Lidl GB has officially opened its £300m RDC – the largest Lidl warehouse in the world – marking the discounter’s continued commitment to expansion across Great Britain.
The 1.2 million square foot RDC, which is half a kilometre in length and could fit three of Lidl’s existing warehouses inside, is located in Houghton Regis, Luton, and will be delivering over 9,400 pallets a day across 150 stores. This compares to its existing distribution centres, which service between approximately 60-80 stores.
It will be the first Lidl GB warehouse to feature automation, helping to store more goods and increase capacity at the distribution centre, which in turn is helping to create more jobs. It’s also been designed with sustainability at the forefront, featuring solar panels that are set to generate 2,000,000 kWH’s of electricity annually. At certain times throughout the year the warehouse will run purely on solar power. Additionally, all its delivery fleet is fuelled by biogas from food waste, supporting the discounter’s ambition to have 100% of its fleet diesel free by 2030.
This milestone comes as Lidl doubles down on its commitment to further strengthen its infrastructure as it caters for growing numbers of customers up and down the country. In 2022 Lidl opened over 50 new stores – more than any other supermarket in Great Britain – and opened a further 19 stores at the beginning of 2023.
The warehouse is set to create up to 1,500 jobs for the local community. Warehouse colleagues will benefit from working at the highest paying supermarket after hourly wages increased this month to £11.40 from £11.00, with the potential to rise to £12.30 with length of service. Benefits also include life assurance and optional health and dental insurance schemes, as well as enhanced holiday entitlement, and 10% discount in stores.
The multi-million pound investment builds on momentum already made this year. In April, Lidl announced it was recruiting for 400 roles as it submitted a planning application at a 38-acre site in Gildersome, Leeds. This followed the recent opening of four RDCs including Motherwell, Peterborough, Doncaster and a second site in Belvedere.
