The perfect location was essential for ITV News chief Craig Ferriman, who needed a super-fast commute into London and a quick route out to Heathrow. This led to him buying a new one-bedroom apartment at Weston Homes’ now 95% sold development, The Venue, Hayes.
A sixth-floor, one-bedroom apartment with a private balcony at The Venue in Hayes, west London, a site with an exciting modern cultural heritage, ticked all the right boxes for Craig. Hayes & Harlington station is a six-minute walk away, from where the high-speed Elizabeth Line enables a 20-minute direct commute into London. The Venue is also a short drive away from the M4 and M25 which provide convenient access, connecting London to Heathrow Airport, the Thames Valley and beyond.
The Venue is a £70.5 million (GDV) collection of 181 new homes. The remaining one bedroom luxurious apartments all have a private balcony or terrace, and access to a large central podium garden. The premium residential development by Weston Homes offers luxurious newly built apartments located within the 18-acre complex known as The Old Vinyl Factory. Formerly owned by music company EMI, the factory produced records for music superstars, including The Beatles and Queen, under His Majesty’s Voice (HMV) record label.
After seven years covering world news for ITV in the Qatari capital, Doha, Craig moved back to the UK and needed a base. Following his promotion to News Editor at ITV, and with punishing 4am starts, a quick commute was essential – both for work and for his social life. Determined not to rent, Craig, 35, went in search of the nearest flat to central London that suited his budget.
His father, a solicitor in Dorset, had volunteered to scout for a property while Craig was busy packing up in Doha. He found his son a Victorian house in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in which Craig lived for a while. However, Craig admits, ‘The commute was too long – a mainline train into Marylebone and a tube to the ITV offices on Gray’s Inn Road took far too much time.’ Craig continues, ‘The train times were too inflexible for the unsociable hours of news desks. And when I was out with friends, I was always looking at my watch for the last train home.’
With this in mind, Craig knew he needed somewhere that had quick and easy transport links.
Craig fell in love with his new Weston Homes apartment at The Venue as soon as he viewed it. The apartment was ready to move into and had already been decorated with stylish fittings, including portcelain floor and wall tiles, carpets, and a chic kitchen. Craig is particularly pleased with his fitted kitchen in silver grey. The stylish kitchen areas are designed by Oakwood Kitchens and have quartz stone worktops and upstands set alongside a wide range of fully integrated modern appliances, as well as an instant boiling and cold filtered water tap, separate tap with hose-spray extension, in-built soap dispenser, and a stainless-steel sink with an integrated removable chopping board. Hyperoptic superfast broadband offers a quick, steady connection, perfect for the days Craig gets to work from home.
A sizeable chunk of Craig’s library is still at his father’s house, so more bookcases will be needed in his new apartment. But Craig has invested in a large sofa bed in a practical, stylish charcoal grey, plus a TV, of course. Curtains and pictures are some way down the agenda. And while he does want a new kitchen table, entertaining is not a priority, even though he was a food critic in Doha.
With Craig so busy at work, he is looking forward to his mother, who lives in Spain, soon visiting, who is going to help him personalise his home.
Apartments in The Venue showcase Weston Homes’ premium, fully inclusive specification. Plus, Craig was relieved to hear that there was no ground rent on his Weston Homes apartment, just his annual service charge of £1,700, which includes maintenance of the landscaped gardens. Other savings that please him are running costs. ‘I have only been in my apartment for four months, but I know that I am using very little energy,’ he says. ‘This is a new build, and it feels solid with good fittings, and you can tell it is well insulated.’
Of his neighbours, Craig says, ‘A lot of the people living around me work at Heathrow airport or they are aircraft cabin crew. Like me, at the end of their day, they just want to get home, and that’s why Hayes works’. He continued, ‘Heathrow is a 15-minute drive away.”
Because The Venue’s location works so well for Craig, he is confident that it will easily attract tenants if he is to move abroad again. ‘I have a large private balcony that is like an extra room, which is always an attractive feature if I wanted to sell at any point in the future’, says Craig. The view from his apartment is over the landscaped courtyard gardens at the second-floor level, which is another definite plus. ‘My affordable mortgage here is the cherry on the cake – it is £1,000 a month, and I get all the frills and eco-credentals of a new-build apartment.’
Suzanne Aplin, Group Sales & Marketing Director at Weston Homes, says: “We’re delighted that Craig has found his perfect home with a speedy commute and great transport links. His home shows the appeal of our developments to those working in the city who need a luxurious base with quick connections.”
The final few one-bedroom homes at The Venue start at £315,000. For further information on The Venue, contact Weston Homes at Tel: +44 (0)20 3930 4382 or click here.
