A productive vegetable garden is part of the latest proposal for the centre of the controversial Chelsea Barracks development which has London home sales agents wondering how beehives and a nuttery will appeal to potential property owners.

Previous £3 billion plans for the 12.5 acre central city site have divided opinion, with the Prince of Wales publicly airing his dislike of the original glass and steel modernist towers proposed by architect Lord Rogers and which, having been dropped, are now subject of a High Court case.

One of the Prince's favoured garden designers, Kim Wilkie, has come up with a series of ideas for the central spine of the site, including a fruit and vegetable garden with the home-grown produce being sold later at a farmers' market in the central square.

To further improve the green credentials of the site, a power plant beneath the plots will warm the soil, allowing year-round cultivation, and a hedgerow would attract birds.

However, it is unclear at this stage how appealing the DIY garden, opposite the Royal Hospital, will be to potential purchasers of the 500 luxury apartments.

London home sales professionals, including some residential conveyancing solicitors and estate agents, are concerned that if the plan goes through the development may not create as much of a boost to the property market as originally envisaged when the Ministry of Defence released the Chelsea site.