Lidl has opened its largest Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) globally as the German discount giant continues to strengthen its infrastructure to cater for growing customer volumes across the UK.
The £300m 1.2m sq ft RDC, which is half a kilometre in length and could fit three of Lidl’s existing warehouses inside, located in Houghton Regis, Luton, will be delivering over 9,400 pallets a day across 150 stores.
In comparison, Lidl’s existing distribution centres can service between approximately 60-80 stores.
The warehouse is set to create up to 1,500 jobs for the local community – almost triple that of any other Lidl GB warehouse.
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.
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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 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.
All its delivery fleet is also fuelled by bio gas from food waste, supporting the discounter’s ambition to have 100% of its fleet diesel free by 2030.
Lidl GB chief development officer Richard Taylor said: “The opening of this new RDC in Luton is a seminal moment for Lidl GB. Demand for Lidl has never been higher, and we are seeing an increasing number of people walk through our doors to make savings on every shop.
“The fact that Lidl’s largest RDC in the world is here in Great Britain speaks for itself not only in terms of us needing to meet the growing demand from customers, but also in terms of our ambition to grow that demand in the future. It is a spectacular state-of-the-art site that our team has worked incredibly hard on to get to where we are today.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “It’s fantastic to see Lidl investing in the UK and creating thousands more well-paid jobs. As our plan to halve inflation this year and grow the economy bears fruit, businesses can be confident that investing in the UK is the right decision.”
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