Two 20-storey blocks could replace Greenwich’s B&Q under revised plans to build housing on the Ikea car park.
In March, developer London Square revealed plans to build up to 1,400 homes on the site next to the Blackwall Tunnel approach, with car parking for the furniture store going beneath the new development.
Following feedback from locals and talks with Greenwich Council, the plans have been cut back to 1,300 homes. The proportion of London Affordable Rent homes remains at 24.5 per cent – these would be at half market rate and available to those on waiting lists – with another 10.5 per cent of homes being for shared ownership.
The revised plans, which are now being consulted on, envisage turning the bus lane through the Millennium Retail Park into a “high street”. There would be three tall blocks – two of 20 storeys and one of 17 storeys – surrounding a “public square” in front of where B&Q is now.
“The public square will be approximately the same size as Deptford Market Yard and has been designed to act as a focal point for our proposal and the wider community,” London Square says, referring to the development by U+I next to Deptford station which opened five years ago and features shops, bars and restaurants.
“There will be the potential to host events within the new public square, such as outdoor markets and community events. The square will be carefully managed to ensure the safety of the local community at all times of the day.”
The Odeon cinema and adjacent restaurants would remain under the plans, while the site does not include the Sainsbury’s petrol station – the last remnant of the supermarket that occupied the Ikea site for 16 years until 2015.
Buildings fronting the A102 would be between five and eight storeys, with a shield of at least four storeys to attempt to block air and noise pollution, along with layers of trees and planting.
The retail park site, just south of Greenwich Millennium Village, is not included in masterplans for the Greenwich Peninsula or the Charlton Riverside, giving the developer a freer hand in deciding what it wants to put on the land, which has been a retail park since 1999 and was a sports ground until the late 1980s.
Earlier this year, Greenwich councillors approved detailed plans for the final phase of Greenwich Millennium Village, backing plans for 489 homes on a site across Bugsby’s Way from B&Q and Ikea.
London Square is currently redeveloping the old Greenwich police station site on Burney Street into 59 homes. Its other developments include the former Crosse and Blackwell factory in Bermondsey and the old Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond.
More information is available at mrpgreenwich.co.uk.
Help 853 continue reporting on public interest issues in Greenwich and southeast London – we are the only outlet regularly producing original journalism in the borough, and we can only do it with your funding.
Please join over 100 donors who use Steady, PressPatron or Patreon to give a little towards our costs every month. The money pays the bills, a wage for the editor and pays others to write for the site.
You can also buy the editor a coffee at ko-fi.com. Thank you.