Redevelopment News 06.18

West Bridge Deconstruction

Works will start Tuesday July 10 to remove the West Bridge in the Fruit and Veg Market. It will take around six months to fully deconstruct the bridge and the first step is to carefully and safely remove the asbestos boarding fixed to the underside of the bridge.

TIMINGS

We’ll let you know the start date once it’s confirmed. Work will happen between 09:00-17:00 Monday to Friday, outside peak market hours so as to minimise disruption. We’ll be keeping vehicle routes open, so you’ll still be able to move along the Centre Row safely throughout. It will take around four weeks to remove the asbestos fully and six months in total to remove the bridge.

REMOVING THE ASBESTOS SAFELY

Like most buildings of the 1970s, including many schools and hospitals built at that time, New Covent Garden Market contains asbestos. Asbestos is not a problem while it is undisturbed. To remove asbestos, there are extremely stringent procedures set by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that must be followed to ensure there is zero risk of contamination.

Before works start, the underside of the bridge will be completely enclosed and sealed off to prevent any possible exposure to contamination. There will also be daily air test monitoring by an independent asbestos analyst to prove it is safe and that the air is asbestos free.

The HSE will approve and sign off the work method agreed by our own advisors, RPS. You can be reassured that this means we will be removing the asbestos in a totally safe way, meeting all hygiene as well as health requirements.

DISMANTLING THE BRIDGE

Once we’ve removed all the asbestos, we’ll start to carefully deconstruct the bridge. This should start sometime in August. Nearer the time, we’ll give you more information about this and how we’ll be keeping vehicle routes open.

Premier Catering move into the IDU

Premier Catering moved into the Interim Distribution Unit (IDU) in May, joining MG & Sons who moved in March. Sheringhams will be the final of the three businesses to move from D Row into the IDU, which is due to happen this July. These moves free up the space needed on D Row to start work on the new Fruit and Veg Market.

Planned works in the South Vehicle Car Park

As you know we are due to start work in the South Vehicle Car Park soon. We are meeting with the CGTA in July to talk through the plans for this. Following this, we’ll share much more details about what you can expect, how each stage will work and how it will affect you.

Construction of the new Security Lodge

In the new market, the security team that currently sit in Link House will be moving into a new Security Lodge. This will be built in the area between Link House and the Entrance Plaza.

Work on the new Security Lodge will start in August, and hoardings will go up in the area a couple of weeks before this. We’ll share more details about this closer to the time along with dates for when the first stage of work will roll out.

Main Exit Road Uplift

At the same time as the security lodge construction, we’ll be raising the main exit road adjacent to the Multi-Storey Car Park. This will happen in early August. We’ll share more information about this soon.

Update on the fire strategy for the new Fruit and Veg Market

A while ago we let you know that we were working through some alternate options for the fire strategy for the new Fruit and Veg Market. Whilst the existing fire strategy was compliant with current building regulations, our fire engineering consultants advised it could be improved and give tenants greater flexibility to unit fit out by including a fire escape corridor. This is something the CGTA raised as a concern, too.

We have now signed off the design for this new fire corridor and it will become part of the new Fruit and Veg Market. We’ll share the designs for this in due course so you can see how this looks. 

Network Rail’s commercial site sale

Earlier this month Network Rail announced the sale of its commercial estate business in England and Wales. As you may know, our Rail Arch tenants occupy a space that Network Rail owns and that CGMA leases out. Network Rail’s sale will not impact any tenant businesses or current leases.