Construction enabling work for the £2bn New Covent Market site in central London will now be started by joint venture development partners Vinci and St Modwen following planning agreements having gone unconditional.

The work on the 57 acre site close to Vauxhall Cross in the Nine Elms Regeneration Zone will completely transform this much loved area of London over a 10 year period, creating hundreds of construction jobs and dramatically increasing the demand for building supplies. The work will see the construction of 500,000 sq ft of state of the art market facilities over a 37 acre site, housing the 200 market business which at the moment employ around 2,500 people.

A further 20 acres will be made up of three resicdential neighbourhoods with 3,000 high quality new homes, 135,000 sq ft of office space and 100,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and community facilities (think shops, cafes, restaurants gyms etc).

The whole site will run up against a new linear park, which will run parallel with the River Thames and which will stretch from Vauxhall to Battersea Power Station.

Bill Oliver, Chief Executive, St. Modwen and director of VSM, said: “This latest milestone enables the start on site of this major transformational project which is central to the Nine Elms Regeneration area.

“It will deliver a substantial positive economic impact in terms of employment, housing, and investment for London.”

Bruno Dupety, Chairman and Chief Executive of VINCI PLC and director of VSM, said: “We are looking forward to starting on site to get this exciting project underway.

“It will transform this area of central London for those who live and work there, in particular the market facilities.”