Footprint

'The building is the brand,' says Black Architecture director Paul Hinkin.

Ikea is not usually synonymous with city centre development. But Southampton’s new Ikea is a 5 minute walk from the city centre. A pedestrian link across the Ikea site links the town centre to the waterfront.

Ikea 'streetscape'

Designed by Black Architecture and completed in January, the Southampton store reinterprets Ikea’s standard format  in a multi-level store to maximise site potential. The building is comprised of 3 retail floors over a warehousing floor with an adjacent carpark which also serves the town centre.

The Ikea store incorporates a multi-storey carpark.

The store is heated by geothermal energy (from Southampton’s ‘hot rocks’ via 1,800 metre deep bore holes) and combined heat and power from Southampton’s city centre district heating system, which started in 1986 and was the first in the UK. Heat is delivered via low temperature hot water which is delivered at 80° C and returned to the system at 50° C. Compared to a standard Ikea store, an annual predicted savings of 192 tonnes of carbon for cooling and 106 tonnes for heating is predicted.

Rainwater collected in a 60,000 litre underground  storage tank provides all water for toilet flushing and is also used for landscaping.