Tesco and other supermarket groups are reportedly in discussions with property developer Apex Airspace about building homes on top of the flat roofs of their buildings.
Above: Tesco store in Kennington is a likely candidate for rooftop housing
Apex Airspace specialises in buying the air rights above existing buildings and lifting factory-building modular housing units onto them.
The Sunday Telegraph quotes Tesco chief financial officer Alan Stewart hoping to generate £400m by developing housing on top of stores.
The plans would see some of its largest urban supermarkets becoming mini-Tesco villages, the report says. Tesco has identified 15 potential sites so far, mostly in London but one in Oxford.