Covent Garden Market Authority Chair Wanda Goldwag OBE wrote a comment piece for the latest issue of the NCGM newspaper Market Times, in which she outlined her confidence in the future of the Market and its tenants.

“This is a significant milestone in New Covent Garden’s history. I’m delighted, as the relatively new Chair of Covent Garden Market Authority, to be able to recognise our 50 years in Nine Elms and share with everyone involved with this Market the celebrations of half a century as a hugely important part of our local and regional communities,” said Wanda.

“I’m not really one for looking back too far, for me the future is always more interesting. However, it would be wrong to ignore the long and distinguished history and heritage of NCGM and its predecessor in WC2. Until 1974, Covent Garden had been central to the country’s supply chain of healthy and nutritious fresh food, and beautiful, life-affirming flowers, plants and foliage for more than 300 years. The evolution of the fresh produce industry means that this site has a more regionalised focus, but in different ways, it remains absolutely integral to the success of a customer base that feeds and flowers the population of London and The South East.

“That this Market has faced down its well-documented challenges over the last half a century and emerged as a vibrant and forward-thinking £880 million site is testament to the expertise and commitment of thousands of people who have worked here in that time. As we naturally reflect on that period, it is the fact that we are building the platform for our tenants to play a vital role in the future of food and floral supply that excites me.

“The redevelopment programme is well into its fourth phase. There can’t have been too many projects of this size that have seen 50-year-old buildings operating perfectly well alongside the brand-new buildings that are, bit-by-bit, replacing them. As we’re observing with the two sections of Buyers’ Walk, the original section is still more than capable of delivering on its remit, while the facilities in the section completed earlier this year undeniably provide opportunities to improve the customer experience, enhance efficiency and deliver a better environment for the workforce. Like the wholesalers in both sections, I am impatient for the time when they are all operating in one building again. Then we can begin the process to relocate the flower market and the end of the project will be in full view.

“What drives me in this role is the desire to see every tenant across NCGM housed in the units they deserve as soon as is practically possible. Once we have achieved that, this Market will be able to fully utilise its status as the UK’s leading wholesale market brand – built over centuries – and simultaneously boast with complete justification that it is the newest and best-equipped wholesale market in the country. I don’t want to see tenants here focus on survival or preserving some kind of perceived status quo; I want them to be out there expanding their horizons and competing confidently for more business.

"We should be proud of our past and our heritage as without it, New Covent Garden Market would be far more exposed. Without a future filled with potential and profit however, we would have nothing, and I’m delighted we all reach this anniversary with so much positivity ahead of us.”