Dubai’s glitziest bunkers: Fortified panic rooms built to prevent kidnapping and theft are now being used as bomb-proof safe spaces by the UAE’s richest residents

Almost none of the ex-pats who reside in the lap of luxury in Dubai would have predicted the Iranian air strikes that have targeted the glitziest city in the United Arab Emirates since Saturday – but that doesn’t mean they didn’t already have a designated safe space earmarked to shelter in.

Such is the city’s extreme wealth that many of the opulent properties that are home to billionaire entrepreneurs, influencers and ex-pats have futuristic safe houses, panic rooms and fortified basements installed as standard – often at the cost of millions.

It’s likely that before this weekend many of these unlikely war bunkers have never been used, such is the low violent crime rate in the Emirati city, where even minor theft carries tough deterrent sentences. 

And sheltering from a downpour of Iranian missiles is unlikely to have ever crossed the minds of the super wealthy who installed them in their five-star builds.

Until the first military strikes hit the city this weekend – which saw many tourists flee for their lives, Dubai has been largely untouchable in recent Middle Eastern conflicts.

All that changed on Saturday, when Dubai Airport and luxury properties Fairmont The Palm and the Burj al Arab were dramatically hit with no warning.  

Residential precautions taken against the threat of serious crime against high net-worth individuals such as kidnapping or armed assaults are now suddenly coming into their own – particularly as more attacks on the UAE city could happen in the coming days.

Many of Dubai’s richest residents have taken to Instagram since Saturday to report their faith in the Emirate’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his army’s power to intercept further strikes. 

And Zabeel Palace, where Dubai’s rulers – the Al Maktoum family – themselves live is thought to be one of the most fortified places in the entire UAE. 

The regal property is reported to have several aesthetically pleasing, hi-tech safe rooms available at the push of the button – with a separate power supply on tap that could keep the  safe in lockdown for weeks on end.

The lavish palace could be a target for Iranian attacks should the Middle Eastern conflict escalate further – but the Emirate’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been bullish in the face of strikes; he was pictured wandering around Dubai Mall earlier this week.

Elsewhere, most of Dubai’s most notable private residences have similar levels of security. 

One of the city’s most expensive properties, Marble Palace, which sits in the uber affluent Emirates Hills area and sold last year for £86 million, is also thought to also come with several bomb-proof panic rooms and a private power substation. 

Argus Security, based in a shopping mall in Dubai, creates bespoke blast-proof safe and ‘secret’ rooms for luxury homes that are intended to provide a hide-out from violent attacks, including with Ak47 assault rifles at close range – but could now also offer refuge against nearby missile and drone strikes. 

For those without built-in fortified rooms, a state-of-the-art gym, often housed in the lower floors of luxury properties, appears to be doubling up as the shelter space of choice for the rich.

Star of Netflix series Dubai Bling, Ebraheem Al Samadi, a Kuwaiti-American entrepreneur worth around £38million and known as ‘The Blooming Man’ shared a video with his 1.2 million followers from what appeared to be his property’s underground gym this week. 

Al Samadi was seen wearing work-out gear and wearing headphones in the sizeable subterranean room. 

A caption read: ‘Are you guys safe in the UAE?’ with the caption adding ‘We’re perfectly fine’. 

And on Monday, ex Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand revealed how he and his wife Kate, and the couple’s youngest children, retreated to their basement after a series of ‘terrifying’ missile strikes around his home.

Rio, 47, and Kate, 34, moved their life to the UAE in August last year, along with their children, Shae, two, Cree, five, as well as Rio’s daughter Tia, 14. 

Both Rio and Kate later shared a photo of the family working out in the basement gym, after keeping their children at home from school during the ‘Dubai lockdown’.  

Former TOWIE star Kate took to Instagram on Sunday to provide an update on her family’s whereabouts and reassured fans they were safe after a ‘very scary night’.

She wrote: ‘Thank you for all of your messages and sorry for the silence, I haven’t wanted to worry you all I just haven’t been able to find the words. We are safe.

‘The government are doing an amazing job of keeping it that way and despite my nerves I feel we are in very safe hands.

‘We are hoping for a calmer evening tonight, last night was very scary. Although Cree and Shae loved it as they couldn’t believe we all got a sleepover in the basement.

Other famous faces who reside in the UAE, including Luisa Zissman, Petra Ecclestone and Arabella Chi have all shared updates following the Iranian strikes.

TV personality Zissman, 38, spoke of how she had to keep her family indoors after fleeing the park due to the noise of explosions.

Luisa, who is mother to Dixie, 16, Indigo, 10, and Clementine, nine, was forced to retreat to her basement in Dubai after hearing four explosions while out with her children, on Sunday.

She branded the experience ‘surreal and scary’ as she shared her hopes that the UAE defence will keep everyone in the area safe.

Sharing a picture of one her children baking, she said: ‘Home baked bread rolls. Keeping the kids entertained and indoors.

‘We got itchy feet and went to take them to the park and literally as we went to step foot out the door we heard two massive explosions that shook the house, we retreated and then heard another two. So now movie time in the basement.

So surreal and scary. I do faith that UAE defence will keep us all safe.’