Berkeley set for 2,150-home west London windfall

Berkeley’s plans to develop 2,150 homes across two major sites in west London have been recommended for approval this week by Hounslow planning officers. The developer’s St Edward business has proposed 1,677 homes at the Tesco Osterley site, with a further 473 homes and replacement 114,000 sq ft Tesco supermarket at the nearby Brentford Homebase. Both developments incorporate 35% affordable housing with a maximum height of 17 storeys. The Tesco building was built in the 1990s on former industrial land that was once home to the Imperial Biscuit Works. Development on the 13.5-acre site will see nine residential plots and includes 215,000 sq ft of public open space, 54,000 sq ft of commercial floorspace and enhancements to the existing water gardens. https://syonlanefuture.com/wp-content/videos/updated-flythrough.mp4 The 3.5-acre Brentford site currently contains a 45,000 sq ft Homebase store. The store was marked as one of 42 to be closed by the retailer. St Edward lodged plans for the Syon Gardens schemes, straddling the A4 last year. The proposals follow the developer’s agreement with Tesco in 2019 to relocate the superstore to the Homebase site. Major supermarket brands are increasingly spurring new development, incorporating residential as they rework their estates. According to Savills, at the start of the year there were almost 24,000 homes planned across 38 schemes at former supermarket sites, including major developments from Berkeley, L&Q and Barratt. The vast majority of these are in the early stages of development, with 22 schemes, comprising 12,749 homes, still in pre-planning at the time of the report. Hounslow’s planning committee will debate St Edward’s applications on 8 April. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette Images by St Edward