Ikea is planning to open a new store in Greenwich

While all eyes are fixed on the other side of the Atlantic as Donald Trump is officially announced as the new US President, another groundbreaking announcement has just been made a little closer to home. That’s right, Ikea says it’ll be submitting plans to build a new store in Greenwich! Okay, so we may be bigging up the news just a little, but this is the first time in over a decade the Swedish flat-pack-furniture gurus have unveiled plans for a new store in London and they’ve promised it’s going to be their most sustainable yet. The folks at Ikea said they’ll be submitting a planning application for the store in Millennium Way Retail Park to Greenwich Council in February, but it’s too early to say when it will be opening to the public. As well as creating 500 new jobs, with all recruits receiving at least the London Living Wage, the new store will also include a biodiverse roof garden with solar panels. It’ll also collect rainwater to minimise water consumption.And in a bid to get more people doing their homeware shopping via public and eco-friendly transport, the new site is set to be served by six bus routes, have 20 electric car charging points and 75 cycle spaces – although we can’t see many people pedalling home a Billy bookcase.