Swedish home furniture giant IKEA will soon begin work on an 11 hectare neighbourhood in east London called The Strand East. The neighbourhood will feature 1,200 IKEA rental homes, which will be priced to appeal to a range of incomes.

As well as the homes, there will be 480,000 sq ft of commercial space, which will be used for creatively-minded businesses, a restaurant, and a hotel. It will also be entirely traffic free (except for buses and emergency services) with drivers being directed straight to an underground garage.

Anthony Cobden, the project managers, also says they have a good understanding of cleanliness and landscape management, so all waste will be removed from the homes by a series of underground suction tunnels. A hydroelectric plant will be used to provide sustainable energy to the neighbourhood and they will add a "sense of place" by allowing farmers' markets and flower sellers.

"We would have a fairly firm line on undesirable activity, whatever that may be," says Cobden. "But we also feel we can say, okay, because we’ve kept control of the management of the commercial facilities, we have a fairly strong hand in what is said in terms of the activities that are held on site."

Work is set to begin in 2013. Thoughts?

www.ikea.com