Sainsbury's Greenwich

The Sainsbury’s Greenwich store is set to make way for an Ikea

Architects have launched an online petition to stop a Sainsbury’s store in Greenwich from being demolished.

The store, built in 1999 and opened by Jamie Oliver, was the supermarket’s flagship eco-store. It was shortlisted for the high-profile Stirling Prize in 2000 and won a RIBA sustainability award.

But just 14 years after opening, the store is set to be demolished to make way for a new Ikea. Sainsbury’s is relocating to a new site 400m away.

An online petition has now been launched by Paul Hinkin, who led the original project.

“This is not sustainable development and represents an act of vandalism resulting in the destruction of an exemplar building that should simply be reused by another retailer,” claimed the petition, which had 335 signatures as The Grocer went to press.

However, Sainsbury’s defended its move. “We are relocating to a bigger site so we can offer our customers a greater range of goods,”a spokesman said. “We have considered sustainability throughout the design of the new store and have carried out a number of design reviews and workshops to ensure the store will be fully fitted with modern technologies.”