Request Project ReviewKnowledge Centre · life-safety systems
A shelter project should begin by defining what the room is required to be. In the United States, ICC 500 sets minimum requirements for storm shelters. FEMA P-361 provides additional safe-room criteria. The distinction matters because a reinforced room, strong door or tornado-only product should not automatically be presented as a hurricane safe room.
Protection system · direct answers
A shelter project should begin by defining what the room is required to be. In the United States, ICC 500 sets minimum requirements for storm shelters. FEMA P-361 provides additional safe-room criteria. The distinction matters because a reinforced room, strong door or tornado-only product should not automatically be presented as a hurricane safe room.
Send the project location, building type, drawings or clear photographs, relevant dimensions and structural information, and any known wind, design-pressure, impact, flood, shelter, access or local-code requirements that apply to this system.
No. Site hazard, dimensions, loads, support and anchorage, exact product configuration, installation method, applicable technical evidence and local approvals can all change the final specification.
Apollo is supply-only. Final engineering, fixings, installation, approvals and local code compliance remain with the appropriate manufacturer, approved specialist or client-side project team unless expressly included in the written scope.
Yes, where the product and project can be supported. Destination hazard, climate, freight, documentation, local engineering, certification and installation responsibilities are reviewed before supply.
Use 'storm shelter' when the project is being designed to the applicable ICC 500 pathway. Use 'FEMA safe room' only when the project also follows the applicable FEMA P-361 criteria. FEMA does not certify, approve or endorse individual manufacturers or shelter products.
Tornado and hurricane shelter design are related but not identical. A product or listing that only establishes tornado use should not be represented as hurricane-qualified unless the exact technical documentation supports that hazard and the project wind design.
For hurricane projects, floodplain, storm-surge and other inundation hazards can affect whether the proposed shelter location is suitable. Above-ground wind resistance does not remove flood risk. The project design team and authority having jurisdiction determine the acceptable site pathway.
Occupant type, capacity, accessibility, shelter duration, egress, internal circulation, sanitation, lighting, ventilation, communications and emergency power can all affect room size and system design. Community shelters need more than a scaled-up residential module.
Doors, hatches, louvres, vents and other penetrations can become weak points. Impact-protective components need the appropriate listing, labeling or test evidence for the adopted shelter pathway and must be installed in the approved configuration.
The shelter shell, base, anchors, foundation and supporting structure form one system. Project-specific calculations and a registered design professional are required where the adopted code or jurisdiction demands them.
Plan · compare · specify
Move from the planning framework into Apollo's shelter project pathway.
Open pathway Related pathwayPlan higher-occupancy school, workplace and public-facility refuge.
Open pathway Regional pathwayApply shelter planning within a major hurricane-market approval pathway.
Open pathwayProject-specific performance
Apollo treats storm shelters as life-safety products with a higher evidence threshold than ordinary severe-weather hardware. Supplier marketing, a generic '250 mph' statement or a FEMA logo/reference does not establish project compliance. The exact shelter, code edition, hazard use, site, anchorage and local approval pathway must be verified.
Testing, standards & specificationApollo NZ Global · International project supply
Send the project location, drawings or photos, known wind/code requirements, flood or storm-surge information and any shelter or critical-equipment requirements.
Supply-only project model. Final structural design, shelter design, fixings, installation, local approvals and code compliance remain project-specific unless expressly included in the quoted supply scope.