[oor wullie]

I think I spent about £200 on cement, £100 on sand and hardcore (but that was direct from the quarry so was only about £10/ton), about £150 on the metalwork.  The shuttering was probably about £200, bricks £100, the insulation I had lying about and I had a digger hired for another job so didn't count the cost of that.  Labour costs are not included as I dread to think what I should have paid myself.

Yes the shuttering is a mould that holds the concrete in place until it has set.

[cloddopper]

Woolie could you " Tank " the walls with rubberised bitumen once they are well dry & even put a mortar coat over it.and also put a in water proof floor of membrane and water proof concrete down .

Perhaps keep the doors open ajar and get an inline fan pushing in fresh dry air down some old soil pipe etc , so it take the dry incoming air to the back of the cellar and push out the now moist exhaust out the ajar door .

 Cutting a 100 mm vent hole or two with a TCT hired concrete cutter,clutched  drill & transformer should take out any rebar without any undue problems ( think of the bank vault robbery where the TCT cutter took out 2 " thick high grade steel bars )

if you do get to doing this make an inverted J type vent for each hole and use a time clocked expelling in line shower room fan to give a bit of fresh air circulation every hour for 15 mins or so .

In 1982  I had to tank out the 1864 built cellarsof our new home  to stop the water ingress and I also had to make a sump out of two 24 " concrete pipes dug in vertically with a float operated pump at the bottom because every winter the cellars flooded to a depth of about 18 inches of seeped in water.
After the tanking and pump system was done we had three very useful cellars to play with .

 One thing that may also help you is to grow small height  dense ever green shrubs over the mound as they will deflect a lot of rain and also drink water out the soil.

[Rupert the bear]

This is absolutely fascinating, I was thinking along the lines of just digging a hole and throwing a 20ft shipping container in, making tunneled steps and vent system, are there any planning issues I wonder ?

[pgkevet]

Back in the early 70's  went out on a call to a farm dog..sorted it and was asked to do some cattle PD's. farmer chappie liked me (for unknown some reason) as invited me for a drink. His tiny caravan was parked against a low pigsty block.
..in through the caravan door, across and out through the curtains, down some steps into a huge sunken room fitted out like a plush nightclub: red velvet seating, bars, snooker table, suspended lighting etc..

Apparently he hadn't been able to get planning consent for a house....

[Q]

..in through the caravan door, across and out through the curtains, down some steps into a huge sunken room fitted out like a plush nightclub: red velvet seating, bars, snooker table, suspended lighting etc..

Apparently he hadn't been able to get planning consent for a house....

or a bar....   Love this 

[oor wullie]

This is absolutely fascinating, I was thinking along the lines of just digging a hole and throwing a 20ft shipping container in, making tunneled steps and vent system, are there any planning issues I wonder ?

I suspect that a shipping container would have problems with condensation, even though I have 99% humidity there are no drips from the concrete ceiling.  Proper ventilation should overcome it though it may have to be well designed.

The good news is that I have been advised that very high humidity is actually good for storing wine.  The labels will come off and the bottles may look like they are ancient but the contents will be fine.

[Rupert the bear]

[/quote]

I suspect that a shipping container would have problems with condensation, even though I have 99% humidity there are no drips from the concrete ceiling.  Proper ventilation should overcome it though it may have to be well designed.

The good news is that I have been advised that very high humidity is actually good for storing wine.  The labels will come off and the bottles may look like they are ancient but the contents will be fine.
[/quote]
as long as you conduct ongoing quality assurance testing 

[cloddopper]

This is absolutely fascinating, I was thinking along the lines of just digging a hole and throwing a 20ft shipping container in, making tunneled steps and vent system, are there any planning issues I wonder ?

 Would you paint it in a steel bitumen an f then pour some concrete over a rebar or 10 mm weld mesh outer skin .

I strongly  suspect that due to our climate/weather  it would not be many years before an unprotected container would rust through and fall in across the top as they are not made of decent mild steel nor do they have any sensible thickness to that steel.