With 54,000 m2 of gross floor area, equivalent to five football pitches, the property will have a storage capacity for 44,000 pallets, enough to supply 100 Lidl stores in Central Portugal.

There will be 111 load/unload docks, 265 parking spaces for light vehicles, and 48 truck parking spaces.

Lidl’s new warehouse will be located in a former quarry and dumping site, which ceased operating in 2000.

Lidl's expansion and infrastructure administrator, Milton Rego, commented: ‘The new warehouse will be the largest in Portugal, in terms of gross construction area, and will mirror the image of current times. It is designed based on the most recent construction methodologies and materials and was conceived to provide the best logistical and operational response, but also to guarantee the best working and social conditions.’

The warehouse, which will be BREEM certified, will have a system that allows the use of sunlight for artificial energy needs inside, enabling a reduction in energy consumption.

It will feature photovoltaic panels with a production capacity of 2.5 MW, equivalent to the consumption of 800 homes for a year.

In addition, it will have chargers for electric vehicles, systems for capturing and using rainwater, and cold storage chambers using natural gases that minimise the harmful effects on the ozone layer.

The new warehouse will be Lidl’s fifth in the country, after Santo Tirso, Torres Novas, Palmela and Sintra, which supply 272 stores of the German supermarket chain in Portugal.