Vinci St Mowden to start construction of London's new Covent Garden market

Vinci St Modwen (VSM) and its partner the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) have finalised plans for the regeneration of the New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms, London, with construction planned to start in the summer.

VSM is a 50/50 joint venture between St Modwen Properties and construction giant Vinci.

The 10-year project, the largest in the Nine Elms regeneration area, will see the delivery of over 500,000 sq ft (46,500 m2) of new state-of-the-art market facilities across a 37-acre site which will house the 200 market businesses currently employing around 2,500 people.

The remaining 20 acres of land will be transformed by VSM into three residential neighbourhoods comprising 3,000 new homes; 135,000 sq ft of office space; and 100,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and new community facilities, including shops, cafés and restaurants. The project will benefit from the extension of the Northern Line and the opening of two new tube stations.

'This latest milestone enables the start on site of this major transformational project which is central to the Nine Elms Regeneration area,' said Bill Oliver, CEO of St Modwen and director of VSM.

Bruno Dupety, chairman and CEO of Vinci and director of VSM, 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.'

VSM was selected by the Covent Garden Market Authority in March 2012 to deliver the regeneration of the site including the provision of a modern new market. In May 2014, VSM submitted a planning application for the project, whose Phase I is planned to be completed in 2017.

CONSTRUCTION BOOM
Construction in London is on the rise, particularly in the residential sector where an estimated 49,000 homes a year at least are needed to meet growing needs. This week the Estuary Housing Association borrowed £40 mln from M&G Investments to finance the development of 400 homes in the East of London over the next three years.

Half the homes are to be built in London boroughs and the remainder will be in Essex. Once completed, the developments will bring Estuary’s total housing stock to around 4,500 properties by 2018.

Also this week, BNP Paribas Real Estate purchased the Parker Tower site near Covent Garden for its first UK residential scheme.

BNP Paribas Real Estate bought the site from a consortium of private investors for an undisclosed price.
The site currently houses an office building, with planning permission to convert to residential. BNP Paribas Real Estate plans to build a scheme containing around 60 apartments.

The purchase comes shortly after BNP Paribas Real Estate’s property development business completed its first scheme at King’s Cross, which was sold to a JV comprising AXA REIM and a pension fund and is fully let to Google.

'We are also looking at other opportunistic sites in line with this strategy to grow our development business in the UK,' commented Thierry Laroue-Pont, CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate.