Preferred developer selected for 2,800 home Covent Garden Market

Plans for the proposed development include a new 500,000 square feet market and releasing 20 acres of land in central London for the delivery of 2,800 new homes.

The market is located within Nine Elms and is adjacent to the new US Embassy. It therefore sits within the Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea Opportunity Area, an area identified by the Government as suitable for major development and regeneration.

The joint venture VSM Estates has been selected by the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) as the preferred bidder to develop the £2bn, 57 acre site, which is expected to run over five years.

The contract is subject to the grant of a full planning consent for VSM Estates’ scheme with construction expected to commence by mid 2013. Construction will initially focus on the building of the new market ahead of a multi-phased move of the traders into the new purpose-built facility between mid 2014 and 2018.

The market currently houses around 200 businesses that make up the UK's largest fruit, vegetable and flower market. The new market will be funded by the release and redevelopment of 20 acres of surplus land into a residential led mixed-use regeneration scheme.

The Government recently approved the project's "Final Business Case" to allow CGMA to choose its preferred developer. It is hoped that the contract will be finalised this summer, which will allow for more discussion of the plans, said St Modwen.

CGMA's own outline planning application for the Market is due to be heard by Wandsworth Council’s planning committee in May.