15th April 2025
‘Grand Designs’ development opportunity as former nuclear bunker and reservoir in Uppingham comes to auction
A former nuclear bunker site in Uppingham that is billed as a ‘Grand Designs-style’ development opportunity and has been given planning consent to build an exclusive modern home, is to go under the hammer this month.
The 1.4-acre bunker and former reservoir site, half a mile from Uppingham town centre in Rutland, has been given a £650,000 guide price and will appear along with over 180 other properties and plots of land in the next live-streamed auction held by SDL Property Auctions, part of Eddisons, on 24 April.
Opened in 1960 as a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Cold War monitoring post, the underground bunker in Uppingham was decommissioned in 1968. At the height of the Cold War, the ROC had over 1,500 underground monitoring posts across the UK and was tasked with reporting nuclear bursts and monitoring the ensuing radioactive fall-out.
The site has planning permission for what auctioneers describe as “a one-off large home” with “cathedral-type ceilings”, a large glass frontage, two floors of “stunning” accommodation and views across the surrounding Leicestershire countryside.
Andrew Parker, partner and auctioneer at SDL Property Auctions, said: “A nuclear bunker site going up for auction is something of a rarity itself but to have a site like this, with its unique Cold War history, as well as planning permission to build a fantastic luxury home in one of the best locations in the Midlands, is certainly not something we come across very often as auctioneers and it’s creating a lot of interest among potential buyers.”
He added: “Uppingham is of course a highly sought-after gem of a market town that regularly tops the ‘best places to live’ rankings and is known for its great schools and other facilities as well as its renowned places to eat and easy access to London and the rest of the Midlands.
“This is the perfect location for a modern design project of a house and the land also has plenty of space for garages and parking as well as landscaped gardens and tennis courts. There is also the former nuclear bunker on the site of course and that has scope to be turned into anything from further residential accommodation to a ‘man cave’ retreat or an office.”
For more information about the site, on Stockerston Road in Uppingham click here. Interested parties can also register to bid in the live streamed auction online, on the phone or by proxy by clicking here.