Updated 16th July 2010

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• AREA 7 NEWS
• AREA 7 UPDATES - Old items in BLUE - Latest item in RED

July 16th - Area 7 OPENING DATE - Good Friday 22nd April 2010 - Area 7 will be included in all our public tours from this date onwards - Over the Easter Holiday two tours daily - Gates at 11am and 2pm - Tours at 11.30am & 2.30pm.

July 1st - Work on hold now during the peak summer visitor season - Will start again in September with the major building and fitting out blitz ! - More news to follow then with regular updates.

June 19th - Final clearing is now complete and planning has now started on building an entirely new internal staircase that will link the visitors route right through the centre of the A7 Ops Room and then directly into the back of the Cinema on the top floor - This will make an easy 'walk through' for visitors when they have access to the new A7 displays. (Photos of new entrance to follow soon).

June 8th - Work continuing on final clearing of A7 ready for restoration to start.

May 21st - Work is now completed on the new entrance to Area 7 now providing future direct public access to the Ops Floor on the new intermediate level. The new viewing area to the former Computer Hall has also been completed and this will now involve some slight changes to the current public tour.

May 14th - Major works start this week with the removal of the old entrance to Area 7 and a new computer hall viewing area being built - A new direct access to Area 7 is also being constructed for completion in about 7 days along with painting and decorating.

May 8th - New lighting system arrived today for installation in Area 7 as part of the new displays and interpretations - We are hoping with this project to get visitors right into the heart of the Ops Area so they will be able to see at first hand the whole layout of the command room. Building materials will soon be arriving on site to start on the new entrance to this exciting visitor development.

April 14th -  This is the current secuity entrance to AREA 7 and visitors to RAF Holmpton pass this corridor on the public tour - Needless to say it always generates interest and we do have a queue of people 'just waiting' to visit this restricted space. As soon as our main 2010 season ends on 30th October this entrance will be completely removed and will be converted into an entirely new viewing area to the former COMPUTER HALL which is presently viewed through a window next to the old MESSAGE CENTRE. The new viewing area will provide a much better 'panorama' of the former COMPUTER HALL and will also have a projection of how the room used to be. Where the original viewing area was located will then be removed and replaced by an entirely new entrance to AREA 7 - Very similar in look to the present entrance, but this time providing direct Public Access to the staircase leading up to the AREA 7 Operations Floor which is located on a 3rd floor half way between the bunkers existing two levels. A Public viewing walkway will then be created along the back wall of the Operations Floor, providing visitors with access right into the heart of AREA 7 - We are also hoping to be able to incorporate a 'cutaway' section of wall to show visitors how this level is constructed as there is a 36in concrete slab and a 4ft brick space between the Operations Floor of AREA 7 and the top floor of the bunker, and this would show visitors just how substantial a building the bunker is.

April 7th -   The Go Ahead has been given - So after two false starts we are now ready to go - AREA 7 has already been cleared and later this year we will be converting the present entrance to Area 7 into a new viewing area for the old Computer Hall - Then we will be making an entirely new entrance to AREA 7 that will allow visitors right into the heart of it's Operations Centre via a new staircase - All the original equipment will then be returned and there will be a new display and interpretation - Some of the current tour will then be altered to allow time for AREA 7 to be included in every tour. The scheduled opening date is Saturday 19th February 2011 - Just in time for the Half Term Holidays.