Open market and 2,450 homes in Battersea boom

Garden centre: an artist's impression of how the development would look
12 April 2012

Plans for a huge regeneration of Battersea centred on a rebuilt New Covent Garden Market have been unveiled.

The proposals would create 2,450 homes, almost 700 more than first proposed, on a 57-acre site between Vauxhall station and Battersea power station, and would sit alongside the new high-security US embassy.

Part of New Covent Garden Market, the country's largest retail supplier of fruit, vegetables and flowers, would be opened to the public, rivalling Borough market.

The proposals, one of the Government's flagship urban regeneration schemes, have been submitted to Wandsworth council and its backers hope to secure outline planning permission by next summer.

The market would be rebuilt, while continuing to trade, for five to six years from 2013. The homes, including six tower blocks, two of which would stand higher than Battersea power station's chimneys, would follow.

Two developers, Bouygues and St Modwen, are competing for the contract and a winner will be announced in the spring. First proposed in 2006, the redevelopment would be entirely funded by the housing development.

The market has an annual turnover of £584million and employs 2,500 people. The public would be admitted to the "Garden heart" area that would include restaurants and stalls similar to Borough market.

The scheme would tie in with Boris Johnson's plans to open a privately funded branch of the Northern line from Kennington, with new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea.

Jan Lloyd, chief executive of New Covent Garden Market, said: "There will be three icons in the area, two of which exist already - ourselves and Battersea power station. When you add the American Embassy to that, the whole nature of the area changes. It will be a place people will want to visit."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in