Member Article

Battersea’s New Convent Garden gets ‘unconditional’ green light for £2bn regeneration project

The commercial contracts and planning agreements for the £2bn regeneration of the 57 acre New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms, London, have gone unconditional.

New Covent Garden Market, which is Britain’s biggest wholesale market, has been a hub for fruit, vegetable and flower sales in the capital since 1974.

This landmark 10 year project, which is the largest in the Nine Elms regeneration area and is led by VINCI St. Modwen (VSM), the 50/50 joint venture between St. Modwen Properties and VINCI PLC, will see the delivery of over 500,000 sq ft of new market facilities across a 37 acre site, housing the 200 market businesses currently employing around 2,500 people.

The remaining 20 acres of land will be transformed by VSM into:

• three high quality residential neighbourhoods comprising 3,000 new homes;
• 135,000 sq ft of office space; and
• 100,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and new community facilities, including shops, cafés and restaurants.

The entire scheme, situated in Zone 1, will be set alongside a new linear park for the area, parallel with the river and stretching from Vauxhall to Battersea Power Station via the new American and Netherlands Embassies.

This transformational project will also benefit from the extension of the Northern Line and the opening of two new tube stations, resulting in the majority of people who live and work in the area being within a five minute’ walk of a tube station.

The main construction enabling works to the new market are scheduled to start in the Summer 2015.

Bill Oliver, chief executive, St. Modwen and director of VSM, said: “This latest milestone enables the start on site of this major transformational project which is central to the Nine Elms Regeneration area. It will deliver a substantial positive economic impact in terms of employment, housing, and investment for London.”

Bruno Dupety, chairman and Chief Executive of VINCI PLC and director of VSM, said: “We are looking forward to starting on site to get this exciting project underway. It will transform this area of central London for those who live and work there, in particular the market facilities.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .