ABOUT THE BUNKER

Brede Waterworks

Brede Six miles north of Hastings , off the A28 to Ashford.

Front entrance.

The Southern Water emergency control bunker at Brede Waterworks is cut into the side of a slope. It is single storey and was covered with earth after completion and is now grassed over.
The bunker, which was never completed internally but finshed work in about 1992, is located next to the site entrance and apart from the 2 large ventilation shafts sticking up out of the ground there is know indication that the mound is anything more than a covered reservoir small though it may seem.

Escape hatch

There is an escape shaft, which opens out through a manhole cover on the grassed area. The entrance door is on the far side of the bunker away from the site entrance. The outer door is just a simple wooden door  but a couple of feet behind this is a substantial blast door. After entering through this door there is a small lobby, on the left are 2 decontamination showers with full-length modesty curtains. Water, is provided, by pushing a large lever. On the right another heavy blast door holds a German made generator together with 4 large diesel fuel tanks full of diesel.

Showers     

Another blast door gives further access into the bunker. To the left are the toilets fully fitted out with chemical loos, wash basins with individual water filters. Next to this room is a  smaller room with the cold water supply tanks. Iin front of this room is the mess area with a kitchen which has now been reoccupied by BSARS. A door on the left leads to a dormitory with wall mounted lights for the beds. Through the mess area is another dormitory with wall-mounted lights for each of the bunks.

Washroom and sinks

Back at the entrance a corridor to the right and the  room on the right is the plant/power room. This room is totally complete and operational. Air filters with hand cranks in case the power failed are on the wall.  Back up heavy duty batteries with power being fed into them via the mains power input from the grid (100A 3 phase and 30A single phase),with remote control for the generator all in pristine condition and all unused.

Air filters

The Faraday cage  
A door on the right leads into another medium size room and at he end of this room is an EMP chamber (Faraday cage). The cage was used to house all the communications hardware in case of an attack by an electrical type charge.  The charge would run around the outside of the cage and run to earth.

The Bunker now.

The bunker is in excellent condition throughout apart from a lot of water on the floor from, probably lack of use and a build up of condensation. The lights all work and the generator is turned over on a regular basis.  Southern Water is considering handing over the bunker to the steam preservation trust for use as a small museum and this will secure its' future. This has now been done.