Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T10:09:29.843Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

nine - From supermarkets to community building: Tesco PLC, sustainable place-making and urban regeneration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2022

Rob Imrie
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths University of London
Loretta Lees
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The development and delivery of urban regeneration occurs through a panoply of organisations and governance arrangements, and has never been confined to any particular organisational type or context. While state-led, and publically funded, initiatives have been in the vanguard of regeneration, a whole mix of public and private institutions are key to facilitating outcomes, including major corporate organisations. This is particularly so in relation to retail-led regeneration, in which companies, such as Asda, Ikea and Tesco, are diversifying the portfolio of their activities by becoming increasingly active in commercial property development. For instance, in May 2012, Tesco completed the first phase of 94 affordable homes on behalf of Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association in London. The development is part of an 11-acre regeneration scheme that is expected to deliver 253 owner-occupied homes, 10 industrial units and 10 retail units anchored by a 38,000ft2 Tesco store.

This development is not an isolated example, but is part of a broader phenomenon of retail organisations’ involvement in urban regeneration, in ways that go beyond expanding existing store capacity or creating a new facility. One development, Strand East in Stratford, London, is occurring on land owned by Ikea. A recent planning application submitted by their development company, LandProps Holdings, is for 1,200 homes, a 350-bed hotel, office space, bars and restaurants. It has been described as a ‘proto-type’ town that is replicating ‘historic, chic downtown neighborhoods’ (Garun, 2012, p 1). Likewise, in the City of Bath, Sainsbury's has outlined plans to expand its existing 40,000ft2 flagship store to 60,000ft2, construct 300 new homes, with a mix of affordable and family housing, and provide offices, while rejuvenating underused land around a waterfront area. For Tim Watkins (2011), Sainsbury's development manager, ‘this is not just Sainsbury's we are talking about, this is a whole regeneration project.’

The propensity for corporate retail companies to engage in urban regeneration, beyond the provision of store capacity, is significant in an economic context characterised by public expenditure cuts, and the dismantling by the Coalition government of urban policy programmes put in place by previous, New Labour, administrations.

Type
Chapter
Information
Sustainable London?
The Future of a Global City
, pp. 173 - 194
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×