Lidl, the discount grocery, has signed up for a 1M SF south Midlands warehouse, its largest yet.

Lidl U.K. has acquired a 58-acre site at Luton in a deal with a consortium of landowners, Construction Enquirer reports.

The warehouse is part of a 630-acre regeneration utilising the new junction 11A of the M1 motorway. The consortium involves Aviva Investors, LIH and the Diocese of St Albans.

Lidl have been hyperactive in the warehouse market as they seek to double their retail portfolio. Lidl are understood to be seeking another 102 store sites in the West Midlands alone.

In October last year they signed up for their sixth U.K. warehouse taking 754K SF at Gateway Peterborough.

“Lidl and other retailers are now competing with developers to buy freehold sites, and they are fighting very hard, creating immense demand which is forcing land prices up to levels sometimes in excess of residential land values,” Burbage Realty Director James Harrison said.

“We’re not heard of further Midlands requirements for Lidl, but like everybody else they have been looking at south Midlands locations along the M40 motorway."