Promoting the New Covent Garden Market redevelopment project would give current and potential tenants, as well as customers, more confidence in its future, traders have said.
The news comes as the final planning application for the market has been approved, and pending a judicial review period of around six weeks, during which time objections can be made about the process – not the plans themselves – the contract with developers Vinci St Modwen is set to become unconditional.
The initial work is expected to start in April 2015, with an official on-site start date set for later this summer.
Ongoing concerns over the redevelopment project are now focused on the logistics of the move, with traders stressing they need more information and that there is “too much uncertainty” over key details such as costs, unit specifications and logistics.
Eddie Barrett, MD at longstanding NCGM firm HG Walker, said: “What I’d like to know is how will they persuade traders to stay, and attract new tenants to fill the space? It’s not being promoted enough to the wholesalers.'
'My son is 21 years old and currently works for the business. I need to be able to make it attractive to him. There's no confidence on the market at the moment,' he added.
Sales manager at P&I Side Salads, Nick Padley, said the CGMA’s focus groups with question and answer sessions have been “good”, but that he would like to know how the move will take place logistically.
“I’m excited about the new market, I’m a young man with a lot of working years ahead of me,” he said. “Ten years down the line, Battersea Power Station will be redeveloped and there will be scope to make this area like the area around old Covent Garden Market. I’d like to think of it as a good thing, but we need more information to feel confident.'
Communications manager for Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA), Alastair Owen, said there have been external enquiries about vacant units, and this will be followed up by marketing emails. “Enquiries are already very promising for the units that we will be looking to let. Enquiries are coming from both existing traders and new tenants,” he said.
Eight existing tenants have so far handed in their notice, including catering suppliers Mash Purveyors and Solstice Food, and there are fears among traders that more will follow.
Solstice MD Philip Britten said the firm needed more room, and the relocation to Wimbledon is not as a result of the redevelopment. “We have been looking to move for three years,” he said.
New unit specifications
Managing director of catering supplier MG & Sons, Tony Gaeton, said the firm is “undecided” about its future on the market. “It’s good that the market will be redeveloped, but we haven’t got the money to refit our unit to the specifications we have now. I feel as though I’m not wanted.”
In order to persuade him to stay, Gaeton said he would prefer like-for-like on his unit fit out, but added that he would be willing to meet half way. As a major customer for the wholesalers, Gaeton said the market would lose his weekly spend of £100,000 if he decided to move elsewhere, although he would still visit the market for “bits and pieces”.
Owen said: “We are trying to get them as near to like-for-like as possible. For some of the smaller businesses, what they get in the new units will be an improvement. For the larger firms, we are trying to get them as close to like-for-like as possible.”
Director at Premier Fruit, Mark Gregory, said: “One of our main concerns is our loading bay, as we aren’t being given one in the new market.”
In the new market specifications, unit apron space is being reduced due to health and safety concerns regarding the loading of pallets onto vehicles.
But Padley claimed that storing this produce inside the warehouse is more dangerous as the forklifts create hazards.
Rent review and new unit costs
Following a rent review in April 2015, CGMA has said that rents will then be frozen until 2022 or until the end of the build - whichever comes first. If the April rent review was to match inflation rate, rents will increase by 16.72 per cent and this figure will then be frozen for the next seven years.
In the new market, a higher unit rent will be balanced by a lower service charge, although CGMA said it is unable to forecast the exact figures until nearer the time.
“We are worried that only big chains such as Amazon and Starbucks will be able to afford the new rents,' said Padley. “I love the fact we’re staying here but what worries me is they need to iron out the costs.'
Owen said brochures containing as much information on costing as is possible at this time have been circulated to all tenants. “In no way do we want to price the traders out. We have no interest in that – we’re building this market for them, we’re not looking to attract multi-national companies,” he said.
Concern over decant logistics
Another concern voiced by traders is the lack of information about how the decant to an interim building will be carried out.
Premier Fruit’s Perry Simpson said he believes change is a good thing, but that there is a lack of confidence in CGMA. “There is uncertainty about how it’s going to work logistically – how will we move our pallets? And how will we move and rewire the phones and computers?” he asked.
CGMA said it will be producing a “move handbook”, that will include a timeline of what traders need to do by what date.
Owen said: “We currently have project teams going out to talk to the traders one on one. We want everyone on this market to know exactly what is going on.”
