Griffith Hall, Drumcondra

IsThisOneFree

Hi All

Could have sworn I found a thread on this here recently, but now I can't find it. Anybody on here at all live in this complex ? Can anybody tell me what it's like ? Is it well maintained etc and what are the management company like ? I've heard that (in the past) there may have been a spate of break-ins and unsocial behaviour going on. Is this still the case ?

Aside from this, does anybody know if the block is mostly rented, owner occupiers, or a mixture of the two ? One thing that concerns me with buying apartments is about how thin the walls might be (in terms of hearing your neighbours sneezing next door !!) - anybody have any thoughts on this ? Is the sound insulation pretty good, average, bad etc ?

Thanks in advance

ibarelycare

My boyfriend lived there for a year up until last December. I can't really comment on the management company, but I didn't know of any issues there were. I wouldn't call the grounds very well-maintained, the shrubbery was often left over-grow and the outside lights were nearly all broken, but it was always clean.

The apartments are fine, his was a 2-bed with one bathroom. It was ground floor and was lovely and warm for the most part. It had underfloor heating throughout which had separate controls for each room. He was living in a ground floor apartment. You could hear the adjacent and upstairs neighbours a bit, but the noise was in no way excessive. You'd hear the upstairs ones hoovering, or the buzz of the washing machine but you wouldn't hear people talking or sneezing. The odd time you'd hear parties or loud music going on but it wasn't that often. There were a few students living there from what I could tell, but it seemed to be mainly young families or young professionals. I have no idea whether or not most of the apartments are owner-occupied or rented.

Security-wise, you need a code to get in the pedestrian gates, and you need to actually phone the large gate to drive in. Only two phone numbers per apartment can be registered to call the gate, so it's not like anyone can drive in. However every couple of months at least the pedestrian gate would be broken and left open, and this would take a few days or even longer to get fixed. There is also an individual security code to get into each section of the building. None of the security codes (gates or doors) were changed as long as he lived there.

Each apartment has only one parking space and there is very limited additional parking. When he first moved in there were probably around 25/30 visitor spaces for the whole complex, however that number started reducing as they'd sell the spaces. There is free parking on Glandore Road outside, which is where I'd nearly always leave my car. Plenty of people park there, it's a quiet residential street, and I even left my car there for 3 nights when I went on holidays once.

IsThisOneFree

Thanks for the reply. With regard to the grounds, I suspect there might be some money being pumped into that at the moment - it looks like all the lights along the pathways are being replaced, and the green areas looked to be pretty well maintained to me. I spoke to Clontarf Garda about it also, and they said they're not aware of any anti-social behaviour etc, which is good to know. They did mention about bikes being stolen, but that's happening everywhere now unfortunately - it's happened where I work during broad daylight. The visitor parking doesn't bother me that much to be honest, as long as I know my own car is safe !

Anybody have any other comments to add, they'd be greatly appreciated

natali1982

Did you decide to buy apt in this complex? Your thoughts?

neemish

ibarelycare wrote: »

My boyfriend lived there for a year up until last December. I can't really comment on the management company, but I didn't know of any issues there were. I wouldn't call the grounds very well-maintained, the shrubbery was often left over-grow and the outside lights were nearly all broken, but it was always clean.

The apartments are fine, his was a 2-bed with one bathroom. It was ground floor and was lovely and warm for the most part. It had underfloor heating throughout which had separate controls for each room. He was living in a ground floor apartment. You could hear the adjacent and upstairs neighbours a bit, but the noise was in no way excessive. You'd hear the upstairs ones hoovering, or the buzz of the washing machine but you wouldn't hear people talking or sneezing. The odd time you'd hear parties or loud music going on but it wasn't that often. There were a few students living there from what I could tell, but it seemed to be mainly young families or young professionals. I have no idea whether or not most of the apartments are owner-occupied or rented.

Security-wise, you need a code to get in the pedestrian gates, and you need to actually phone the large gate to drive in. Only two phone numbers per apartment can be registered to call the gate, so it's not like anyone can drive in. However every couple of months at least the pedestrian gate would be broken and left open, and this would take a few days or even longer to get fixed. There is also an individual security code to get into each section of the building. None of the security codes (gates or doors) were changed as long as he lived there.

Each apartment has only one parking space and there is very limited additional parking. When he first moved in there were probably around 25/30 visitor spaces for the whole complex, however that number started reducing as they'd sell the spaces. There is free parking on Glandore Road outside, which is where I'd nearly always leave my car. Plenty of people park there, it's a quiet residential street, and I even left my car there for 3 nights when I went on holidays once.

What kind of heating does it have? Looking to rent but would prefer not to have storage heaters

ibarelycare

neemish wrote: »

What kind of heating does it have? Looking to rent but would prefer not to have storage heaters

It has underfloor heating, with individual controls for each room.