Interesting Link Citadels to house the government/staff in the event that central locations were hit Subterranea Britannica: Sites: Station Z Kodak site Harrow Station Z, Harrow (1940) by the Office of Works. The Underground Air Ministry Citadel, aka Station Z, in Harrow was designed by the Office of Works as a bomb proof HQ for the Air Ministry. It was added to the local list of buildings in 2012. Buildings now gone but underground part still exists
Good site as always . Have a look at underground factories too.. One of which at Corsham..air ministry used in ww2 I used to eat me butties there on night shift in service days..
yes Tom /Urgh thanks in another thread i was asking re first bombs to fall on london in the war and they turned up in Harrow perhaps if the Lufwaffe had knowledge about the citadel and knew about bentley priory then it would have been a reason why. There is also a huge shelter there but no public access all makes sense now. regards Clive
The Kodak site in the last stages of redevelopment. The new residents will never know what is beneath their new homes.. But at least the Chimney will remain built in 1896[
Mass building of the SoT has started It is now locally listed Air Ministry Citadel (known as Station Z) within the grounds of the former Kodak Ltd site https://www2.harrow.gov.uk/documents/s104739/Local Listing - Appendix A.pdf One will be able to have a look when the building work is completed The Harrow View East site is also occupied by the underground remains of a former Air Ministry Citadel, known historically as ‘Station Z’, which served as contingency wartime administration space. This structure, which originally comprised both surface and subsurface structures, now only retains its sub-surface features. This is being considered by the Council for local listing following recommendation by English Heritage and is located adjacent to the railway line. It essentially consists of an underground bunker, which previously formed the basement of a larger building (examples of an intact building exist elsewhere). The top of the bunker is approximately ground level on that part of the site and Kodak currently use this open area for storage. It is proposed to retain this structure in situ and construct the proposed energy centre and multi-storey car park on top. Given that the special interest of the bunker is its internal appearance below ground level, it is considered that the proposed development above would not unduly impact on its character, nor would it _______________________________________________________________________________________ Special Planning Committee Tuesday 26th June 2012 82 affect the way it is appreciated. Construction works would not unduly impinge on the structural integrity of what is intrinsically a very strong feature. https://www2.harrow.gov.uk/documents/s98520/Agenda 26-06-12.pdf
This site has been built on by a developer I asked the local council if this is still (or parts of it are in situ) and they suggested that it is. Further investigation is required once the building work is completed. Local listing agreed at Cabinet, March 2013 Underground Air Ministry Citadel (known as Station Z) within the grounds of the former Kodak Ltd site, Headstone Drive Recommended for local listing by English Heritage in an email dated 14th November, 2011. Kodak brought the site for expansion of their large adjoining complex and the surface office block was demolished in 1996. The site has since been sold and is being redeveloped. The building has local architectural and historic interest as highlighted by its local list description: ‘World War II underground Air Ministry Citadel within the grounds of the former Kodak site on Headstone Drive. This housed manned and operating sections: war room, telephone exchange, teleprinter and communications. War room records were maintained there Intelligence Civil Clerical Staff Administrative Section were housed in this citadel as well as Whitehall and it housed the Intelligence RAF Staff Administrative Section as well as the Technical Intelligence & Crashed Enemy Aircraft examination section, HQ, Translation Section and the supply of maps to the RAF. After WW2 Station Z still housed some Air Ministry departments until 1955. It was only vacated by Home Office in 1992. Currently the only indications of anything below ground are a small prefabricated metal entrance hut over the top of the northern emergency staircase, two ventilator outlets with an emergency escape hatch between and the concrete caps of the lift shaft and the other emergency exit. Upper basement level has been stripped of original fixtures and fittings leaving one large 'open plan' room with 25 supporting pillars evenly spaced in five lines. On the east side the original plant entrance, loading bay and east stairway are enclosed within a walled area. A personnel access hatch has been retained and there is a wooden ladder against the wall if access is required. The 8" thick steel door frames for blast proof doors are still in place. Four stairways go down to the protected lower level or sub-basement. Two of these are wide concrete stairways with door frames at the bottom where the blast doors have been removed. There were originally two spiral staircases which acted as the emergency exits: one remains at the bottom of the present access stairs, though blocked off and out of use. The sub basement is similar to the basement with 25 pillars directly beneath those in the basement. Again all internal partition walls have been removed with the exception of a small block extending into the room from the east wall. Here there is one separate room and an adjacent short corridor leading to the east stairs. A number of concrete plinths in the north east corner indicated where the ventilation plant was sited. The substantial concrete engine bed to the generator is still in place’. Source of information and photos: Subterranean Development website http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/s/station_z/index1.shtml accessed 15th December, 2011 and site assessment.
Kodak Harrow Photo taken a week ago The Citadel lost beneath The site is crammed with flats not sure the residents know what lies beneath https://www.harrow.gov.uk/downloads/file/23171/locally-listed-buildings.pdf
