Why is Sainsbury’s flagship of eco design in Greenwich being demolished?

Only 14 years ago, Sainsbury’s Greenwich store was a model of green design. Now it is slated for demolition. Paul Hinkin, director of Black Architecture, questions why

I was fortunate to lead the team responsible for Sainsbury’s pioneering eco store on the Greenwich peninsular, in London, which was opened by the chef Jamie Oliver in a fanfare of publicity in the autumn of 1999.

The building went on to win almost every award going. It was selected by the Design Council as a millennium product, won the £20,000 Design Sense Award along with the RIBA Journal sustainability award. It was shortlisted for the biggest prize in British Architecture, the Stirling prize and won the people’s choice award, voted by members of the public who watched Channel 4’s coverage. An appropriate accolade for an innovative, democratic and highly accessible building. So how can it possibly be that this sector-changing building is threatened with demolition after less than 15 years?

Well, Sainsbury’s explained its reasoning in a comment on a blog post I wrote for the website 2Degrees (registration required), saying:

‘Sustainable technologies have moved on since the current store was first built and Sainsbury’s new store will use the very latest technologies available to complement our industry-leading standard specification. The new store will also use significantly less energy and we aim to reuse all of the equipment from the current store in other Sainsbury’s stores.’

But the original building was designed to follow passive, bio-climatic principles that ensure that it requires the minimum amount of energy to be consumed, rather than simply applying technology to sort out poorly performing fabric and unregulated thermal losses and gains.

As part of the deal with the developers of its new store, Sainsbury’s has placed a restriction preventing the building being reused by one of their competitors, confirmed by a senior planner at Greenwich Council. This anti-democratic and anti-competitive behaviour is something that the government has tried to outlaw but, it would appear, to little effect.

So IKEA has purchased the site with the intention of knocking the building down and replacing it with one six times the size of the original. Because the site is already in retail use and has parking to serve the existing buildings, in planning terms, it is viewed favourably by the local authority and represents an easier planning process than securing consent for the redevelopment of a brownfield site in need of regeneration. The fact that this part of London already suffers from some of the poorest air quality due to the congested road network and the fact that the IKEA will draw trade from up to two hours’ drive away, is unlikely to significantly influence the thinking of The Royal Borough which will have to weigh these issues against the potential for 450 much-needed jobs.

IKEA will, in its forthcoming application, make much of the sites location, served by a bus route that stops outside the door and is a short ride away from North Greenwich tube. However, the furniture giant will not have to argue this is the right place to build, as the use has been previously granted as part of Sainsbury’s original application. So the local community and the council’s technical officers will have little room for manoeuvre.

A more suitable location that places the store adjacent to an existing struggling high street will not be considered. This is a huge missed opportunity, because an IKEA store can attract more than 2 million customers each year. Its town centre stores in Coventry and Southampton demonstrate that IKEA can provide an anchor to the high street and encourage linked trips that help to secure the vitality of, not only IKEA, but neighbouring retail businesses.

I believe that it is essential that Sainsbury’s Greenwich is not demolished by IKEA but is retained, refurbished and re-let.

Similarly, IKEA should be encouraged to build on a brownfield site, in need of regeneration and capable of helping to bring much needed trade to an existing, struggling high street. If this can also be directly connected by train or tube so much the better.

One thing is for sure, we will still be using 80 per cent of our existing building stock in 2050 and it is essential that we address the performance of the worst, while retaining and reusing the best. To demolish this building is short-sighted, misguided and ultimately unsustainable; in fact I believe it is simply wrong.

If you would like to add your support to our petition to Save Sainsbury’s Greenwich please add your name to our petition.

Thank you all for your support!