The purchase of the 13-acre Sugar House Lane site between the entrance to the park and Stratford High Street is part of a bid by Inter IKEA — the Swedish firm’s investment arm — to launch its residential business in the UK.

The new IKEA site comprises a series of redundant industrial warehouses and has development potential for as many as 1500 homes.

The site is also expected to have several office blocks and warehousing aimed at the creative and film industries.

Although the company is a well-known name in the UK and appears on 18 stores across the country, the maturity of the retail market has kept it from creating IKEA-anchored developments in Britain.

In Europe, it develops and anchors large shopping malls, and has focused on building housing-led regeneration schemes that do not include a store but retain the “IKEA vision” of modern, simple design.

Inter IKEA is believed to be looking at a string of sites across the UK on which to expand its residential-led business.