New Covent Garden Market is London’s original and largest wholesale fresh produce market. Based on the south bank of the River Thames in Nine Elms since 1974, the iconic market is home to 175 wholesale businesses, with around 2,500 employees. At nearly 50 years old, the site is currently undergoing an exciting redevelopment that will transform it into a thriving, modern food quarter for London, with a world leading wholesale and distribution market operating alongside innovative, next generation food businesses.
Above: A fly-through of the project - July 2022.
On October 10th, 2022, Block A, the first of the three blocks that will make up the redeveloped 425,000 square-foot New Covent Garden Market, was completed.
The tenants from the existing trader blocks who are moving into the new units will have been fitting out their new homes since June and their move signals the beginning of the demolition of the portion of the original trading blocks that they are vacating.
When that demolition work is done, construction of the new Block B will continue, and this will house tenants moving out of blocks C&D, which will subsequently be demolished itself to make way for the second half of the new Block B.
And so it will continue, as each movement of tenants from one part of the market to their new home signals a further round of demolition and construction. Work on the roads and the remaining infrastructure to support the new Fruit & Vegetable market will all be carried out alongside these phases.
The final phase of the redevelopment will be the construction of a brand-new Flower Market at the foot of the Food Exchange, with an adjoining Multi-Storey Car Park. When that is completed, the Temporary Flower Market at the main entrance to New Covent Garden Market will be relocated and the land redeveloped to create the residential led Nine Elms Gardens scheme.
Above: Phasing of the Market redevelopment