Filter Bunker Raigmore Inverness

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The Filter Bunker Raigmore Inverness is the one remaining of a group of three subterranean bunkers situated around Raigmore in Inverness, Scotland. All three bunkers were constructed around 1940 for use by the Royal Air Force to process RADAR signals from Chain Home masts. The three bunkers in the cluster were Operations, Filter and Command. It is a B listed building because of its historic interest. [1]

History

Historically these bunkers were important in the processing of the Chain Home RADAR signals [2] for a large part of Scotland. The Filter Bunker was staffed primarily by the WAAF Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

It was operated by the RAF up until (about) 1943 – being used by both the No. 13 Group RAF and later the No. 14 Group RAF. Subsequent to that the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF - known in the UK as RAAF) used the building until the 1950s.

The filter bunker was used by the Civil Defence Corps from 1958 and by the Royal Observer Corps from 1968; it was acquired by Highland Council for use as their emergency centre in 1988. [3]

The two other bunkers – operations room bunker and the communications centre bunker – have both been demolished or built over since the war.

The building was designed to survive direct strikes from the German 2-ton bomb – the largest known at the time of construction example the SC2000. It achieved this by having a 1m deep concrete cap sitting top of a 1-metre-deep shingle base.

The filter bunker consists of two subterranean levels, each floor about 40 metres × 12 metres.

In 1988–1990 the Filter Bunker was renovated (apparently with the help of a £500,000 central government grant). This was to make the building some form of Regional Centre of Government. In addition to being double airlocked, the bunker was refitted with two diesel generators and the previous gas-only air filtration system was replaced with a new system that filters nuclear, chemical, and biological contaminants.

Internally the bunker was structured to have "the pit", where information gleaned from the RADAR was interpreted and placed on maps. Above the pit, higher-ranked officials would interpret the information and send it to the operations bunker.

Prior to 1989, there was no floor above "the pit" (room 43), with rooms 19–22 removed and only an L-shaped walkway in its place.

In 2016 the filter room bunker was put up for sale by the Highland Council. [4] In 2019 it moved into private hands and is now owned by CSP Partnership. Change of use planning permission has been granted to allow part of the building to be developed as a private museum. [5] [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "MHG20493 - The Bunker, King Duncan's Road, Inverness - Highland Historic Environment Record". her.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2019. https://her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG20493
  2. ↑ "Chain Home". www.radarpages.co.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2019. https://www.radarpages.co.uk/mob/ch/chainhome.htm
  3. ↑ "Inverness Raigmore Highland Emergency Centre – Subterranea Britannica". Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Emergency Bunker, Mackintosh Road, Inverness, IV2 3TX". Novaloca.com. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  5. ↑ "19/01959/LBC | Alterations to former emergency bunker | Emergency Operations Centre Mackintosh Road Inverness IV2 3TX". wam.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Submission by proposed developer, April 2019

Coordinates: 57°28′53″N4°11′57″W / 57.4813°N 4.1991°W / 57.4813; -4.1991


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