On 12 May, the official opening of the brand new distribution center of Delhaize, specifically, developed in Vorst, specifically developed for e-commerce activities. This ‘Home Shop Delivery’ center, with an area of 20,000 m², was built by real estate investor Montea, which has had the redevelopment of this former Lipton site since 2008. Sustainability and energy efficiency are central to this project. Special is also the circular approach that Montea applied to the construction.
With this new center, Delhaize responds to the exponential growth of e-commerce and the increasing demand for fast, reliable and sustainable home deliveries. Located in Vorst, in a central location near Brussels, this distribution center is the ideal base for deliveries to the extensive customer base in Brussels and the surrounding area. Products can be delivered faster and retain their freshness better, crucial in the food retail sector.
In the new building, 400 employees can compile 25,000 online ordered shopping packages at maximum level. “With that we double our capacity to 50,000 orders per day,” says e-commerce director Jennifer Nemry. “Today we can also process 25,000 orders in our center in Puurs, but with that we are at our maximum.” 150 vans are available for delivery from the new ‘Home Shop Delivery’ center.
This distribution center is the ideal base for deliveries to the extensive customer base in Brussels and the surrounding area.
Production of soap and tea
The location in Vorst has a rich industrial history: a soap factory was located here in the distant past, and in December 2019 the Lipton-the’s factory closed the doors on this site. Montea already bought this site with an area of 87,000 m² in 2008. A thorough remediation of the contaminated soil was necessary.
The demolition of the old Lipton tea factor started in 2023. During the demolition, materials were recycled, recycled and reused. Montea worked circularly: old façade plates were reused, concrete plates of demolished buildings were crushed on site and re -used in the road works and 1000 tons of metal parts were recycled.
Sustainability was also central to the design. An LCA study (‘Life Cycle Assessment’) mapped the entire ecological footprint of development to the end of the lifespan and with a circularity passport, insight was gained into the reuse of materials, and its dismantability or separability. In other words, these tools determined the material choices and ensured that the building was developed responsibly to the smallest details.
In the new building, 400 employees can compile 25,000 online ordered shopping packages at maximum level.
No fossil fuels
For cooling and heating, the distribution center does not use fossil fuels, but only of heat pumps. The residual heat of the cooling installations is re -used to heat other parts of the building. To avoid heat losses, airtight charging quays are integrated. Rainwater is collected and reused for sanitary and cooling applications. Smartly placed skylights ensure natural lighting inside the building.
The roof is also partly furnished as a green roof and partly equipped with a solar plant of more than 2,500 panels (1.5 MWp). In addition, there is also the staff parking on the roof, which released space at ground level for softening and the construction of a biodiverse green zone. Futing outside his charging points for electric vehicles and water -permeable parking spaces installed. With all these interventions, the project is aiming for the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ certification for sustainable buildings.
Sustainable and circular figures
- Investment: +53 million euros by Delhaize and Montea
- Removal of 6000 tons of contaminated debris
- Removal of 9500 tons of contaminated soil
- Reuse of 17,500 tons of ground concrete
- Recycling of 1000 tons of metal waste
- 2560 solar panels (1.5 MWp)
- Heating with heat pumps
- Fully insulated and airtight loading docks
“Government of redevelopment project”
“The development of this new distribution center for Delhaize is the crowning gap of the redevelopment project on the former Lipton site in Vorst,” says Xavier Van Reeth, Country Director Belgium near Montea. “The new building fits in seamlessly with the sustainability policy of our real estate portfolio and lays the foundation for a long -term partnership between Montea and Delhaize.”
Distrilog does logistics services
Distrilog provides full logistics services in the new distribution center of Delhaize, just like the company has been doing this for years in the existing center in Puurs. With full operational capacity, around 200 Distrilog employees will be active on the site. They take care of putting together and processing the orders day and night, which are then brought through home delivery or to one of the 120 collection points.
