Hardened Structures/Hardened Shelters LLC is a Professional Construction Program Management Company specializing in the planning, design and construction of hardened facilities, hardened homes, underground bunkers, rural compounds and fortresses. These facilities are designed with independent sources of power and water and typically incorporate a substantial underground component. They can serve as your primary dwelling, vacation home, corporate retreat, long term shelter or expanded multi function compound.

Call us toll free at 1-877-486-0084 or click here to arrange a confidential visit to your site and a Hardened Structures’ Feasibility Study.

A Hardened Structure facility can be constructed in most localities, urban, suburban or rural. By its nature, a Hardened Facility is usually designed to perform its primary mission both during and after a war-like or criminal attack, in the event of a major natural disaster or accidental/man made emergency. Thus making hardening one of its primary requirements and a significant part of the cost.

In order to prepare for terrorist attacks, global warming, major disasters and other emergencies, it is impossible to maintain the highest level of preparedness for all possibilities all of the time. Given limited resources, managing the risk posed by major events is imperative. In an atmosphere of changing and evolving threats, resiliience and preservation are the cornerstones and it is vital to build structures that will enable the Client to prevent, respond to and recover from wide a range of major events.

We address these challenges by employing a Multi-Hazard Engineering methodology that not only recognizes individual hazards/threats sequentially but also address all hazards/threats simultaneously as a problem of optimization under constraints. The facility can be protected against a wide range of threats including forced entry, climate change, chemical/biological/radiological/explosive (CBRE) agents, airblast, ground shock, penetration, fragmentation and damage to the structure and equipment due to explosive loading.

Along with the Client’s particular living, function and storage requirements, the designs also incorporate active defense and manned and mechanical responses to reduce or limit the effectiveness of any given threat along with individual/family long term living requirements.

Our individualized services cover the entire spectrum of:

• Asset Value Assessment
• Threat Hazard Assessment
• Vulnerability Assessment
• Full Risk Assessment
• Site Selection and Layout Design
• Building/Site Design Management
• Blast Effects and Mitigations
• Chemical, Biological and Radiological Protective Measures
• Ventilation, Air Filtration and Sorbent Filtering Systems
• Sustainable, Alternative, Climatic and Solar Energy Designs
• Organic Farming & Processing
• Budgeting and Estimating
• Permitting and Local Jurisdiction Approval
• Full Construction Contracting
• Long Term Survivability, Food Storage and Equipment
• Client Move-in and Start-up

WHEN AN EVENT OCCURS

NOTE: The Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms prohibit the designs, systems and technologies that are incorporated into Hardened Structures to be exported to certain nations/governments.

Stated simply, a Hardened Structure is where you go when external forces are threatening your life. In most disasters the first forty eight hours are the most critical to survival and many lethal ancillary conditions develop so quickly that there is little or no time for preparedness.

Terrorism is real; it’s evolving and continues to increase in frequency and lethality throughout the world. Terrorism and physical attacks on the U.S. population have continued to increase in the past decade. All U.S. intelligence agencies now agree that it is not a question of “if” but “when” the next terrorist attack will occur. As 9-11 demonstrated, the geographical isolation of the United States is no longer a sufficient barrier to prevent an attack on its citizens or cities. The unyielding, tenacious and patient nature of the terrorists targeting our country requires us to plan, design and build facilities that deter and mitigate their efforts. Today, terrorist attacks can impact anyone, at any time, at any location and can take many forms.

The evidence of Global Warming and Climate Change is now clear and convincing. The Earth’s surface is continuing to warm which will lead to extreme weather, intense flooding, droughts, heavier and more frequent storms, melting of glaciers, ecosystem degradation, food shortages, fresh water shortages and expansion of infectious diseases. If allowed to continue unchecked, Global Warming represents the gravest threat to mankind’s continued existence.

Hardened Structures identifies the best and most cost-effective threat mitigation measures for each Client’s unique security/survivability needs and incorporates this into a Balanced Survivability Assessment (BAS). Balanced survivability is a condition wherein no significant facility failure mode has been overlooked or its importance understated, thus the facility has no “Achilles Heel.” This approach provides a rational basis for decision making to identify which risks should be mitigated first, select the best mitigation options, and define priorities in a context of the Client’s resources. Balanced survivability exist for a facility when all critical subsystems and resources required for accomplishing the facility's mission are equally survivable at a specified threat.

Utilizing guidelines and design standards established by the United States Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security, the US Department of State and the stringet Swiss Dirtecives for Shelters, we employ the Multi-Hazard Engineering methodologies to determine the best design for our Client’s unique requirements.

Hardened Structures are designed by registered, specifically trained Architects and Engineers. We employ Solar/Alternative energy specialists so the facility can operate off the power grid and former Military Special Forces personnel for site specific threat analysis and responses. We are also available to consult with and assist a Client’s architect and/or facility staff.

Hardened Structures are special, and so are the people who choose them. These facilities are designed to be your fortress; they offer independent living and they serve as a stand alone habitat to protect and sustain its occupants. Every design reflects the visions and priorities of its owner, yet bears an unmistakable architectural signature that life, safety and sustainability were design goals from the beginning.