Three levels of protection: what Ukraine can learn from Israel in housing construction

In Tel Aviv, there can sometimes be up to a minute and a half between the siren and the impact. For Israel, this is not an abstract safety formula, but a daily reality where architecture has long become part of the defense of the civilian population.

This logic is now painfully clear to Ukraine as well. When Russian missiles and drones hit residential areas, the question of shelter ceases to be a technical detail of the project. It becomes a matter of life, the cost of an apartment, trust in the developer, and the future of the entire real estate market.

Oleg Vishnyakov, Honorary Consul of the State of Israel in the Western region of Ukraine and entrepreneur, explained in his column on June 3, 2026, why the Ukrainian real estate market should closely look at the Israeli model. Not to mechanically copy it, but to adapt the main thing: safety should not be an option, but a basic standard.

How Israel made safety part of the apartment

Israel did not immediately come to mandatory protective rooms. The first approaches to civil protection were formed back in the 1960s, but the turning point was the Gulf War in 1991. It was then that it became clear: shelter cannot depend on luck, reaction speed, or distance to the nearest basement.

After that, the country established a rule for new buildings: new housing must have a mamad — a protected room inside the apartment.

This is not just a “strong room.” The mamad is designed as a separate safety element: concrete walls about 25–30 centimeters thick, a steel door, a special window with airtight elements, and the possibility of connecting ventilation-filtration protection. The minimum area of such a room is established by law — 9 square meters.

No developer of new housing in Israel can obtain a building permit if the project does not provide for such protection.

For Ukrainians, this logic sounds especially relevant. After years of full-scale war, it has become clear: the real estate market can no longer sell only square meters, the district, the view from the window, and parking. Buyers increasingly ask about something else: where is the shelter, how far is it, will the building withstand a shock wave, can you run there with a child, an elderly person, or a person with a disability.

Mamad, mamak, and mamam: three levels of protection

The Israeli system is not chaotic but structured by levels.

Mamad is a personal protected room in the apartment. It gives the family the opportunity not to run down the stairs during an alarm but to take shelter right at home.

Mamak is a common protected space on the floor. This format is especially important for buildings where it is impossible to make an individual room in each apartment.

Mamam is a public shelter in schools, offices, shopping centers, and other buildings with a large flow of people. Here, the calculation is not based on formal square footage but on real load: a shopping center for a thousand visitors and a warehouse for several dozen workers cannot have the same protection model.

This is one of the main lessons for Ukraine. Shelter should not exist “for show.” It needs to be calculated for a specific object, city, threat scenario, and the number of people who will be there.

At the same time, even in Israel, the system is not perfect. The law does not have retroactive force, so a significant part of the old housing stock remains without individual protective rooms. The particularly difficult zone is houses built between 1980 and 1991: they are no longer new but do not always fall into deep renovation programs.

Residents of such houses often have to use basements, stairwells, or common spaces. This is better than nothing but worse than full-fledged built-in protection.

Why the safe room became a market asset

In Israel, safety has long been part of the real estate price. Two similar apartments in the same area can differ in cost by 10–20% if one has a mamad and the other does not.

During escalation, this is especially noticeable. An apartment without a protected room starts to rent worse, sell longer, and often requires a discount. For families with children, elderly relatives, or repatriates who are just choosing an area to live in, the presence of a protected space becomes not a bonus but a condition.

Adding a mamad to an old apartment is possible, but it is expensive. According to estimates, such modernization can cost from 80 to 200 thousand shekels, which is equivalent to approximately 1.2–3 million hryvnias at the NBU rate. However, the market often returns these investments: the apartment appreciates more after modernization than the cost of the work itself.

For Ukraine, this moment is especially important. If a developer invests today in underground parking, proper shelter, autonomous engineering solutions, and a clear access system, he is building not only a safe house. He is building an object that will be more resilient on the market tomorrow.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this experience specifically in the Israeli-Ukrainian context: Israel has lived for decades next to the threat of missile attacks and terrorist breakthroughs, while Ukraine in recent years has gone through massive destruction, which cannot be treated as a temporary problem. For both countries, the safety of civil infrastructure has become not a theory but a part of national resilience.

