Ikea hits the High Street

IKEA is to bring its retailing revolution to the High Street with a series of smaller stores in towns and cities throughout Britain.

The Swedish furnishings giant has submitted plans for a town centre store in Hillingdon as the first step in circumventing government policy against out-of-town warehouses. Further projects are planned near transport hubs or other town centre sites.

The change of tack has come about after a long struggle against planning policy. In February, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott refused plans for a £30m store near Stockport. Ikea has also been searching, without success, for a site on the south coast for four years.

According to Property Week, the Swedish retailer is to submit plans within a fortnight for the first such development at Hillingdon in west London, and further projects are proposed near transport hubs and other town-centre sites.

The Hillingdon plans include a six-storey mixed-use scheme on a 4.5 acre site next to Hillingdon Tube station. The development will include an Ikea store of 86,000 square feet compared with the typical size of 194,000 square feet. It will also accommodate 240 one- and two-bedroom flats, of which 117 will be affordable housing.

Ikea plans to submit an application for a second such scheme near another transport hub in the UK by the end of the year. It wants to have 10 more stores within eight years.

The entry into mixed-use development is a dramatic switch for Ikea, which will be forced to trade from much smaller new stores. It is looking for sites almost a quarter of the size of its normal requirements in the UK.

The mixed-use strategy is an innovative way around the long-standing problem of gaining planning consent. It is also likely to appeal to local authority planning departments because of the provision of affordable housing.

The mixed-use strategy is an innovative way around the retailer's longstanding problem of gaining planning consent for new stores. It is also likely to appeal to local authorities' planning departments because of the provision of affordable housing.

Jonathan Baldock, a planning expert and partner at property consultant Donaldsons, said: 'This is a strategic move for Ikea. It is an innovative approach, to change their model to fit into urban sites. There may still be issues of sequential approach assessment as to whether there is another site closer to a town centre but [Hillingdon] is a great location close to the A40.'

Ikea, which has built up a chain of 13 stores in the UK since it entered the country in 1987, has recently started work on a store in Milton Keynes. It bought the £26m site earlier this year from Inter MK, the developer of MK Dons Football Club's new stadium.