Greenwich Ikea and B&Q car park housing plan: new consultation
Plans for 1,300 homes above a car park serving Ikea, Odeon and on the existing B&Q site in Greenwich are to see a new round of consultation.
A previous round of consultation was held in March 2021 following reports emerging of plans in October 2020.
New renders show mixed-use blocks opposite Ikea. There appears some mixed-use and active frontages facing the street which is welcome.
Feedback from spring’s consultation can be seen here.
Taller blocks are now centres on the current B&Q site:
Mid rise blocks line the A2.
Developer London Square are behind the project.
The previous round of consultation did not include Sainsbury’s petrol station, though discussions were ongoing to include it in March. It is not included in the latest consultation.
Car park
Much of the site will be located above the sprawling existing car park.
New squares are located above surface parking for shops, though that naturally limits planting trees across the site.
The consultation talks of commercial units surrounding a square.
Of 1,300 homes 35 per cent will be “affordable”, split 70 per cent London Affordable Rent and 30 per cent Shared Ownership.
Retail parks
The proposed housing on site highlights the short term nature of approving Greenwich Ikea in its current form.
Car-centric retail parks in inner London have long been seen as dated, though many in the area including nearby Charlton continued to be approved in the 2010s.
Ikea trumpeted “sustainability” at their Greenwich store, though true sustainability would have seen a mixed-use development from the ground up on land now occupied by the retail unit and car park instead of yet another large shed bolted next to existing sheds.
That short-term thinking is now hitting this plan face-on with building homes above car parking resulting in compromised design.
There are plans to link the site to “stations and bus stops” but a render presented doesn’t perhaps offer much hope of better links to Westcombe Park station or Charlton shops given a lack of arrows on this image:
This is something Greenwich planners should be very hot on during negotiations before a final planning application is submitted. They should be demanding better links to nearby shops on Bugsby’s Way and the Southeastern and Thameslink services from Westcombe Park station are factored in.
Trouble is they rarely are on top of pedestrian improvements from new builds to nearby amenities, if recent plans are any guide. See new Greenwich Millennium Village homes for one local example.
There is one existing signalised crossing near Ikea, though the sheer increase in local footfall really demands a better crossing where Peartree Way meets this large roundabout:
It’s currently a case of dash and try to find gaps in traffic.
Next steps
A consultation event will be held on 28th July at 8pm.
A consultation website where comments can be made is here.
A full planning application will be submitted this autumn when all the nitty gritty details will be revealed – and we can see the details that aren’t likely to be shown in consultation and promotional events. When it is submitted, this site will cover it.
1,300 homes in this location should bring at least £5 million in Community Infrastructure Levy income to Greenwich Council.
