Tesco unlocks its landbank to build 4,000 new homes

Tesco is to build 4,000 new homes in an attempt to make use of its vast undeveloped landbank with a £1bn construction programme.

The plan is the biggest housebuilding project ever announced by the supermarket and among the Tesco sites set for housing developments will be Welwyn Garden City, where it plans to build more than 700 homes on a site where it previously planned a store.

The majority of the sites will be in the south-east of England but developments are also scheduled further north, including in Liverpool and the west of England. Schemes include 80 houses and flats on the former Evershed printing works site in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Tesco said it was likely to build homes itself via its development wing, Spenhill, while also selling sites to housing developers, in a programme that has been valued by Property Week at £1bn, based on a valuation of £250,000 per home.

Tesco already has a policy of building homes above or beside its stores as part of efforts to gain planning permission.

Other supermarkets are also developing housing, with at least 4,500 homes expected to be built by the major grocers between 2013 and 2018.