Tenants have insisted a workable decant strategy must be at the heart of the New Covent Garden Market regeneration after the authority this week announced its private development partner.
The government has approved the final business case for the regeneration project, paving the way for CGMA to appoint a consortium of Vinci and St Modwen, (VSM) formed specifically for this bid, as its preferred development partner. VSM will now enter into a contract with CGMA to develop the site and deliver a new market alongside new homes, commercial space and public open space. The winning bid scored the highest marks in the final stage of the procurement process, which started in 2010. The authority said more details about Vinci St Modwen plans for the site will be announced once the contract has been signed in the summer, meanwhile, it will “look to work with VSM to ensure their tenants are fully engaged in the final designs for the market,” the announcement read.
Baroness Brenda Dean, chairman of CGMA said: “This partnership reinforces the message that the development will be delivered without need for government funds. By working with Vinci St Modwen we will create a new destination focused on food and flowers for London that will support the future of our tenants’ businesses - a market which we can all be proud of. It will create a market that is self-sustaining and enable us to meet the government’s long-term intent of disengaging from the ownership of the Market. This will take time but in joining with VSM we will secure the long term future of the Market and its 2,500 jobs, for London.”
The outline planning application covering the entire site was submitted to Wandsworth Council in the autumn last year by CGMA. The application, seeking outline consent for 347,000 sq m of development, is due to go to planning committee in May.
However, Covent Garden Tenants' Association still has reservations. The association’s chairman Gary Marshall told FPJ: “We look forward to meeting with the chosen development partners for them to show us their design and, importantly, their decant strategy which is crucial to the future of the market, and the access points into and out of the market.
“In the meantime, we are still putting forward our objections to CGMA’s outline planning application which together with the tender process has cost them over £10 million. As the planning application stands the proposed designs will seriously affect the ability of the market to trade as a market, putting the whole market’s future at risk. Every single tenant whose opinion has been asked is against the plans and not one supporting letter from tenants or residents has gone into Wandsworth Council. The only people that are supporting the application are those that have advised the CGMA on it.
“As we have previously said, the CGMA has built up a paper trail for the political process, but they have never listened or taken into account the tenants concerns for the redevelopment of our market. We might not own it, but we are the ones that make it work.”
