative of the south Belfast nuclear bunker awaits.
Naoimh Quinn, Senior Architect
Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities
This article is featured in the September 2023 edition of Perspective magazine, to purchase a copy click here
