The old EMI record pressing plant at Hayes in west London is being transformed into a substantial mixed-use development with key component The Venue – a new residential development for Weston Homes – located the heart of the Old Vinyl Factory masterplan, now complete.

Woods Bagot, working with client U+ I, designed The Venue through a successful planning process, creating three residential blocks placed on top of a podium that acts as the heart of the overall scheme.

‘The Old Vinyl Factory’ masterplan has been conceived as a dynamic, mixed-use neighborhood oriented around the historic, 20th-century EMI record plant—where records by The Beatles and Pink Floyd were formerly pressed. Once fully complete, this 18-acre site will include more than 600 homes, 550,000 square feet of office space and a variety of restaurants, shops and cultural venues. Sitting at the very center of this masterplan, The Venue is the largest housing plot in the development, with 180 apartments (studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts).

The ground level includes retail complemented by a pedestrian route dubbed “The Groove,” and public spaces linked by a biodiverse landscaped podium designed by London-based design firm Studio Egret West. The townscape experience is enriched by modest kinks in the street layout which humanize the scale of the massing.

A generous, recessed main entrance provides connectivity to the public realm with secondary entrances enhancing the sense of place. All four sides of the development also have substantial views as well as natural daylight, with staggered, projecting balconies and full height glazing.

The buildings are characterized by textured materials that tie in with the site’s cultural narrative of process, making and art. Retail units within the double-height ground level are in the process of being completed, and once ready, will be clad in a mixture of English handset gray-black and silver-black bricks and anodized metal. The façades for the top six stories are in two variants on a common architectural language. Iridescent, fire reduction terracotta panels in ribbed patterns create rhythm while precast panels define floor and grid modules to moderate scale.

The design integrates robust sustainability principles through an efficient floor plate, modularized envelope and low embodied carbon principles.

Rebecca Selby, U+I Senior Development Manager, comments: “Woods Bagot’s focus on delivering value to us as their client, while also designing homes and spaces for real people, gave The Venue the best of both worlds.”

Simon Saint, Principal and Residential Sector Leader at Woods Bagot, comments: “It’s wonderful to see such a positive response to The Venue since it opened its doors. When we see happy residents, it’s the best indication of the success of our design approach and our goal of delivering a great place to live.”

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Alexandra Hellyer
Content and Communications Leader (Europe & Middle East)