New Covent Garden scheme rises up with steel

Steel construction is playing a leading role in the redevelopment of London’s New Covent Garden, one of the capital’s largest ongoing construction schemes.

The world-famous fruit, vegetable and flower market currently occupies a vast 57-acre site, which it moved into in the early 1970s after relocating from Covent Garden in central London.

A seven-year scheme will deliver of over 46,500m² of new market facilities across 37-acres of the existing site, which will house the 200 market businesses currently employing around 2,500 people.

The remaining 20-acres within the New Covent Garden site area will be redeveloped to accommodate 3,000 new homes, 12,500m² of office space and 9,200m² of retail, leisure and community facilities, including shops, cafes and restaurants.

Parts of this grand scheme are now under way including two steel-framed projects, a recycling waste centre supporting rooftop five-a-side football pitches and an interim flower market.

The latter structure will temporarily house the wholesale flowers sector of the New Covent Garden business for approximately six years while the old premises are demolished and new buildings erected on that plot. This phased approach will keep the market operational throughout the construction programme, which is vital.

St. Modwen Construction Manager Neal Haywood says, the design and delivery of the development made steel frames critical for the project.

“Although ’temporary’, the interim flower market will be state-of-the-art in design terms and using steel in the construction means we can create the large, clear spans needed for modern market buildings.

“Steel also has the added advantage of being able to be re-cycled and re-used when the building is dismantled in six years’ time. It also means that we can use light foundations, which in turn will benefit the re-use of the site itself in 2022.”

Hambleton Steel has been contracted to fabricate, supply and erect the steelwork for both of these structures.