Proposed floorspace for supermarket warehousing is being spearheaded by the fast growing German retailer Aldi, new data can reveal. According to the latest report from Barbour ABI, a chosen provider of construction data for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Government, planning applications for proposed floorspace for UK supermarket warehousing is at 82,757 sq m for 2015 so far, of which 60,000 sq m has been proposed by Aldi, who are currently constructing a major distribution centre in Cardiff that is due to open in 2017.

This reflects the activity from 2014 with 94 per cent of proposed warehousing floorspace came from Aldi. In regards to the ‘big four’ supermarket retailers, Asda was the only one to seek any type of warehousing planning permission in 2014 with 10,695 sq m of floorspace, whereas Tesco have not solicited any planning permission for warehousing space over the last two years.

Commenting on the figures, 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 235,000 sq m of warehouse space across the last two and a half years to meet future demand.” “The latest figures include a £25 million distribution centre in Cardiff which began construction earlier this month. Aldi have put ambitious growth plans into place to successfully build on their solid foundation as they continue to do battle with the ‘big four’.”