Sainsbury's, Greenwich

Previously the Greenwich Peninsula was an industrial area, before being marked for redevelopment in the 1990s. was a prestigious one at the time, The brief stipulated that the design should "reflect the environmental aspirations of the adjacent Millennium Village". Tesco had commissioned a design from Aukett Architects and Asda had commissioned a design from Grimshaw Architects; Morrisons had also submitted a design. The original Sainsbury's design, by Chetwoods Architects, was circular and designed so that it could be built anywhere on a north–south axis; it was initially thought by the firm to be too eccentric but was presented to the Sainsbury's board who unanimously chose it, believing…

The Greenwich store was designed to minimise its environmental impact and give a more pleasant shopping experience. Dino Adriano, Sainsbury's CEO, said the building marked "a watershed in supermarket architecture". The store was designed by Paul Hinkin of Chetwood Associates, The store was designed to be "a naturally lit and ventilated food hall surrounded and protected by earth banks". This was done with a saw-tooth roof section which let daylight in, as well as allowing people inside to see the sky. The building had a steel frame and concrete walls, covered by banks of earth; the entrance was glass-fronted with timber walls to each side and the service areas at the back of the building…

Sainsbury's Greenwich was opened on 14 September 1999 The store became one of 20 Sainsbury's shops in South East London to take part in what the company described as "the UK's first urban composting trial" to dispose of food waste that could not be donated. In 2010, Jacob Zuma visited the store during his state visit to the UK.