Tesco homes might help

Home is traditionally linked to food. But the move of a supermarket into housebuilding has provoked a mostly distasteful reaction. You could almost hear the nationwide “er, yeuch!” at the news that Tesco will be creating four mini-villages in London and the South East, each grouped around one of its stores, but also including parks and schools. Even those who rely on the store for most of what they eat — at home or at their office desks — are deploring the “Tesco-fication” of Britain that this diversification appears to threaten.

Some of these concerns are justified; the ubiquity of Tesco outlets has added to the oppressive uniformity of city centres and out-of-town malls. But Spen Hill, Tesco’s development arm, is doubtless aware that its residential products will not sell unless they meet the highest customer expectations on convenience, quality, price and looks.

The elegant recycling of existing buildings must be part of the offer, as must clever, contextual architecture. Maybe the process could even throw up some ideas to improve the identical Tesco Express shopfronts?

Sneering at Tesco homes may sound smart, but the supermarket will at least nibble away at the problem of the housing shortage. Lack of affordable and other homes is one issue on which political parties agree, though all will struggle to deliver an effective solution because the banks are disinclined to get involved. Lloyds and its peers are at present more preoccupied with extricating themselves from the consequences of their past ill-judged associations with developers. Yolande Barnes, residential research director at Savills, points out that Tesco is one of the few groups with pockets deep enough to finance new housing. The supermarket’s own bank could also be one of the few sources of funds for mortgage borrowers — it plans to sell home loans by Christmas. In Tesco, as in other supermarkets, we are spoilt and sometimes almost overwhelmed, by choice. But without Tesco, the shelves could look awfully bare for someone shopping for an affordable home next year, especially as government funding for this sector will be scarce, whoever is having his dinner at No 10 after May 6.