Tesco is planning its biggest-ever mixed use development at a site in London that will create an entire community with 835 flats and be the biggest sustainable development of its kind in the country.
The brownfield development in Tolworth, which will cost Tesco more than £100m, will include a 60,000 sq ft supermarket and a further 7,800 sq ft of additional retail and community space.
Tesco is incorporating a multimillion-pound bridge, which will feature a walkway and travelators linking the four hectare site with the rest of the town centre.
Corporate affairs manager Katherine Edwards said the amount of carbon dioxide produced by the site would be 50% less than from similar developments. Rain water would be recycled for toilets, saving 40% of all domestic water use.
Other green elements include solar panels, the recycling of heat from refrigeration units in stores, and turning organic waste into bio-gas to heat and power the flats.
The plan eclipses Tesco’s previous biggest mixed-use proposal - a £94m plan for Dartford with 490 flats and a 110,000 sq ft supermarket.
Tesco’s plan, which has been designed by architects BDP in conjunction with planning consultants Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, is likely to go before council officials in the next month.
>>p38 Mixed use developments
German retailer Metro Group has been dragged down by its Real hypermarket chain in third-quarter results. Despite reporting a 4.9% increase in sales to 114.06bn and a 0.3% increase in earnings to 1596.7m, Metro said Real was “behind expectations”.
South African fruit canners Langeberg Foods International and Ashton Canning Company have merged, creating the largest fruit canning company in the southern hemisphere. The new company will be known as Langeberg & Ashton Foods. The companies’ UK and Ireland operations have also been combined.

Colgate-Palmolive’s third-quarter profit rose 12% to $369.7m on global sales up 8% to $2.91bn. Every one of its sales regions reported an increase in sales and profit.

Wal-Mart plans to open between 555 and 600 new stores by January 2007, with 335 to 370 opening in the US and 220 to 230 elsewhere. It will also build two regional general merchandise distribution centres and three non food distribution centres.

US grocery chain Supervalu is entering the natural and organic foods market with the launch of Sunflower Market, a value-priced organic foods retail outlet. The first store is expected to open in Indianapolis in January.
An anti-Wal-Mart pressure group has launched its first TV ad campaign. Wake-Up Wal-Mart has run ads on CNN and CNBC and in newspaper USA Today to publicise the forthcoming documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices.
Rachel Barnes

nreal dismay
ncanning giant
nbright smiles
n600 stores
norganic value
n giant bashing

Topics