Bunker provides a solid foundation for housing
A GERMAN bunker has been preserved for future generations under a new housing development.
Work has been progressing quickly on the Courtil Reveaux development at Les Islets Arsenal, with the three houses and nine flats set to be watertight within the next few weeks.
It is the Guernsey Housing Association’s first project in the western parishes, but it has presented them with a big challenge in the form of a large army control bunker from the Second World War.
RG Falla took on the project off Route du Longfrie.
Site manager Jim Allen said the three terrace houses stood directly over the bunker, with piling at either end to make sure it was stable. The homes also cover part of the concrete base of a former radar tower.
While excavating, workers uncovered the original bunker steps – which were not on the Festung Guernsey plans – and it was decided the access would be kept.
GHA development manager Phil Roussel said when they had contacted their UK insurers before they started the project the insurers had been nervous, so they were invited over. Once they saw how solid the structure was, it was agreed that it was suitable to build houses on top.
The ceiling and walls are about a metre thick and made of reinforced concrete.
‘We had a structural engineer have a look and he said that the earth removed from on top actually weighed more than the houses being built,’ Mr Roussel said.
The bunker has a main room, with five rooms off it. When work started there was standing water inside, but the structure has been dried out and ventilation put in.
The access is down a ladder through a hatch in one of the new houses’ gardens. The lid will be kept locked and the GHA will keep the key, so people can gain access if necessary.
On other parts of the site there were two personnel shelters. One has been kept, but one had to be removed to make way for the flats. Mr Allen said it was a bigger job than they had anticipated.
‘It took eight days to break it up using a 16-ton excavator,’ he said.
‘It was very solid.’
Under other parts of the site German tunnels, a kitchen bunker, a water cistern and granite slabs were found and had to be removed.
The new homes – six one-bed flats and three three-bed houses – are a mix of rented and partial ownership. They will start being allocated in the autumn.
The project is set to finish in November, with the first tenants able to move in before Christmas.
