You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
John Lewis seeking partners for conversion of former stores to affordable rented housing
Retail giant John Lewis is mulling plans to develop “affordable” rented housing, it has announced.
The mutual, which owns department stores and supermarket chain Waitrose, indicated today that it intends to convert unused shop space into affordable homes.
In an update to partners, Sharon White, chair of John Lewis, said: “As we repurpose and potentially reduce our shop estate, we want to put excess space to good social use.
“We are exploring with third parties the concept of new mixed-use affordable housing.”
The move forms part of radical plans to expand into new service areas in a bid to help turn the struggling business around.
READ MORE
Housing would be one of four such areas, alongside financial services, a gardening operation, and a channel for renting John Lewis products or selling used items.
Ms White described the proposals as “ideas” put forward by its partners that have been selected “for further development”.
She noted that “these are testing times, with profits this year and next likely to be challenged”, but added that the overhaul of the business “should see green shoots in our performance over the next nine to 12 months, and our profits recovering over the next three to five years”.
Earlier this month, John Lewis confirmed that eight of its 50 stores will not reopen after having closed during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.
Its profits fell 23% to £123m in 2019.
The partnership has not yet provided any detail on precisely what tenure of housing it would be interested in delivering, or whether it will seek registration with the Regulator of Social Housing.
From September, controversial new laws announced earlier this month will make it easier for developers to convert commercial buildings into housing without planning permission.
