Tesco is seeking more than 100 acres of land to develop two new super-sheds, after reporting record £2.2bn profits last month.
The supermarket’s adviser Lambert Smith Hampton has issued requirements for sites of 50-60 acres, to house two new 1m sq ft distribution units.
One will be in the North of England, along the M62 corridor between the M6 and M18, and one in the South, along the M1 and M4 corridors from London to Bristol or Milton Keynes.
LSH refused to comment, but a source said: “Only one occupier could have requirements of this size in the North and South simultaneously.”
Tesco announced last month that it would release more than £5bn from its £16bn property portfolio over the next five years, to return cash to shareholders and expand the business further.
Another source said: “Tesco is still growing rapidly and has got older generation distribution kit that needs to be revamped.
“The supply chain is something that needs to evolve constantly.”
The retailer has 29 sheds across the UK, alongside 1,200 stores and a landbank of 185 development sites, which have recently come under the spotlight of the Office of Fair Trading.
Tesco is already taking more than 3m sq ft of extra distribution space, including a 700,000 sq ft shed at Centreport in Goole, East Yorkshire, and an 800,000 sq ft unit at Hartland Park near Farnborough, Hampshire.
It has also agreed deals for a 500,000 sq ft shed at Gladman’s Barlborough Links in Chesterfield, South Yorkshire, and a 1m sq ft Rosemound/British Land-developed scheme at the Deans Industrial Estate in Livingston, West Lothian.
The store is about to take ProLogis’s 386,000 sq ft Crossflow 380 in Cheshire at £4.75 per sq ft.
References: EGi News 15/05/06
