Plans to regenerate New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) have been circulating through both the buyers’ walk and further afield for many years now. NCGM is one of the most successful wholesale models and the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) and the Covent Garden Tenants’ Association (CGTA) both recognise that to stay this way, they have to take the site forward.
The plans make financial sense. The Nine Elms site in Vauxhall that has been home to the market since its relocation from central London 37 years ago has become sought after and the proposal is that the sale of part of this land will generate the cash that, according to the CGMA, will create “a new food and flower centre for London”. This wholesale utopia will be called The Garden and is set to feature a retail market, restaurants, new homes, shops and offices. This development, it is hoped, will not only transform this area of Wandsworth but showcase the best of fresh produce, making a connection with the average person on the street and bringing further understanding of the fresh produce supply chain.
FPJ first reported on the new plans in October 2009, around the time of the CGMA’s first public consultation on the redevelopment and since then, there have been various consultations with the tenants and the public, leading to an Official Journal of the European Union procurement process selecting a shortlist of three private development partners to lead the project last month.
Having recorded a turnover of £584 million in the year to
31 March 2010, with an overall increase of 3.8 per cent and fruit and vegetable wholesale up by
2.3 per cent, the last year has been a positive one for the market. An outline planning application covering the entire site will be submitted to Wandsworth Council this summer.
According to the CGMA, the project will be “developed at no expense to the tax payer” and “entirely self financing from CGMA’s land assets”. Outline plans depict a smaller, more efficient and compact arrangement of buildings, with more trading space but on a smaller footprint. The flower market will be at the foot towards Nine Elms Lane, with road access around the buildings rather than in between and a one-way system. The 200 businesses trading on NCGM still have time to influence the final design through the CGTA.
“We need this redevelopment,” says Bruce White, who heads wholesale firm Bruce White Ltd. “It’s going to be very important for the future of our businesses, but more needs to be done and it really needs to be designed for the future. We also need to make sure the temporary units are fit for purpose and don’t disrupt trade, which was always going to be quite a challenge.
“The design needs to serve the 21st century requirements of the catering industry. Instead of breeze block sheds, I’d like to see the whole market refrigerated, temperature controlled and fit for buyers to come in and see. It would be nice to have something different to other wholesale markets.”
In fact, change is afoot in many ways for NCGM and there is a steady new wave of young wholesale or catering suppliers making names for themselves on the market and carving their own niche.
Cream of the Crop subsidiary Desiree, for example, is headed by Ashleigh Kington and Ricky Scott and aims to bring branding to the wholesale market. And with large wholesaler Premier Fruits owning half of the business, the new venture is well placed. “We are interested in chefs’ opinions,” says Scott. “They want to know where the food is coming from, where it is grown, who the farmer is, and therefore so do we. That’s why we have set up our own wholesale department that is really getting that needed information. We are working more as agents for growers.”
The new businesses are optimistic about the redevelopment, but admit it is an unnerving time.
“The redevelopment has clearly been designed by someone behind a desk, not a market person,” says Kington. “We have really well equipped units here and it is a worry that the exchange is not like for like. What’s more, where are we going to go? I don’t think that the authority understands how stressful moving a 24/7 business is. You can’t really put a cost on it, as how do you claim back any business lost? Although the bigger picture is that it will be a lot better for everyone in the end, it’s just a case of getting there.”
P&I’s Nick Padley is one of the very few sales people under 30 to join NCGM and he would like to see “the old way, but with a twist, with coffee bars, gyms and restaurants - that’s where the future is”.
No comments yet