Exploring the Future-Proof Data Vaults: A Journey into Repurposed Cold War Bunkers Transforming into Modern Cloud Storage Facilities

Nestled in the verdant landscapes of southeast England, a quiet rural road winds through the Kent countryside. The sun breaks through the hedgerows, casting dappled light on crop fields and old farmhouses. Amidst this picturesque setting, an unassuming 10-foot-high razor-wire fence encloses a large grassy mound. Beneath its surface lies a high-tech cloud computing facility, safeguarding the most prized asset of our era – digital data.

This subterranean data center previously served as a command-and-control center for the Royal Air Force’s radar network during the Cold War, housed in a nuclear bunker constructed in the early 1950s. The decaying concrete plinths that once supported the radar dish are still visible.

After the end of the Cold War, the bunker was acquired by a London-based internet security firm for use as an ultra-secure data center. Today, it’s operated by Cyberfort Group, a leading cybersecurity services provider.

The facility, a solid grass-covered concrete mass in the compound’s center, is at the heart of my ethnographic research into “extreme” data storage practices. My focus is on the fears surrounding data loss and the often overlooked efforts to back up digital information.

As an anthropological study subject, this bunkered data center continues a centuries-old human tradition of safeguarding precious relics within underground sites. This includes tumuli and burial mounds from our ancestors’ era, where tools, silver, gold, and other valuables were stored.

Globally, there are numerous repurposed bunkers like this one, now functioning as cloud storage spaces. Former bomb shelters in China, derelict Soviet command-and-control centers in Kyiv, and abandoned Department of Defense bunkers across the United States have all been reimagined over the last two decades as “future-proof” data storage sites.