Going bunkers: What Canadians are looking for in survival structures

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Fueled by fear and anxiety surrounding two years of COVID-19 and the recent threat of nuclear war, Canadians are going bunkers.

Manufacturers of survival shelters and backyard bunkers are seeing an unprecedented increase in international business, and wealthy Canadians are not immune to the anxiety.

As the global pandemic and scenes of political unrest and war in Europe continue to make headlines, high-net-worth individuals are calling on bunker makers to create luxury underground accommodations to defend themselves against an increasingly untrustworthy world.

As with their main residences, wealthy families have precise requirements for their bunkers, including opulent, quartz countertops and bespoke bidets. More surprisingly, Canadian interest in sheltered accommodation dates back to 2012.

Here, two manufacturers who service clientele in Canada share what it is Canadians are looking for in their survival structures, and describe how these fortresses are considered generational, second homes to be passed down for many survivalist generations to come.

Ron Hubbard, Owner, Atlas Survival Shelters

Sulphur Springs, Tex.

When did requests to your business for survival shelters and bunkers start to increase?

“Business picked up after COVID. The [recent] war [in the Ukraine] sent it into space.”

What sorts of bunkers do you create for your clients?

“My luxury bunkers have 10-foot ceilings, sunken living rooms and master bedrooms – all the comforts of home. They have flushing toilets, hot water, but [also] a nuclear blast hatch, decontamination showers, underground generators, and escape tunnels.”

Although you’re based in Texas, you have a thriving Canadian clientele. What parts of Canada are you receiving most of your requests from?

“Ontario and B.C. [reach out most often] by far, but Alberta is finally getting hot. [Canadian customers are looking for] safety, comfort and space.”

What are some of the luxury touches your most wealthy customers ask for in their bunkers?

“Quartz counters and those things you wash your butt with in Europe.”

Brian V. Camden, President, Hardened Structures Hardened Shelters LLC

Virginia Beach, Va.

How do you as a company assess the design and creation of survival structures?

“Hardened Structures is a team of specialized trained architects and engineers, along with construction professionals and ex-U.S. Navy SEALS. We have been in business for 33 years. We are licensed architects in all 50 states and have a DDTC Registration [Directorate of Defense Trade Controls] with the U.S. Department of State that allows us to work for approved foreign governments and militaries.

“After 33-years I think we probably heard about most all the threat event scenarios: Y2K, the Mayan 2012, asteroids, civil war, missile attacks, EMP, antichrist, grid-down, climate change, super volcanoes, Planet X [collision of a planetary body with Earth], one world order, etc. To us as design professionals it really doesn’t matter. Once we determine the client’s threat event dynamics, establish the threat and threat levels (blast, NBC [nuclear, biological or chemical], ballistic, etc.), [we know] that the facility must be designed to withstand [those], and determine the occupant load and shelter duration. We can write a protection program which is then the basis for design.”

What has spurred the boom in the bunker industry over the past three or four years?

“In the U.S., it has been mainly the fear of civil unrest, absence of law and order, and then EMP, grid-down, and others. Most of our projects are fortified homes that appear to be like regular high-end custom homes. They are ballistic resistant, forced-entry protected, off-grid capable and designed for standalone sustainability, usually Net Zero energy efficiency. They all have an underground shelter of cast-in-place reinforced concrete with CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear] air filtration, situational awareness, blast doors, gas tight and at least one emergency escape tunnel. These homes are typically second residences in rural locations and most clients consider them “generational homes” that they pass down to their children.”

What are Canadians looking for when they contact you regarding having bunkers built?

“Basically, the same as above. One of our past Canadian projects was an underground retreat into the side of a mountain designed for 125 occupants for a shelter duration of five years. We completed it in 2012. Our only current Canadian project is much like what is described above except it has site protection also.”

In the instance where money is no obstacle, what are some of the most “unique” or “over the top” requests you’ve had for bunkers over the years?

“Probably in the UAE for royalty, also a private island fortress that had a runway. Some of the larger projects here in the U.S. are ranches – we work with a couple of large real estate firms that specialize in ranches from 500 to 30,000 acres. Perhaps the hardest protection program to design for is the seven years of Tribulation and the Antichrist. It requires a lot of land and covert scenarios to avoid the ‘mark of the beast.’ We’ve only done two of these in the past 30 years and they are very intense.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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