Sainsbury’s plans to move flagship green energy store 500 yards

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's is planning to move a flagship eco store a few hundred yards down the road in a decision which looks at odds with the chain's recently renewed green drive.


Less than a week ago it announced that by 2020 it was ‘confident’ all new stores would be zero carbon, as part of its 20 by 20 green drive.

However, the plans to move its current green store, on the Greenwich peninsula in south east London, means it would reopen in Bugsby Way only 500 yards down the road from its current location in 2013 – should the local authority give planning permission.

The building was hailed by Sainsbury’s as ‘ground breaking’ when it was opened by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver relatively recently in 1999.

It was designed by architect team Russell Curtis with Chetwood Associates and boosts a wealth of green technology, which helped it to win the RIBA Sustainability Award the year it opened and a BREEAM top rating of excellent.

Among a wealth of energy saving equipment installed at the store are natural cooling and ventilation, solar PV panels, electric car charging points, an on-site Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit, natural daylighting and borehole water extraction and rainwater collection.

Despite the short time the store has been open and only moving it a short distance Sainsbury’s said the new site would retain the green credentials.

Sainsbury’s head of property development south, Jaime Barker, said: “We believe this is a great opportunity to improve the Sainsbury’s offer to our customers in Greenwich and look forward to delivering what will be another flagship environmental store for us.”

Sainsbury’s will consult on the plans this Friday and Saturday (October 21 and 22) at Valley House, 445 Woolwich Road, SE7 7EP.

Luke Walsh

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