Ocado is considering opening a new warehouse after its customer fulfilment centre in Andover was devastated by fire.

The online grocer and tech specialist is understood to be mulling a new site as one of a number of options following the blaze, which broke out on Tuesday.

A source close to the business told Retail Week Ocado was “considering all the options – whether that’s permanent relocation, redeveloping the site or looking for something new”.

It is not yet known whether Ocado’s Andover warehouse has been completely destroyed by the fire, or whether the business will eventually be able to resume operations at the site.

More than 300 firefighters have been tackling the blaze, which started on Tuesday morning in an ambient section of the warehouse’s grid.

It was initially thought to have been contained, but it spread rapidly on Wednesday, forcing the emergency services to set up an exclusion zone and evacuate properties within 500m of the site.

There were also fears that refrigerated gas within the warehouse could cause an explosion.

Firefighters said that efforts to control the fire had been “very difficult” because the building was “not meant for humans”.

The incident has disrupted deliveries to Ocado customers. The customer fulfilment centre accounts for around 10% – or 30,000 orders per week – of the etailer’s business.

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