Work has started on Plymouth’s 13th Tesco outlet as construction teams start fitting out a unit at the regenerated former Mount Wise naval base with an ambition to have the supermarket open by the end of April.
Britain’s biggest retailer now has planning permission to open a Tesco Express in the unit formerly used as a sales office on the ground floor of a block of flats in Charles Darwin Road opposite the Plymouth Cricket Club pitch.
The unit, next door to the Space to Move yoga and dance studio, was given planning consent for a convenience store when the land was originally earmarked for development, but Tesco submitted new plans to Plymouth City Council.
Mount Wise (Devon) Ltd, the company which has been developing the site, has written to residents saying: “We are delighted to announce that Tesco has now commenced their fit-out works in the large retail unit which has temporarily been used as the Sales Centre, next to Space to Move near the main entrance into Mount Wise. We have been advised that the store should be open for business by the end of April 2022. We hope that it will provide you with a new handy shopping experience.”
A spokesperson for Mount Wise (Devon) Ltd told Business Live: “A community store has been long awaited at Mount Wise and we are delighted something is happening there and that Tesco has commenced fit-out.”
There are already nine Tesco Express stores in Plymouth, in New George Street, Notte Street, Mutley Plain, Alexandra Road, Eggbuckland, two in Plympton, and under the St Teresa House and Discovery Heights student blocks in Beaumont Road and Cobourg Street. Tesco also has a large superstore at Transit Way, and huge Tesco Extra outlets in Woolwell and Lee Mill.
The Mount Wise outlet will be the first store Tesco has opened in the Devonport area of the city. A Tesco Express did open in Wolseley Road, but has been closed for more than five years now.
In October 2021, Tesco said trading had been above expectations with a 16.6% jump in profit for the first half of its year and upgraded its profit forecast for the full year, saying it now expects adjusted operating profit to come in at between £2.5bn and £2.6bn.
The new Tesco Express would be in a block near the main entrance of the Mount Wise development currently used by housing association Sovereign and opposite the £13m Teesra House apartment building being completed by family-run Brady Construction Services, which has offices at the Millfields.
The Mount Wise site was used by the Royal Navy for 200 years before the senior service pulled out in 2004. The land, including the cricket pitch, was sold by Defence Estates for £5.5m in 2006.
Mount Wise (Devon) Ltd started on Phase One’s 159 units, a £14.5m project at that time dubbed “the village by the sea”, in 2010, completing it two years later. In 2013 Mount Wise (Devon) Ltd started Phase Two, building flats and houses either side of the Grade II-listed Admiralty House, once the home of the Royal Navy’s top brass.
The £13.5m Phase Two scheme encompassed 59 units, a mix of houses and flats, built either side of the square, now a car park, outside Admiralty House. This has been named as Maritime Quarter. Meanwhile, 30 units (28 flats, and a couple of three-bed houses), went up either side of Admiralty House, with extensive views over the River Tamar.
Phase Three was Leeward House, the £10m, six-floor apartment block overlooking the Tamar. Work started in 2016 and it was completed by 2019 with 59 flats inside it. Admiralty House is now being restored and transformed into 12 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with access to private gardens and parking. Teesra House represents Phase Four of the overall development.
