Building record 0856701000 - Cold War bunker at Wilton Park

Protected command bunker constructed 1951-3 as Eastern Command Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ 5). The bunker at Wilton Park was the only one of the five proposed regional command HQs to be constructed. Construction of the bunker appears to have started around 1951 but following the detonation of a Soviet hydrogen bomb in August 1953 there was a major reappraisal of the country’s war plans. One outcome was the abandonment of the plan to construct a network of protected army bunkers, however work on the bunker at Wilton Park was well-advanced and its construction was therefore completed. The bunker was also designed to house the London District War Headquarters and a communications centre. During the 1960s the bunker was used for training exercises by the Royal Observer Corps and in 1967 regained its military role as an Armed Forces Head Quarters (AFHQ), co-ordinating London’s five sub-regions. it was a co-ordination centre during the 1977 firemen's strike. It also functioned as the Thames Valley Flood Co-ordination Headquarters until the completion of the Thames barrier in 1984. In 1990, it was proposed to refit the bunker
to modern standards, but the end of the Cold War removed the need for this work and the bunker was abandoned soon afterwards. Assessed by EH as not surviving sufficiently complete to warrant listing. See report for detailed description and assessment of significance (B3).