With the prospect of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the topic of shelters is appearing more and more in the public space. While it might seem that bunkers are a relic of the Cold War, today again many of us are asking ourselves: how many people in Poland can count on real protection in case of an emergency? Unfortunately, the answer is not optimistic - we are one of the least prepared countries in the region. However, this may soon change, thanks to new regulations on protective structures. Along with the level of protection, however, housing prices may also change. Who will build shelters in Poland, how many will be built, and what do experts think?
How many shelters are there in Polish cities?
In the People's Republic of Poland, gripped by the specter of the Cold War, shelters provided shelter for about 5% of the Polish population. However, this small percentage still looks impressive compared to the current state of shelter infrastructure - according to a report by the Supreme Chamber of Control, fully functional shelters are sufficient for only 300,000 people, which is only 0.8% of the Polish population.
Comparing this to the number of protective facilities that our neighbors offer their residents, we rank rather at the bottom of the pile. For example, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia provide shelter facilities for about 5% of their populations, while Estonia boasts a rate of 12%. Lithuania definitely leads the statistics, with 6400 currently existing shelters securing as much as 54% of the population. Worse situation than in Poland is only in Germany - there, in case of war, the infrastructure will provide protection for only 0.5% of the population.
Many shelters in Poland do not meet standards
© public domain
shelter, hiding place or temporary shelter?
So there is a lot of work to be done, importantly, but significant changes are coming that could improve the situation:
While it would be unfair to say that the proverbial "ball on the Titanic" is still in progress, shelters have not increased over the past year in Poland. Instead, there has been a great deal of progress at the level of enacting legislation - we have both a Law on Civil Protection and Civil Defense, as well as several executive regulations, such as those on the criteria for recognizing facilities or parts thereof as protective structures. So far, however, this law has been toothless, as a key regulation on the technical conditions and use of protective structures has been missing. A draft of this regulation is ready, has already passed through the legal committee, and can be expected to enter into force soon.
- says Pawel Pucher, an attorney at the Kaczor Klimczyk Pucher Wypiór law firm.
The Law on Civil Protection and Civil Defense, in addition to imposing new obligations on both public authorities and private entities, defines the structures that can be considered protective facilities. These consist of three categories - shelters, hiding places and places of temporary shelter. Shelters are airtight structures with a higher level of security and equipped with appropriate filtering systems. A slightly lower level of security is provided by hiding places, i.e. structures, or parts of structures, that are non-hermetic. The last category - places of temporary shelter - will include structures that are adapted for the temporary protection of the population.
stage one - diagnosis
An important consequence of the enactment of the Law on Civil Protection and Civil Defense is a thorough examination of the state of Polish shelters. Although similar data was provided last March by a report published by the Supreme Audit Office, the information contained therein is purely theoretical. The new law moves the discussion of protective facilities into the realm of praxis:
At this point we are in the inventory phase. By April 2 of this year, all managers of public and multi-family buildings were required to inform local authorities whether the facilities they manage can serve as a collective protection facility. This serves a dual purpose - on the one hand, to inventory and categorize security facilities, and on the other hand, to set tasks for raising security standards in these facilities. Moreover, the resulting database of information will make it possible to designate facilities that can be forcibly taken over for civil protection purposes in the event of an impending war or natural disaster. We are mainly talking about those facilities that are equipped with underground garages - as the draft regulation on the technical conditions of protective facilities shows, above-ground buildings can play such a role only in exceptional cases.
- explains attorney Paul Pucher.
Although the base is probably still waiting to be developed, an application has already been created that can help ensure safety in case of an emergency. We are talking about the SCHRONY application created by the Polish Fire Service, which, in the form of a map, is able to indicate the nearest protective facility.
The new shelters will be created in underground garages
Photo: Anastasiya Badun © Unsplash Free
shelter from the developer
However, the most significant consequence of the entry into force of the law dedicated to the protection of civilians is how new shelters will be created. According to its wording, starting next year, every new public building and multi-family housing facility will have to be designed and built to provide emergency shelter spaces at the level of an underground floor, such as a garage. This is intended to significantly increase the number of places in protective facilities available to the Polish population.
The basics are good in my opinion - the new regulations create some basic framework for the implementation of protective structures, and introduce into the legal order the concept of collective protection facilities, which include both shelters and hiding places and places of temporary shelter. Instead, the public's dissatisfaction may be caused by the fact that, according to the new regulations, only a part of it will be provided with protection. About 50% of the population in the threatened area is to be covered, and even less (25%) will find a place in protective structures. This does not at all mean that it is always about shelters. However, it should be borne in mind that this is still an unusually large progression, because according to a report by the Supreme Audit Office last March, only about 300,000 people are currently provided with shelter in Poland.
- says attorney Paweł Pucher of the KPPW law firm.
price of safety
Although the obligation to provide shelter will mainly cover structures that are already planned at the conceptual stage to be equipped with an underground garage, the adaptation of these structures to perform a protective function will not be without impact on the investment process:
In my conversations with representatives of the developer community, I have noticed that they are primarily wondering to what extent the new regulations will affect the cost of building new structures, because the new regulations [are to - ed.] apply to structures for which the application for a building permit or notification of construction will be made after December 31 of this year. Funding for these activities is to be based on a subsidy model, but it is unclear whether the announced support will be able to offset these costs. Ultimately, at least to some extent, they will probably be passed on to end buyers.
- notes attorney Pawel Pucher.
Last year, the cost of equipping a multifamily building with a place of temporary shelter, the lowest form of protection envisioned by the law, was estimated at about 300 zlotys per square meter. In the case of the need to provide concealment, the expenses will certainly be much higher. Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said in February of this year that the increase in housing prices after the introduction of the new legislation should reach several percent.
Shelter in ZPI - a missed opportunity
In the interview, the lawyer pointed to a certain missed opportunity offered by new planning tools, including Integrated Investment Plans, which will soon replace or supplement the operation of the so-called lex developer, or housing speculative law. Under the IPPs, when setting the location conditions for a new development, the city, in consultation with applicants, determines the type of so-called "complementary investment" to compensate for changes made to the urban order due to construction. These are chosen from a finite catalog, which, however, so far does not include the possibility of building a shelter.
Scorpio Garden House
proj.: BXB Studio, press mat.
your private shelter
The construction of shelters is primarily discussed in the context of cities - which is not surprising in view of the fact that they are the most vulnerable to air attacks in the event of war. For many , however, protection from hazards is an important factor in the case of individual construction. In this regard, the draft regulation on technical conditions does not impose any obligations on those who own or erect such structures, but it does contain a set of recommendations in this regard, informing about the parameters that such structures will have to meet.
And what does this look like in practice? There are companies in Poland engaged in the construction of shelters in single-family homes, even despite the lack of regulations precisely regulating the parameters of such structures. Architectural designs are also being created that take into account from the outset the provision of adequate security for the family. Leading the way in the creation of such concepts is Boguslaw Barnaś's BXB Studio, which in recent months has presented several variants of a single-family house equipped with a "private" modular bunker, Scorpio House.
Scorpio Garden House - development typology
proj.: BXB Studio, press mat.
However, it is worth remembering that a private shelter is not a cheap solution. As experts point out, the cost of erecting a backyard "bunker" starts at 120 or even 200 thousand zlotys. But can the price of security be too high?
