John Lewis to submit amended plans for 800 homes

Plans for 800 new homes to be built on top of Waitrose stores Ealing and Bromley have been tweaked ahead of a submission by John Lewis

The retailer says it is ready to submit planning applications for the two sites, designed by Assael Architecture and Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands (LDS), after scoping applications were filed earlier this year.

For the west Ealing development, the LDS plans show a different coloured brick treatment has been introduced on the front, middle and rear of the taller buildings.

John Lewis said no changes to the height of those buildings were expected before a full application.

A scoping planning application for the LDS west Ealing scheme outlined plans for 20-storeys, accommodating 428 new homes on top of a refurbished Waitrose.

Ealing Council leader Peter Mason called the scheme ‘disappointing’ in March.

The council’s local plan sets out guidance that buildings in the area should be between seven and 13 storeys and include at least 35 per cent affordable housing.

For Assael’s plans for the Bromley store, in south-east London, these changes include reducing the height of a 14-storey shoulder building to 12-storeys in response to concerns about size.

When scoping applications were filed for the Bromley plans earlier this year, 353 homes and a new Waitrose store were proposed on the Assael scheme, rising to 24-storeys along with a shorter 14 (now 12-storey) building.

The scheme comprised 30,000 sq m of residential floorspace and a 946 sq m extension to the supermarket as well as a new ‘woodland walk’. Car parking spaces were reduced from 200 to 148.

Assael’s Bromley scheme was likewise criticised over height concerns, with local Liberal Democrat councillor Julie Ireland saying in January that her party welcomed new housing but that residents felt the scheme was ‘massive’.

John Lewis says it plans on building 10,000 built-to-rent homes in the next decade and that ‘many’ of the new homes its Ealing and Bromley schemes would be ‘affordable and targeted at key public sector workers such as nurses or teachers’.

John Lewis executive director for strategy and commercial development Nina Bhatia said: “We’ve worked closely with local communities to understand their needs and we’re now ready to submit planning applications.”

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