Aldi is leading the race for the most supermarket warehouse space planned in the UK this year.
That's according to data from construction data provider Barbour ABI, which shows that planning applications for proposed floorspace for UK supermarket warehousing is at 890,789 sq ft for 2015 so far, of which 645,835 sq ft has been proposed by Aldi.
The discount retailer is currently constructing a major distribution centre in Cardiff that is due to open in 2017.
The data reflects the activity from 2014, where 94 per cent of proposed warehousing floorspace came from Aldi.
Of the Big Four, Asda was the only one of the supermarket giants to seek any type of warehousing planning permission in 2014 with 115,120 sq ft of floorspace, whereas Tesco has not solicited any planning permission for warehousing space over the last two years.
Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: “With Aldi planning to spend a total of £109 million in 2015 on new build stores, they have also planned over 2.5 million sq ft of warehouse space across the last two and a half years to meet future demand.”
“The latest figures include a £25m distribution centre in Cardiff which began construction earlier this month. Aldi has put ambitious growth plans into place to successfully build on their solid foundation as they continue to do battle with the Big Four.'
Elsewhere,Aldi is set to create up to 150 new jobs at its new multi-million-pound store and training centre in North Liverpool.
The new training centre will create an ‘in-store’ environment for staff and apprentices to learn new roles and develop skills, and includes a mock store.
It will provide training for up to 100 staff and apprentices each year for the Merseyside area.
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