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Thursday, 5th July 2007

Home working case study 2: Chris Noonan

CHRIS: Central perk
CHRIS: Central perk
HIS city-centre pad is Chris Noonan’s reward The 34-year-old is one of two full-time concierges for the Granby Village apartments on Whitworth Street.

Made up of five blocks with 250 apartments, Chris is constantly on the go providing security, dealing with maintenance and sorting out tenants’ problems.

Added to that, he has to keep an eye on the communal garden, swimming pool, gym, sauna, jacuzzi, games room and underground car park.

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But despite working on a rota of shifts for the 24-hour cover, he says he generally enjoys it.

“It’s good and because of where it is, we have quite a lot of professionals and cultured people. I get to talk to lots of different people so it can be really interesting.

The apartment is a one-bedroom flat in the impressive six-story Velvet House on Sackville Street – the perfect location for Chris.

“Living where I do is the best part about it – right in the middle of town with everything on my doorstep.

Cosmopolitan

“Because it’s such a cosmopolitan city and there’s so much going on, there’s a lot of different cultural aspects you can tap in to. It’s cool.”

One down side, however, isthough, being he is often called out during the night, even when he isn’t meant to be working.

“It can be hard work and I get disrupted when I’m sleeping - I recently had one tenant call me at 4am to say that his shower wasn’t working.”

And although Chris is allowed to use the leisure facilities, he says he doesn’t take full advantage of them because the tenants often assume he is on duty and start raising queries.

As a former fine art student, Chris displays his own contemporary-style works on the walls.

Having sold his previous flat when he got the job, he does wonder how he might be able to get back on the property ladder if he moves on in a few years’ time.

And his current pay of £14,000 wouldn’t enable him to buy any similar flats that go for around £140,000.

But for the time being, Chris is happy with his lot.

“All in all, it’s a cool job and it’s great to be living in the city centre – I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

What do you think? Have your say.