Redevelopment

New Covent
Garden Market

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.

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A better home for fresh produce

The Fruit and Vegetable Market is being rebuilt to meet all future commercial challenges and opportunities. The brand new, contemporary food grade units all have a high specification base build, but are flexible so that businesses can fit out the exterior to meet their own business requirements. Undoubtedly the trickiest element of the redevelopment programme is that these new homes for NCGM traders are being built around a fully-functioning wholesale market, but it is all being done in a manner that is meticulously planned to ensure minimum disruption to ongoing business.

The market for
every great florist

The Flower Market at New Covent Garden moved to a temporary new home in 2016, a little further down Nine Elms Lane than it used to be – past the all-new American Embassy Quarter. As the only dedicated wholesale flower market in the UK, it supplies a large proportion of London’s event and contract florists as well as many of the high street florists. On the ground floor of the new Flower Market is a bright, modern Flower Hall, where London’s best flower wholesalers sell a wide variety of flowers, plants, foliage and sundries, while the first floor is home to a selection of contract florists. The Flower Market will be the last part of the Market to relocate, when its new, permanent home at the foot of the Food Exchange (see below) is completed in 2027.

Next generation food businesses

The Food Exchange, which opened at the Market in January 2018, is a new home for London’s up-and-coming food entrepreneurs. The tenants’ businesses range from established food and drink brands to exciting new start-ups and food waste charities, and from trade publishers to architects and golf shoe marketers. On the first floor of the building is Mission Kitchen, a members-only incubator that provides rentable kitchen space for fledgling food businesses to help them grow into the next big thing in the world of food. The Food Exchange is the place where next generation food businesses network, learn, innovate and grow. Looking further ahead, there are plans to transform New Covent Garden Market into the focal point of a dedicated food quarter in Nine Elms – a desirable destination for foodie Londoners, with the iconic wholesale market operating alongside an array of food and drink businesses that will be open to the public.

What's happened so far?

Ground was broken on the first phase of the redevelopment in 2015 and the final piece in this elaborate jigsaw – the largest redevelopment project in the area for more than 50 years, will be in place in January, 2027. There have been challenges along the way, but a landmark agreement between Covent Garden Market Authority and the tenants of the Market in late 2020 has ensured that everyone in the Market is moving forward with a shared vision and working together to build a market to lie at the heart of the food chain for London and the South East well into the future.

Moving through
the phases

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, were completed.

Twenty-one tenants from the Market's pre-existing A&B blocks moved into the new units and their move signalled the beginning of the demolition of the portion of A&B blocks that they have 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 handed over to the developer.

The date for the completion of the redevelopment project is January, 2027.

Redevelopment

If you would like any further information on the redevelopment, please contact us at hello@cgma.co.uk.

The Garden Wall

Fruit & Vegetables

Flowers