Grainger have made a good attempt at making Clippers Quay a modern, sociable and exciting place to live, although I wouldn’t quite agree with their claim that the apartments are ‘luxury’. Whilst Grainger have incorporated some great features such as communal games area, gym and theatre, they have held back on a variety of features I would expect to find in a ‘luxury apartment’. I would expect the back wall behind the kitchen worktops where the sink etc is, to be finished with a wipeable splash back (like a glass or a plastic), instead it’s only matt white paint which is impossible to clean without re-painting so ends up looking grubby. I would expect more integrated kitchen lighting, such as a led lighting strip on the under side of the cupboards. I’d expect a built in microwave and wine cooler. I would expect the bathroom to be of at least a modern tiled style. The white plastic style in the bathroom appears modern at first glance, but it feels cheap, and likely is. You’re essentially standing in a plastic box. As a result the flooring in the bathroom isn’t solid and makes quite a thud as you move around. I’d also like to see chrome plated wall electricity sockets and touch screen intercoms too.
All of the above features mentioned appear in other luxury flats of a similar price point in and around Manchester, so I’d expect Clippers Quay had them too.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Personally love the area as it’s in between MediaCity and the city centre, so it’s extremely fast to get to either on the tram (around 7 minutes for both). It’s located on the Quays, which is a lovely area. It’s great to be able to step foot outside the apartment block and go for a lovely walk or a run around the Quays. There are a good amount of amenities nearby too, the co-op, Cult & Coffee, The Bee Orchid and more too.
I dislike that the area a has a high crime rate for thefts such as bicycles and mobile phones. I don’t feel safe walking alone at night unfortunately.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
If you can, avoid moving into any apartments facing Trafford Road. We viewed the apartment at a lunchtime, so sound levels were low so we didn’t experience the true volume until we moved in. When it’s rush hour you can’t have the window open whilst watching tv or taking a phone call as it’s that loud with the traffic. The concrete paths and brickwork means the sound bounces up the walls, we can hear every conversation of pedestrians on the ground (were 5 floors up). I understand this is a given with living in a busy city on a main road, but it’s a nightmare in summer when windows need to be open. That said, the windows are excellent and do a great job of cancelling the noise when they’re closed.
Another point, it’s great the WiFi is free, but it’s pretty terrible. Virgin rarely provide the 100 mbps they advertise, it’s more like 30 mbps, which isn’t bad but it’s not what was advertised. Grainger would have been better to do a deal with Hyperoptic to offer all tenants free Hyperoptic, as Hyperoptic without a doubt the best internet provider I’ve ever been with. We’ve requested Hyperoptic cables be put in and enough residents have registered interest so hopefully in the future that may be an option, although it’ll be frustrating as of course won’t be free.
How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:
Average. They seem to not care about resident concern. Parking is £100 pcm, and spaces are crammed in. I was given a tiny sized car parking space, with barely any room either side. Meanwhile cars of a similar size has metres of space next to them. I asked to move to an unallocated spot and was told I couldn’t.
