Building of Lidl’s new headquarters in South West London is to begin this month following the appointment of a construction firm.
The new facility in Tolworth will be five miles from Lidl’s existing HQ in Wimbledon but much bigger, at 250,000 sq ft compared to 38,000 sq ft. It’s expected to take two years to complete.
Lidl has chosen Northamptonshire-based Winvic Construction, the firm that built its distribution centre in Exeter, which opened last year.
“We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Winvic to construct our new headquarters,” said Lidl UK board director for expansion and development Ingo Fischer.
“It’s a company much like Lidl, with ambitions of continued growth and exacting standards. We have every confidence that the building will be delivered with the same passion as the other Lidl developments Winvic has completed and is currently undertaking.”
Plans for the new building were first announced in 2015, with Lidl saying it would make space for 750 staff, up from the 400 working at Wimbledon.
Lidl said its UK growth and future predicted market success has led it to outgrow the current site and to a greater need for space to support its employees. It also said the new facility will generate further jobs, a boost to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and will help to support the supermarket’s expansion across the country.
Lidl plans to build on its UK estate of around 710 stores with at least 50 new openings a year.
In January the discounter announced plans for its largest UK regional distribution centre after exchanging contracts on a 58-acre site in Luton. That followed the opening of two new RDCs in Exeter and Wednesbury in 2017, and the announcement of a further three new warehouses in Doncaster, Bolton and Peterborough.
Winvic made its reputation as a shed specialist but has enjoyed sustained growth in retail, commercial offices and business park construction.
Winvic director Danny Nelson said: “Securing the Lidl headquarters contract is in part testament to Winvic’s ability to exceed client expectations. We are delighted that the supermarket giant wants to now benefit from our commercial project expertise, following Winvic’s completion of its Exeter distribution warehouse in 2017. The larger office space, that will allow Lidl to grow its business even further, will be ready for occupation in two years.”
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