Demand for £40k nuclear bunkers surges in Spain
IN MADRID – Fears of the growing threats from war and a rise in catastrophic natural disasters like the Valencia floods have led to a rise in demand for underground bunkers in Spain, according to those in the industry.
Elevated risks have prompted a 200 per cent rise in demand for these protection shelters, according to one company in this specialised market.
Most bunkers, which are built under homes, have been bought by wealthy clients in exclusive areas of Madrid, Barcelona and parts of southern Spain. However, one company reported that a middle-class family had taken out a loan to pay for a bunker which cost €50,000 (£41,700).
“Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Israel and Gaza, demand has risen by about 200 per cent. It is fear which has driven this,” José Antonio Senorix, CEO of Overvoxt, told i.
“Normally it is only wealthy people who buy these but recently I had a family who took out a loan to buy one as they are not cheap.”
He said before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he sold about six bunkers every year but this has since tripled.
Concerns over the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East are adding to people’s fears, Mr Senorix added.
Mr Senorix sells bunkers which measure eight metres by three metres. They are fitted with a fresh oxygen supply, a gym, a kitchen, beds, and can accommodate people for up to a year. The company website describes construction as similar to a submarine hull and the bunkers are able to withstand explosions, as well as the pressure of water and earth around it.
“Some details are omitted for reasons of trade secrecy, but clients receive with their shelter a dossier with detailed plans, a certified structural calculation and a finite element calculation exposing the bunker to all the possible effects it will encounter, explosions, pressure, depression,” the website states.
The company also makes Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) doors and air filtration systems. “You have an air filter system that is a Nuclear, Biological, Chemical [NBC] air filter that allows you to create a positive pressure safe room, air raid shelters, a bomb shelter, or a negative pressure isolation room,” it states.
The walls or shell of the bunker are usually about 22 cm thick for shelters up to 9 metres long and 3 metres wide and larger in other measurements. Most companies sign confidentiality clauses with clients.
Antonio Alcahud Lara is the owner of ABQ which has been making bunkers since the Cold War during the 1970s.
“We have seen a rise of interest recently since the threat of nuclear war with Russia because of Ukraine. There are about 70 per cent more clients enquiring,” he told i.
“But it is not just war which worries people. They are also concerned about things like the Valencia flooding.”
The Spanish government is drawing up a new national security plan which for the first time will include advice to the population on what to do if faced with “the risk of war”. Other countries across Europe have also issued updated advice to citizens.
A Spanish Interior ministry spokesman said the government could not rule out producing a civil protection guide for war like those which have recently been produced by Sweden, Finland and Norway.
Existing civil protection plans warn authorities and citizens what to do in case of floods, volcanic eruptions or forest fires.
Apart from a devastating civil war between 1936-1939, Spain avoided both the First and Second world wars so this is the first time citizens have been warned about the risk of armed conflict.
During the civil war, anti-air raid bunkers were constructed across Spain. Many still remain today and have become tourist attractions.
They include two in Barcelona, another in Altea near Alicante, two in Andalusia and another in Tenerife.
