The advertisement published at the end of September read as follows: “Nuclear shelter” house with a plot in Benabarre (Huesca). Under this peculiar title, the auction website Escrapalia opened the bidding to acquire a 4 hectare (41,396 m²) rural property that includes a 220 m² habitable property with a well-equipped basement that also serves as a bunker.
Located in the Fon de Boix area, the company specified that the 150 m² shelter is an “anti-atomic and anti-seismic” construction built in 2011, capable of housing between 12 and 20 people with an autonomy of three to five months. “In the event that an atomic explosion or radioactive clouds affect Europe, it would be extremely protected,” they added. The company set its market value at 850,000 euros, and its starting price was 550,000.
The existence of this type of private shelters to protect oneself in the event of a military attack or natural disaster is not new. If you pay attention to the newspaper archive, the largest and most famous in all of Spain, with capacity for 400 people, was inaugurated in 1983 on the ground floor of the Ébora hotel (formerly Beatriz hotel) in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo). Of smaller proportions, it is known that there are others spread throughout the national geography. “Between 500 and 1,000,” estimates a source in the sector, where confidentiality plays a determining role. Now, with the geopolitical waters becoming more and more turbulent, the trend seems to be going further.
“They were done before, but now the demand is much greater,” Francisco Javier Marquez, from the Underground Building firm, tells this newspaper, which since 2018 has offered the construction of NBC shelters (against nuclear, bacteriological and chemical attacks, for its acronym). in English). By phone, he assures that since the start of the war in Ukraine his company has registered a 70% increase in requests for information and budgets, “although in the end only a small part materializes.”
The same opinion is held by José Antonio Miguel, from Overvoxt, which advertises itself as the only Spanish company specialized in the production of prefabricated steel shelters. “Since the Russian invasion, demand has skyrocketed, and we have noticed it again now with the Gaza conflict,” he points out. According to his records, they have received up to 14 budget requests in recent days, “three times more than before.”
The sources consulted agree that, since the Ukrainian conflict broke out, advertisements from companies that claim to build bunkers with all the guarantees have multiplied on the Internet. However, the information contained in many of these portals is vague: the history of the company is not specified nor do people with names and surnames appear that can prove their experience or the cost of the work. This newspaper has tried to contact some of them, but they do not respond to emails or refuse to speak on the phone.
From the Catalan ABQ, a leader in the sector that has been creating nuclear shelters since 1975, they already warn of the risk of contracting the construction with an unknown or inexperienced company. “As a result of the war in Ukraine, companies are proliferating that offer bunkers and atomic shelters without any experience or knowledge,” its creator, nuclear engineer Antonio Alcahud, warns on his website. To potential interested parties, he advises them to make sure of the qualifications and experience of the person who is going to design their bunker, to ask them complex questions about the subject and to ask for photographs of the shelters they have built in different phases of their execution. “Their lives and those of their families depend on it,” he says.
In conversation with this newspaper, Alcahud questions the news of this supposed “boom” in the demand for private bunkers – “I have not noticed it,” he says –, which he rather attributes to a substantial increase in supply. “There is a lot of intrusion. I have seen real atrocities, with wrong figures and absurd proposals,” he criticizes.
What all those interviewed agree on is that the costs of a shelter vary depending on different factors, such as its size, whether it is a new construction or the renovation of an existing space (basement, cellar, garage) or the equipment. that incorporates: from armored doors, generating sets and ventilation and air filtration systems to the quality of the interior finishes.
In general terms, the ABQ company estimates the cost of a 25-person shelter at 59,800 euros, which rises to 70,300 euros for one with 50 people, to which is added the cost of civil works (excavation, concrete, painting, plumbing…).
Underground Building assures that a standard equipment (two bedrooms, kitchen-living room and bathroom) costs between 110,000 and 180,000 euros (including transportation and construction), while Overvoxt’s 6×3 prefabricated units can cost 40,000 euros plus ventilation systems. , which range between 6,000 and 9,000 euros.
Far from countries like Israel or Switzerland, where it is mandatory for homes to have underground bomb shelters, among the Spanish clientele, wealthy pockets with land at their disposal prevail, although companies agree that there are more and more middle-class people, majority with children, interested in their services. “They are ordinary people, who prioritize their safety and are willing to invest in it what a luxury car costs,” they say.
