Covent Garden Market Authority has begun contacting traders with details of their new unit options after the redevelopment finally got the green light from planners this month.
Wandsworth Council approved plans for developer Vinci St. Modwen (VSM) and partner CGMA to regenerate the 57-acre site, meaning development work can begin in earnest. It followed a one-month delay and complaints from wholesale tenants over the plans.
A series of leaflets have now been distributed to traders outlining what their new units could look like and detailing how issues such as dust contamination will be managed during the regeneration.
Specific leaflets for buyers’ walk wholesalers, wholesale distributors and other food-related businesses have been produced, all headlined ‘What could my new unit be like?’
Wholesale units will be 6m wide, 9.5m high and either 33m or 28m deep. Move dates are set to be in two phases - August 2019 or August 2020, depending on location.
The costs of the new units are set to be outlined next month, while details of 2015-2022 rent charges will follow early in the new year.
A spokeswoman for CGMA pointed out that the new fruit and veg market would be “a considerably higher standard than the shell and core set in the base output specification for the market build, meaning that every unit, at standard level before fit out, is BRC-compliant in terms of the fabric of the building.”
The leaflets also contain a veiled warning to traders that further legal challenges could push up costs: “If there are delays, including legal challenges, the increase in construction costs caused by such a delay would mean that we may not be able to guarantee this level of fit out,” it says. “This is a fact we all need to be aware of.”
