John Lewis Partnership turns landlord in Reading

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) submitted £80 million (€94.9 million) plans to convert a disused site in Reading into 215 rental apartments.

One tenth of the properties at a former John Lewis distribution centre opposite the Oracle shopping centre would be let at affordable rents, said JLP’s Build-to-rent director Katherine Russell.

“These will be homes not only developed by us, but managed by us,” Russell said.  “That means we can offer quality service and a guarantee that the homes will not be sold off, as so often happens in the rental market.”

Sharon White, JLP’s chairman – she prefers this to chairwoman – leaves the post in September, some months ahead of her five-year term.

In 2021 White announced that the company hoped to generate 40 per cent of its profits from rentals, rental management and construction by 2030, although these plans were later scrapped “owing to the economic climate.”

White’s successor Jason Tarry, a former Tesco executive, is expected to put extra focus on turning around the retail performance of the John Lewis stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain which also belongs to the company.

Nevertheless, the Reading development will be JLP’s third foray into the rentals market as it continues to converts underused or disused sites into housing.

A Waitrose site in Bromley in Bromley (South London) will be turned into 300 rental homes with another project planned for West Ealing.

This has currently stalled owing to residents’ opposition to plans for 400 properties and a 19-storey apartment block above a Waitrose supermarket.