The present supermarket building at 17–21 Camden Road was completed in 1988 for J Sainsbury, two years after construction began by Wimpey. It is a high-tech architecture structure, with use of exposed steel, aluminium panels and glass. It has a sales area of 30,883 square feet (2,869.1m2) with underground parking for 299 cars. The site also includes a row of terrace houses (1–12 Grand Union Walk), the Grand Union House office block and a small crèche building comprising a row of studio spaces, for a site bounded by the Grand Union Canal and two of Camden's busiest roads.[5]
In the early 1980s, J Sainsbury took ownership of the former Aerated Bread Company Camden Town bakery building in the heart of Camden, which had ceased production in 1982, with a view to developing a supermarket on the site. The site was roughly triangular, bounded on two sides by busy roads and on the third by the Grand Union Canal.[4]
In April 1985, Sainsbury's obtained outline planning permission for a scheme by Scott Brownrigg & Turner, but this was rejected by Sainsbury's newly established vetting committee, chaired by the architecture critic Colin Amery, who reported directly to Sainsbury's Chairman Sir John Sainsbury. Detailed planning permission was granted in May 1986, to designs by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, having been commended by the Royal Fine Art Commission as an "example of bold and enlightened patronage", even though it was opposed by the Regent's Canal Conservation Advisory Group. Construction began in August 1986, with Wimpey as the main contractor.[4]
Construction was completed in 1988 and the store was opened on 12 December 1988 by the then Sainsbury's Joint Managing Director Joe Barnes. On opening, it was described by The Guardian newspaper as being "Building of the year".[5]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
