Nottingham Cold War bunker redevelopment takes step forward

Plans to redevelop a 1950s Cold War bunker and build a new housing development around the site have taken a step forward. The application for 104 affordable homes around the Grade II-listed Nottingham War Rooms in Chalfont Drive, Beechdale, was approved last November. The bunker itself would house a space for youth charity Base 51 as well as a community health and leisure facility, conferencing facilities, and space for food and drink outlets. Developers have now completed the purchase of the site and work is set to begin, with the first new homes expected to be built by April 2027. The bunker, known locally as The Kremlin, was one of 16 war rooms designed nationally in the early 1950s in order to provide protected government accommodation during a nuclear attack. It was designed to accommodate more residents from nuclear fallout rather than the blast itself. The site was decommissioned and repurposed as a storage facility for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food before it closed its doors in the 1990s. The bunker spans three floors and features a former BBC studio designed to deliver news broadcasts at the time. Developer Hamilton Russell Harperwood, of Langcroft Group,