Aldi Foodstore, Balsall Common
The client
SOL Environment provided sustainability advice and carbon modelling to Aldi in support of their planning permission for a new foodstore in Solihull. Gaining permission for this store was technically challenging due its greenbelt location and therefore required the design team to go significantly beyond what is normal for a site of this nature.
Aldi UK currently operates more than a thousand stores across eleven regions and is a valued local employer, renowned for providing shoppers value for money and local produce.
The challenge
Aldi wanted to build a new foodstore on Kenilworth Road, Solihull, on the former site of local garage Edwin’s Autos. As well as supplying local residents with a convenient way to buy affordable, high-quality food, the new store would create 40–50 jobs. It would also greatly improve the appearance of the run-down site, and invest at least £5 million into the area’s economy.
The plan was very popular with residents of Balsall Common. However, the green belt location of the proposed site presented a challenge. The local authority was aware of Aldi’s pioneering sustainability effort in constructing its flagship eco-supermarket in Leamington. Now, they wanted to see a ‘very special circumstances’ case for building the new store. Aldi had to go above and beyond their already impressive achievements, all while keeping the cost of the build within their budget.
The process
Maisy Holland, Charlie Macknight, Ryan Andrews and the team at SOL Environment worked closely with Aldi throughout the application process. Our task was to review the sustainable design features of the Leamington eco-supermarket. We would determine which elements should be taken forward into the new design, and where improvements could and should be made. As a key part of our study, we conducted a Whole Life Carbon assessment, using the Leamington store and another, ‘standard’ store design as benchmarks for comparison.
Through WLCA modelling, we determined that the Leamington store – while a breakthrough project in its own right – could be improved upon in terms of embodied and whole-life carbon. We collaborated with the architect and contractor to carefully select the right materials for the new build. In this way, we reduced the whole-life carbon of the proposed store by over 639 tCO2e compared to a typical Aldi foodstore.
The volume of emissions saved was equivalent to operating the latest standard of Aldi store for 280 years – or driving a petrol car for 3.2 million miles!
The outcome
The local authority had been looking to block any development on the site, so the planning application had been delayed since 2021. But by improving significantly on an already sustainable model, Aldi was ultimately able to convince the local authority of the case for building the new store on the green belt site at Balsall Common. We were briefed on the project in late February 2024, and finalised our reports in May 2024 for the updated application.
In October 2024, the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council voted unanimously in favour of building the new store. The decision was subsequently approved in 2025 by Angela Rayner MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government. It’s a great outcome for Aldi, for SOL Environment, and for the community.
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