The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Has anyone here had a cellar dug out for use as an armoury and/or workshop?

Clearly it's only possible if the foundations/soil are suitable but did you have any grief with planning permission?

Any stories?

I read somewhere that any underground buildings do not need permission ?

Ideally I'd like to take this one step further one day - I've had a dream about building an underground pipe-range one day.

If this was for personal use on my own land, I wonder if I'd need any for of permission?

breacher wrote:I read somewhere that any underground buildings do not need permission ?

Not sure about planning permission, but building regs will need to be complied with.

I think all basements fall under 'permitted development' rights, so long as you are within the current footprint, you are unlikely to have an issue. Some restrictions surround listed buildings or affecting the soil hydrology to the detriment of your neighbour or damaging protected tree roots - that sort of thing.

We had a pit put in as part of a project many years ago. The major problem is keeping the thing dry during and after construction and we ended up with a sump and pump at one end despite concrete, block work, lining, more block work and tanking and more concrete. It went exactly twice over budget so I remember it well, that plus the look on the project managers face when he realised it has two feet of water in it one Monday morning made it a memorable event.

Just asked wife about planning permission. Apparently not required as long as you keep within the boundary of the existing building (different case if listed building), but planning permission might be required if the outside of the building was changed (ie adding outside access).

You require a chit from us ! Underground is our domain, bald monkey ! Get back up your tree !

Go google "garden basement" ooman if you are thinking of going underground. Plenty of contractors out there willing to separate you from your pennies.

Bear in mind that what you really need is not a lot of expensive plate glass and chrome but a big hole lined with sealed concrete - silicon based additives work well if properly applied in the right weather and temperature. Once you have dug your hole and lined it with concrete, consider dropping a few ISO steel containers in it as additional strengthening. (These are not a substitute for concrete, their load bearing capacity is concentrated at the corners and so they cannot hold back the earth loading alone.) Once the ISO containers are in place you can weld them together and fit interconnections if you need them. Some come ready supplied with ventilation units. It's SOP for the military to ship kit to theatre in containers, then use the containers themselves as improvised bunkers - you can do the same.

Do you think the neighbours would notice me putting in eight 40' containers for a 100m range?