News 05•16
The New Flower Market is going up
Here we go. We’ve started putting up the structure for The New Flower Market.
Drive in via our Main Entrance and you can’t miss the white steel of The New Flower Market advancing above the hoardings. The first pieces for our new, better home for flowers, plants, foliage and sundries.
Inside will be a modern, bright, fresh space that’s perfectly chilled via a state-of-the-art cooling system. In The New Flower Market there are two parking floors. Well-lit, covered parking on the ground floor allows you to load delicate orders protected from the elements. The first floor is open air and there are three large goods lifts connecting the car park to the Flower Hall.
When it opens, in January 2017, it will be a vibrant, bustling flower market full of traders, flowers, buzz and atmosphere.
Follow the action in real time on our website, where our time lapse camera is taking a photo every ten minutes.
Construction in the north west corner
We’ve finished building the superstructure (an official term!) for the new Recycling & Waste Compound in the north west corner of the market. A sizeable building, this will house the Compound on the ground floor and six community football pitches on the second and third floors. We’ve poured all the concrete for the floors and, soon, we’ll start putting in the walls and ceilings.
Adjacent to this, in the Multi-Storey Car Park, we’ve been affixing brackets all around the outside of the car park, ready to install the external cladding.
The cladding, the material that will wrap the car park façade, is an earthy green colour that will help transform the outside of the car park from an industrial concrete block into something much more fitting for London’s finest fresh produce market.
Behind the car park, the Cleaner’s Accommodation Block is really starting to take shape; the roof is on and we’ve nearly finished building the brick walls.
Mem wins the contract for the VINCI canteen
One of market life’s greatest pleasures is a sit-down and a hearty meal at one of the market cafés. A moment’s respite during one of those busy market days. A time to turn the phone on silent, pick up the paper and unwind, even if just for a moment.
You may have seen the new block of Portakabins that have gone up next to Covent House. These are the new headquarters for the VINCI Construction UK team building the new market. Space for the team running the project, as well as the subcontractors and workforce with offices, meeting rooms, changing rooms and a canteen.
Understandably, VINCI wanted to offer their staff a taste of the market and picked Mem to run the canteen. With his business partner Paul Harrison, and under the name Little Gem Catering, they will be feeding 250 staff, serving delicious food, freshly cooked every day with high quality market ingredients. The company, who are fuelling London’s builders, also run the catering for the neighbouring Barratt construction, where there are up to 1,000 workers on site.
Completions
This month we completed two new buildings. They may not be the most exciting, but are essential to running the market. Our new Electrical Substation in the south corner is now finished. This powerful facility will provide the electricity to all Brand New Covent Garden Market buildings and units, as and when they are built. We are now working on the ground around the substation.
Further along the road, we have also finished the Temporary Electrical Substation. After a successful power switchover from the old substation, this high spec temporary facility is now powering the whole market.
Construction Programme
Click on the image to view a larger version of the construction programme.