After October 7, Israel is even revising its standards

The tragedy of October 7, 2023, showed Israel that protection must consider not only missile strikes. Before this, many elements were primarily designed against blast waves and debris. For example, doors to protected rooms did not always assume internal locking so that rescuers could quickly get inside.

After the Hamas attack, the approach changed.

Israel began revising standards related to internal door locking, ballistic reinforcement, window design, and the possibility of prolonged stay in the shelter. It’s no longer just about waiting out a few minutes after the siren. In some scenarios, a person needs to stay inside longer, have access to water, sanitary conditions, and communication.

Therefore, ideas have emerged to expand protected rooms to 15 square meters, strengthen internal walls, equip bathrooms, and change window standards. Among the discussed solutions are more durable single-layer windows that open inward at 180 degrees, as well as colored indicators on door locks so that a person can clearly see whether the door is closed or not.

At first glance, these are details. In practice, it is precisely such details that save lives.

What Ukraine can take from the Israeli experience

Ukraine cannot simply transfer the Israeli model one-to-one. Russian missiles that bombard Ukrainian cities are often heavier and more destructive than the threats for which the mamad standard was originally created.

Therefore, for Ukraine, serious common shelters, deep underground parking, protected spaces in schools, hospitals, offices, residential complexes, and public buildings remain key.

But the Israeli experience provides four practical takeaways.

First lesson: standard, not recommendation

If shelter remains a “desirable option,” the market will always find a way to save. The Israeli approach shows otherwise: safety should be a condition for building permission.

This is especially important for new residential complexes in Ukraine. The buyer should not have to find out for themselves whether there is a proper shelter in the building, how many people it accommodates, and who will open it during an alarm.

In Israel, public shelters cannot be closed during a threat. In many places, electronic locks connected to the alert system are used. During an alarm, they automatically unlock. Where such automation is not available, a responsible person is appointed who must ensure access.

Ukraine needs to move in this direction: shelter should be available not on paper but in the real minute of danger.

Second lesson: different buildings require different solutions

One template does not fit all. A residential building, school, logistics warehouse, business center, and shopping complex have different threat scenarios and different numbers of people inside.

The Ukrainian market has already begun to consider shelters and underground parking in new projects. But the next stage is not just the presence of a room, but a competent calculation of capacity, access routes, ventilation, communication, sanitary conditions, and the time it takes for people to get there.

This is especially important for large cities — Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia. In each of them, real estate safety has already become part of the urban geography.

Third lesson: safety increases capitalization

Safe housing will cost more not because the developer wrote beautifully about it in a brochure. It will be more expensive because people understand the cost of risk.

In Israel, apartments with a protected room maintain liquidity better during escalations. High-class offices with well-thought-out shelters continue to interest tenants even in a crisis. After the latest attacks, Israeli engineering companies began receiving requests to design safe rooms even from developers in Dubai.

For Ukraine, this is a signal: protection is not an expense that “eats” the margin. It is an investment in trust, the value of the object, and the long-term resilience of the area.

Fourth lesson: shelter should work in peacetime too

In Israel, many public shelters are used as clubs, gyms, rehearsal bases, or spaces for local communities. The main condition is simple: at the moment of threat, the room must be quickly vacated and returned to its primary function.

For Ukraine, this can become an important model. If the shelter stands closed, forgotten, and damp, it quickly becomes a formality. If it is integrated into the life of the house, school, or district, it is easier to maintain, control, and keep ready.

Safety should not be dead square footage. It should become part of normal urban infrastructure.

Israel builds protected rooms not because the country has too many resources. It does so because it has lived for decades with the logic: without civil protection, it is impossible to maintain a normal life next to a constant threat.

Ukraine is currently going through its own tough school. And one of the main conclusions is already clear: the real estate market after the war will not be able to return to the old formula “price — district — renovation.” In the new reality, another point will be added to this list forever — protection.