Potential Bermuda Buyer Eyes Nuke Bunker
A Cold War nuclear bunker in Scotland put on the property market by its owners has caught the interest of a possible Bermuda buyer.
The sprawling nuclear bunker is located beneath the rolling Scottish hills of the former Cultybraggan Camp, over a mile south of the town of Comrie and within 50 miles of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“Potential purchasers have come from Bermuda as well as Australia, America, France, Germany, South Africa, Dubai, India, Spain and the UK and we have several interested parties lined up for viewings throughout February,” said Andrew Black, who works for the Scottish realty firm marketing the property. “Possible uses suggested for the bunker have ranged from an antiques or wine store to a residential home to a telecommunications centre. We have even had interest from someone who would use it as a doomsday shelter,” The former military installation was originally built in 1939 and played host to some of the most notorious Nazi Prisoners of War during the Second World War.
At the end of the Second World War the camp was turned into an Army training area, until 1960 when it became the Royal Observer Corps nuclear monitoring post.
Later the Scottish Parliament spent millions of pounds upgrading the facility into a command-and-control centre during the 1980s. The huge underground bunker housed over 150 staff who worked to protect England and Scotland from nuclear, biological and electromagnetic attacks.
It was the most technologically advanced bunker built during the Cold War, complete with a BBC studio, a canteen, a telephone exchange and dormitories.
Once the bunker was completed, however, the Cold War quickly came to an end and it was no longer needed.
In August 2007 Comrie Development Trust, a charity, bought the Cultybraggan Camp site for £350,000 with the intention of redeveloping it to provide commercial premises for local businesses at competitive rates.
Over the last three years CDT has rebuilt the camp, upgrading the drainage, sewage, electricity, telecoms and water systems.
Nine of the camp’s huts and the former mess building have been refurbished and are now being rented to local businesses. Proposals are also underway to equip the camp with a renewable energy system in the future.
“This really is a fascinating installation which would suit a variety of uses including high security computer data storage, a disaster recovery facility or even a temperature controlled fine wine store,” said Mr. Black. “This is the first step in a historic route as the Comrie Development Trust is calling for interested parties to come forward and develop this truly unique building set within the magnificent backdrop of the surrounding hills and glens on the edge of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.”
Owners Comrie Development Trust are asking £400,000 (US$642,000) for the property.
Can the Bermuda govt purchase this? Would be on option to throw all of our gangstaa’s in.
As a Bermuda Army Cadet, I and seven other Bermuda Cadets spent a long weekend at Cultybraggan Camp in July 1960. We lived in the wartime Nissen huts that were still there, and we learned that it had previously been a Prisoner-of-War camp for WW11 prisoners. Can’t remember if we had ‘Haggis’ on the menu, but we did have chips with everything.
I’ve pleasant memories of Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland that stem from that time at Cultybraggan.
Larry Burchall