The City of London Corporation has started the process of sounding out contractors regarding its £330m scheme to combine the city’s three main wholesale markets on one site in East London.

The tender process will start in January 2022 and the two-year works programme, on the  17-hectare site at the former Barking Reach Power Station, is due to start the following year.

Once complete the three biggest markets in the UK – Billingsgate (fish), New Spitalfields (fruit, vegetable and flowers) and Smithfields (meat) – will be located at the same place for the first time. It will also include a food school, training fishmongers, florists, fruiterers and butchers.

A construction roadmap is well under way with the removal of core elements of the old power station before the plans to develop the new facility, designed by Chetwoods, can start. Deloitte LLP and Aecom are joint planners.

When the Smithfield site is vacated in 2025 there is a possibility of it being turned into a cultural centre although there have also been reports it will make way for 1,200 homes while Billingsgate could also be become a residential development (1,500 homes).