Former Wing Headquarters Building, Greenham Common

This is a hardened wing headquarters building constructed around 1985 and subsequently modified. It was designed to provide protected command and control facilities for nuclear-armed aircraft operations during the Cold War.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of reinforced concrete with stainless steel elements throughout. The external walls are clad in PVC-coated metal sheets, and numerous heavy steel blast-proof doors protect critical access points.

Location and Setting

The Wing Headquarters Building is located to the south of the former runway in the technical area of the former airfield at Greenham Common. It stands immediately south-west of the Combat Support Building (Building 273), which provided hardened accommodation for a rapid response force had the airbase been attacked. The two buildings are functionally related.

Form and Plan

The building comprises two linked sections under flat roofs. To the east is a rectangular two-storey structure with its long axis oriented west-east. To the west is a single-storey square structure housing the decontamination suite and the western end of the bunker, with a lower single-storey projection at the west end. Wrapping around the northern part of this structure is a deep concrete battered plinth.

The main entrance to the building is in the north elevation, protected by a blast-proof wall to its west which then returns westward to run parallel with the building. At the junction of the two parts of the building, on the south elevation, is an external concrete staircase; a further example can be found on the north elevation. The south elevation features a blast-proof protected corridor over an entrance with a large sliding door, and to its west is a battered concrete projection. A further blast-proof corridor protects the eastern entrance into the decontamination suite.

Internally the bunker occupies the ground floor of the western two-thirds of the building and has a double-loaded corridor. Circulation in the decontamination facilities, in the western extremity of the building, is arranged in a circular fashion.

External Appearance

North Elevation

The principal elevation faces north. The main two-storey section is clad in PVC-coated metal sheet set vertically and running the full height of the building with a raised rib between each panel. This cladding is fixed over the hardened concrete structure. On the upper floor and to the east of the blast wall-protected entrance, windows occupy most panels; to the west on the ground floor, where the bunker is located internally, the elevation is blind.

Windows are rectangular units; those with rounded corners are the originals. The centre of this elevation is dominated by a blast wall in a burnt sienna paint or render. The same colour treatment is applied to the blast wall to the decontamination suite. The decontamination suite is clad in the same ribbed PVC-coated metal sheet above an exposed concrete plinth and is largely blind.

There are three original entrances to the decontamination suite: one in its east elevation is protected by the aforementioned blast wall. The second is in its west elevation, within the lower projecting section (also in burnt sienna as are all other blast walls and external staircases). Finally, the guardroom has a small observation port of armoured glass.

South Elevation

In the south elevation there is an externally-mounted solid steel escape hatch door, now left open such that its internal mechanism is exposed. At the junction of the single-storey and two-storey sections is an external dog-leg concrete stair with a curved profile. Windows are as before with those with rounded corners the original form.

Broadly central to this elevation is a protected corridor with a solid steel sliding blast-proof door in its external face. Internally to the corridor are a series of large circular exhaust vents and a further large steel sliding blast-proof door on the internal face. This leads into the bunker and a redundant south plant room. It is understood from the CGMS report of 2006 that similar features are present on the north elevation behind the blast wall, namely a hatch as per the south elevation and exhaust outlets, though these were not inspected. To its west is the aforementioned battered concrete projection.

East Elevation

The east elevation is as before in terms of cladding and fenestration, with a further external concrete staircase to the north.

Interior

Offices

Offices on the second floor and on the ground floor in the east of the building were not inspected but are understood to be standard office spaces.

The Bunker

The bunker is located in the west of the building, occupying approximately two-thirds of the floor space on the ground floor. It is accessed from a security lobby off the main entrance. The entrance to the bunker is via a massive solid-steel hinged blast door located at the east end of a double-loaded corridor.

For security reasons it was not possible to inspect all rooms within the bunker but the following original features were noted. To the north of the corridor is the north plant room which retains original ceiling-suspended air-cooling plant. Room 116 contains original ribbed grey wall covering, set vertically, of unknown material but possibly some kind of plastic; this was also noted in other rooms within the bunker. Between it and its subsidiary room 117 is an original heavy door. Off the escort and security room is an original Faraday cage.

At the end of the corridor is the battle operations room, accessed by a ramp down. Here survives the 'stage' against the west wall, above which the observation boards would have been hung (now gone), and in its east wall is the surviving observation window between this room and the battle room to its east. To the rear of the battle room, to the south of the spine corridor, is a narrow room which housed telecommunication cables. Further east is the south plant room which again has original ceiling-suspended ducting. Finally the redundant south plant room houses the former plinth for the generator (removed) and the other sides of the exhaust outlets and massive sliding steel door noted on the exterior.

The Decontamination Suite

The decontamination suite is located at the western end of the bunker and is essentially of stainless steel. Potentially contaminated personnel (from nuclear, chemical or biological attack) entered past the guard room and through the turnstiles in the western end of the building before entering the decontamination suite via an airlock with further thick steel blast-proof doors. Arrows on the floor (red for potentially contaminated; blue for clean) indicate the route via which personnel would travel.

The first room contained initial wash down facilities with a steel ceiling with strip lights, a grilled floor for drainage and a container for Fuller's Earth (to absorb and neutralise any remaining liquids). There are then a series of further rooms including a wet room (intact bar the missing shower heads) with a large covered steel hatch to dispose of contaminated clothing, then a drying-off room and a kit room, the latter equipped with a series of steel open lockers with hooks for individual clothing. In the centre of the complex is the laundry room.

Glazed observation windows from the centre allowed observers oversight of the decontamination process. Box-like steel projections from the ceilings of most rooms may be Geiger counters but this is unconfirmed. Operations were overseen from a command desk, located in a short corridor outside the decontamination rooms. This control panel of the desk has an external microphone and is set with Geiger counters.

Off this corridor are two plant rooms which retain their original machinery and plant. The first is the water and sewage management room, the second houses the fresh air intake and oxygen bottles, six gas filters, and rams to prevent any blast entering the bunker. Throughout, the decontamination suite is essentially intact.