Planning permission has been granted for the £2bn regeneration of the New Covent Garden Market in Central London.



The joint venture development by Vinci and St Modwen see the transformation of the 57-acre Convent Garden area which is close to Vauxhall Cross in the regeneration zone Nine Elms.



The scheme is expected to take 10 years to complete and will include the development of 550,000 sq ft to house the 200 businesses that make up the UK’s largest fruit, vegetable and flower market.



Funding for the development of the site will be funded by releasing 20 acres of land for mixed residential and commercial use as part of a huge regeneration scheme in the centre of the city totalling more than 3,000 new homes and 135,000 sq ft of office space and 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space, all joined up to the Covent Garden Market redevelopment by a 1km linear par.

The construction work will be multi-phased with the initial development starting in 2015 and the second phase (which will be largely made up of the development of the 20 acres) starting in 2017.



Vinci Construction will build the new market, with other firms likely to get involved with the project to construct the residential housing.



In addition to the developments there will be an extra £92m for local infrastructure improvements which will include upgrades such as the Northern Line Extension.



Sarah McDermott, chairman of the council’s planning committee, said: “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.



“The current flower market site would make way for a series of new buildings including three towers which will form part of the Vauxhall tall building cluster.”