Ideal location to live in UK for IT contracts

[DaveB]

What about Midlands? Not many IT projects in Midlands you reckon? all of them concentrated in London??

Midlands can be good, it's where I am. Central for the whole country, 90 mins to London by train. 5 Airports within easy traveling distance. Cost of living is lower, quality of life just as good, possibly better depending on where you are.

Downside is that work is harder to come by. There are contracts around but there are fewer of them and they don't pay as well. Average is about 20% less than a comparable job in the south.

It's personal choice at the end of the day, and personally I prefer not to work in London and SE, at least for now.

[shaeney]

Having contracted everywhere from Carmarthen to Victoria (London) and everywhere along the M4 between, i can suggest swindon.

But only for work. Otherwise, it's tulip.

[Euro-commuter]

I live in Bedfordshire. Train takes 35 mins to Euston; other lines get me to Kings Cross and the City. I can drive to the M4 corridor; or drive or take the train to Birmingham.

So where are the bloody contracts? I have used all of these modes of transport, but only to get to international airports!

[shaeney]

What did you do in Carmarthen?

.Net devlelopment, for approx 2 years.

Not really many tech employers there though

[OwlHoot]

On a recent BBC contract in White City I worked with a guy who lived in Holland Park, literally 500 yards from the building as the crow flies. Unfortunately between his house and the Beeb there's a bypass off the A40 and building works which are impossible to cross on foot. So, not being a crow, he had to walk 20 minutes to Shepherds Bush and get a tube back up to White City, taking at least half an hour on average!

[GreenerGrass]

You can still get a 1 bed flat overlooking the marina in Limehouse for a mere £250k. Ideal for the City or Canary Wharf.
Or make a Somalian family very happy by buying their taxpayer-subsidised 3 bed ex-council flat for the same money. No, I couldn't do it either.

Being a country lad at heart I stick closer to the greenbelt on the fringes of the M25. Its the locations in between that don't seem to make sense.
Expensive, crime ridden, full of "Operation Trident" targets and traffic jams, but often it still takes longer to get to the City than if you live out in stockbroker belt on a fast train route. Completely pointless unless you've made a few bob doing up your period property in one of Phil and Kirsties so-called "up and coming" areas of sarf London. The ones they never seem to visit after dark.

[aj1977]

You can still get a 1 bed flat overlooking the marina in Limehouse for a mere £250k. Ideal for the City or Canary Wharf.
Or make a Somalian family very happy by buying their taxpayer-subsidised 3 bed ex-council flat for the same money. No, I couldn't do it either.

Being a country lad at heart I stick closer to the greenbelt on the fringes of the M25. Its the locations in between that don't seem to make sense.
Expensive, crime ridden, full of "Operation Trident" targets and traffic jams, but often it still takes longer to get to the City than if you live out in stockbroker belt on a fast train route. Completely pointless unless you've made a few bob doing up your period property in one of Phil and Kirsties so-called "up and coming" areas of sarf London. The ones they never seem to visit after dark.

Yes fringes of M25 is a good location especially if its in Kent.I am not looking for buying a property,just a house to rent which is accessible to IT contract locations...

[wendigo100]

Yes fringes of M25 is a good location especially if its in Kent.I am not looking for buying a property,just a house to rent which is accessible to IT contract locations...

Especially if it is in Kent? I'd never choose to live over there.

Kent is a pain in the arse if you need to get anywhere else except London, especially west where there is tons of work. The M25 is a real shit.

I recently worked with a bloke close to the M25 out east and it took him over 2 hours to drive to Reading. By trains it was longer.

The problem is not so bad if you live near the western M25 because there don't seem to be that many jobs that require you to go the other way, to the east of London.

[aj1977]

Especially if it is in Kent? I'd never choose to live over there.

Kent is a pain in the arse if you need to get anywhere else except London, especially west where there is tons of work. The M25 is a real shit.

I recently worked with a bloke close to the M25 out east and it took him over 2 hours to drive to Reading. By trains it was longer.

The problem is not so bad if you live near the western M25 because there don't seem to be that many jobs that require you to go the other way, to the east of London.

Where exactly in West are u talking abt?

[wendigo100]

Where exactly in West are u talking abt?

M4 corridor. West London, Slough, Maidenhead, Bracknell, Reading, Swindon, Bristol - those sort of places. M3 as well.

Also, if you do see and fancy a job in the midlands, Kent is about the worst place you could be to commute there.