Four years after the announcement of the Silkstream regeneration project between Sainsbury’s and St George, a proud member of the Berkeley Group, the development partners are celebrating two important milestones. On Wednesday 20th November; the doors of the highly anticipated, state-of-the-art 43,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s supermarket opened for the first time. Alongside this, St George are delighted to welcome the first residents to Silkstream this month. The arrival of the first occupants and the opening of the new store represents a major step forward in the progress of Silkstream, showcasing the results of years of work.
Silkstream’s vision
Once complete, Silkstream will be a low-carbon, nature-rich neighbourhood of 1,300 new homes in a prime North West London suburb. Along with the flagship Sainsbury’s store and new homes – which will be a mix of elegantly designed Manhattan suites one, two and three bedroom apartments – Silkstream will comprise a series of beautifully landscaped open spaces. These will include a 1.5 acre public park, 1.4 acres of podium gardens and a 175 metre oxbow lake.
Silkstream is set to achieve an impressive 895% biodiversity net gain and, working with the London Wildlife Trust, will be sensitively regenerating 300 metres of the embankment of the Silk Stream waterway.
The partnership between St George and Sainsbury’s is also delivering significant local economic investment, with the site expected to support many jobs during the 10-year build programme. Over 200 paid work placements and work experience opportunities have already been created as part of the delivery of Silkstream, with St George also committed to working with more than 50 apprentices throughout the development’s lifecycle. Sainsbury’s employs over 1,000 people in London Borough of Barnet and will continue to support local charities and food donation programmes, as well as its nationwide community initiatives.
A flagship Sainsbury’s store
Sainsbury’s is determined to be first choice for food, ensuring more customers in more stores can enjoy more brilliant Sainsbury’s food. As well as showcasing the retailer’s very latest supermarket look and feel, the Sainsbury’s in Hendon will provide an extensive array of new features designed to make good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone.
Sainsbury’s new ultra-rapid EV charging service, Smart Charge, has also arrived in Hendon – the new store has undercover parking for over 250 vehicles, which will include the provision of 10 accessible Smart Charge bays.
Colleagues from Sainsbury’s former Hendon supermarket seamlessly transferred to the new store at 2 Henshaw Parade on the day the new store opened.
Sainsbury’s Director of Group Property, Procurement & EV Ventures, Patrick Dunne said: “Our partnership with St George and Berkeley Group at Silkstream has proved to be a resounding success and we’re excited that customers and residents alike can now start to enjoy the benefits. Sainsbury’s has been proudly serving the community in Hendon for over 30 years and we’re delighted to be able to celebrate these two fantastic milestones in Hendon this month.
“From our development partners to our brilliant store team and everyone in the local community, I’d like to express my thanks for all the incredible support we’ve received for this project so far. We’re really looking forward to hearing what customers think of their brand new supermarket and we look forward to seeing Silkstream continue to grow and flourish in the coming years.”
