Why KORE Retrofit registered as a One Stop Shop

Caroline Ashe-Brady, Commercial Director at KORE Retrofit, explains the benefits of becoming a registered One Stop Shop.

Background

Caroline Ashe-Brady, Commercial Director of KORE Retrofit

KORE Retrofit began manufacturing EPS insulation products for the construction industry 26 years ago.

Based in County Cavan, they now serve customers nationwide through a network of over 70 contractors across Ireland.

"In 2010, with the announcement of SEAI's retrofit grants, we started supplying products to the retrofit market," explained Caroline Ashe-Brady, Commercial Director of KORE Retrofit. "We then decided to secure some retrofit contracts ourselves."

Their subcontractor network handled the on-site installation work. KORE subsequently became specialists in quality control and SEAI programme administration.

"We started our deep retrofit journey in 2014 and have since brought hundreds of houses up to a B2 energy rating," she said.

Key results

2 years
as a One Stop Shop
60
One Stop Shop projects completed
80
One Stop Shop projects in progress

Why register as a One Stop Shop

KORE heard about the SEAI programme and knew registering to become a One Stop Shop (OSS) was the next logical step for their business model.

The programme offers more collaboration in the construction industry. There are big advantages for contractors to either work with an existing One Stop Shop or become one themselves.

"We're investing more in OSS and deep retrofits because they're the future in the next 5-10 years," said Caroline.

"We've already finished 60 projects and have 80 more underway. As a One Stop Shop provider, we match homeowners with contractors who are the best fit for their specific project.”

The benefits of being a One Stop Shop

“Working with a One Stop Shop is a very attractive proposition for our customers. There's extra grant funding and the customer journey is taken care of from end to end. It made sense for us to become a One Stop Shop so that we could deliver these extra benefits to our clients.” Caroline said.

KORE has seen a couple of key benefits since becoming a One-Stop shop:

Continuous pipeline of work
Can offer more grant aided energy upgrades to our clients than the individual energy upgrade grant route
A full end to end service.

The first benefit is that there is a continuous pipeline of work because each home is a contract/project by itself. They can be planned in such a way that “there's less pressure on the system,” says Caroline.

The second benefit is the increased grant amounts, which means customers can get more upgrades done at once.

The OSS process includes a home energy assessment at the start. SEAI provides a grant for that assessment through the OSS programme. The customer is then engaged with a One-Stop shop from the very beginning of a project.

“Another benefit for us was the relationships we built up with our contractors. We're providing the administration and the quality process. They can focus on what they're good at, which is delivering works on sites.”

Watch Caroline’s interview

How to register as a One Stop Shop

The purpose of a One Stop Shop is to offer, manage and deliver an end-to-end service to the homeowner, advising on and carrying out all aspects of a home energy upgrade. OSS applicants must apply to SEAI to become a registered One Stop Shop.