Plans to redevelop the UK’s biggest fresh produce market and build 3, 019 new homes on site have been given the green light by Wandsworth Council.
New Covent Garden Market, in the Nine Elms area of the south bank, will be updated with new shops, cafes, bars and offices.
The local authority said the £2 billion redevelopment, put forward by St Mowden and Vinci, will safeguard its future.
New Covent Garden Market has been based on the 57-acre site for 40 years since it was relocated from Covent Garden in central London.
The redevelopment is a 50/50 joint venture between developer St Modwen Properties and construction group Vinci, in partnership with the management of the market.
It will be paid for through a series of mixed use developments on the site which are no longer required by the market.
Around 20 per cent of the new homes will be affordable and reserved for qualifying residents in Wandsworth.
There will also be a visitor centre, education space, rooftop football pitches, a gym and doctors surgery.
It feeds into wider plans of a regeneration project of the Nine Elms area, including the refurbishment of Battersea Power Station and the Northern Line Extension which was given approval by the government yesterday.
Councillor Sarah McDermott, chairman of the planning committee said: “The market is the biggest single development site in Nine Elms and an incredibly valuable source of local jobs. Its revival is key to our vision for the area and the redevelopment of its perimeter sites will fuse together key sections of the new people-friendly environment we are creating here.
“This project covers five distinct development plots, the largest being the new wholesale market itself which will be overhauled to provide a 21st Century trading space for the food and flower businesses.”
Bill Oliver, chief executive of St Modwen said: “This landmark scheme is another example of VSM’s ability to progress large scale, nationally important, developments that create both jobs and homes and attract investment in areas ready for regeneration.
“Wandsworth Council’s decision allows us to contribute to the long-term transformation of London’s newest residential and commercial quarter whilst securing the future of New Covent Garden Market by delivering vitally important world-class market facilities. "
