IKEA confirms opening date for new Greenwich store
IKEA UK has announced that its new store in London’s Greenwich will officially open on 7 February.
Spanning 32,000 square metres, the store on the Millennium Way Retail Park will be IKEA’s most sustainable store to date in the UK and will offer IKEA’s traditional product range, inspirational room sets, a crèche, restaurant, bistro and Swedish food market. The store will also feature facilities such as flexible work areas, workshops and free green spaces. These will include a roof garden, roof pavilion and a “learning lab”.
Helen Aylett, IKEA Greenwich store manager, said: “We are incredibly excited that Greenwich will be home to our first leading sustainable store in the UK. We want to inspire and enable more people to live a better everyday life at home and we look forward to inviting our customers and the local community to enjoy a unique IKEA experience that puts their needs and lifestyles first.”
IKEA is aiming to secure a BREEAM ‘outstanding’ accreditation for the store by incorporating a number of green technologies such as solar panels, rainwater harvesting, renewable construction materials and a geothermal heating system. It is also aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy.
The new store has created 500 new jobs with many of the staff being recruited from the local area.
In addition to IKEA Greenwich and existing full-sized London stores in Wembley, Tottenham, Croydon and Lakeside, IKEA opened a new, smaller Planning Studio format store on Tottenham Court Road in October and has recently announced plans to open a Planning Studio on Bromley High Street in spring 2019.
