Summer start for £2bn New Covent Garden redevelopment

Commercial contracts and planning agreements for the £2bn regeneration of the 57 acre New Covent Garden Market in London’s Nine Elms district have today gone unconditional

With all contracts signed, joint venture developer Vinci St Modwen (VSM) and its partner the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) are now free to start construction of the massive redevelopment. They plan to be on site by summer.

The 10-year project, the largest in the Nine Elms regeneration area, will see the delivery of more than 500,000 sq ft of new market facilities across a 37 acre site, to house 200 market businesses.

The remaining 20 acres of land will be developed by VSM into housing and offices. There will be three residential neighbourhoods comprising 3,000 new homes; 135,000 square feet of office space; and 100,000 square feet of retail, leisure and community facilities.

The site is on the south bank of the River Thames between Vauxhall Bridge and Battersea Power Station, where a vast swathe of construction is either planned or already under way. (See the October 2014 issue of our magazine for Emma Crates' report on this regeneration programme.)

St Modwen chief executive Bill Oliver 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."

Vinci chairman and chief executive Bruno Dupety added: "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."