In a positive sign for the retail market, Tesco looks likely to restart some of the mixed-use work it put on hold, with its £400m Woolwich project in London among those set to restart, nine months after it put the bulk of its regeneration investment programme on ice.

Contractors and consultants in the supermarket’s supply chain have been told some of its mixed-use schemes are to come back on line in the beginning of 2010, with the retailer likely to be re-scoping the schemes to make them more commercially viable, which could result in the projects containing a smaller residential element.

According to Building Weekly, it was unlikely that plans would be changed enough to require new planning applications.

This is the latest in a flurry of good news for firms working in the supermarket sector. In September, Sainsbury’s said it would extend its £1.6bn store expansion plan for at least another two years beyond 2011, and Waitrose said it planned to double its stores.