Plan for 370 new homes on former Wolverhampton Sainsbury's 'will be first of its kind in UK'
Plans to build 370 new homes on the site of the former Sainsbury's store in Wolverhampton will be the first time a large supermarket has been converted into housing, the councillor behind the scheme has said.
Councillor Chris Burden told a meeting of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet that the scheme for St George's Parade could potentially blaze a trail for the rest of the country to follow.
Last year the council held a competition to design a redevelopment scheme for the vacant five-acre site in the city centre. Originally St George's Church, it was redeveloped by Sainsbury's in 1987 with the church building retained aa an entrance.
The supermarket has been left dormant since the retailer moved to its new site in Raglan Street in 2014, but this year it reverted to the council's control after the lease expired.
This week the council's cabinet gave the go-ahead for the winning design, by the Mikhail Riches and Periscope architects' practices, to proceed to develop detailed plans which will be presented to planners in January.
