|
IKEA is planning a new store in Greenwich, their most sustainable store to date. Steve Pettyfer outlines the benefits a new store will bring to the local community.
IMAGE An IKEA store in Greenwich would be the best connected IKEA store to public transport in the whole UK.
At IKEA we want to contribute positively to the local communities in which we operate. Whether that’s by contributing jobs, investing in sustainable local economic development, supporting community projects or simply by providing better access to our value for money home furnishings offer, our aim is to always be a good neighbour.
Over recent months we have actively sought to engage with the Greenwich community, setting out our plans and seeking feedback on the proposals for a new IKEA store on Bugsby’s Way. We believe community engagement is an essential part of our planning process for delivering the most appropriate IKEA store for any potential new location, which is why we have actively sought to engage with the Greenwich community through the delivery of 13,170 leaflets to residents and businesses and holding a public exhibition. We received approximately 400 responses during the pre-application consultation period, with 68% of those who responded indicating that they fully or broadly supported the proposals. In response to feedback on our proposals from the local community we have adapted our plans with a number of new measures. These include the creation of a green wall and roof on the proposed store as well as contributions towards improvements to the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park.
'We are genuinely committed to ensuring the site continues to demonstrate sustainability good practice.'
Whilst we recognise that at the time it was built the bespoke Sainsbury’s building trialled a series of sustainable technologies and building design, today technologies have evolved considerably and environmental standards for retail buildings are significantly more demanding. The existing store cannot be enlarged or easily reused and is no longer fit for purpose for Sainsbury’s who are relocating to a larger site along Bugsby’s Way. The building is also too small for an IKEA store as it hasn’t been designed to fit our business model or operations.
An IKEA store in Greenwich would be the best connected IKEA store to public transport in the whole UK; we have set aside £750,000 to fund measures to further promote the use of the superb local public transport facilities. Our modelling shows this is likely to result in approximately 35% of footfall arriving to the store via public transport – the highest level in the country. This level of accessibility was one of the key deciding factors for choosing this location for a store, as we know that in London 42% of the population do not own or have access to a car. This is a great opportunity to give many more people from London and the South East easier access to the IKEA offer.
For those who choose to visit the store by car, we will encourage the use of sustainable personal transport options by installing 20 electric vehicle (EV) charging points providing renewably generated power for EV vehicles free of charge.
We are genuinely committed to ensuring the site continues to demonstrate sustainability good practice. The new Greenwich store will be our most sustainable store in the UK to date. The design will achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and will include technologies to help minimise the store’s carbon footprint such as photovoltaic (solar) panels, of which we have already installed 39,000 on the roofs of other UK stores. We plan to recycle as much of the material from the existing building as possible in building the new store, with no material going to landfill, and once IKEA Greenwich is open a regime of waste minimisation, reuse and recycling will ensure it will not send any waste to landfill.
Our longstanding commitment to being a sustainable retailer is detailed in our ‘People and Planet Positive’ sustainability strategy. The ambitious goals set out in this strategy guide everything we do. You can read more on the IKEA website at www.IKEA.co.uk/peopleandplanet. As an example, by 2020 we will renewably produce as much energy as we consume in our operations. Currently, in the UK we produce renewable energy through solar panels and from a wind farm we own in Scotland to match over 30% of our total energy consumption. We have also worked hard to reduce our total energy consumption by 11% over the past three years through a combination of measures including converting our lighting to LED in all stores.
As we work towards the next stage in the planning application process, we continue to welcome an ongoing dialogue with local community groups to ensure our final plans represent the most appropriate IKEA store for the Greenwich Peninsula community, while at the same time replacing a redundant building with a new store that continues to be a beacon for sustainable design.
| 