Cork home gets a new lease of life through the One Stop Shop service
Homeowners Honora Kelleher and Mike Hennessy share their experiences of using a registered One Stop Shop to transform the energy efficiency of their home, bringing it from an BER F to BER A2.
About Honora and Mike’s Home
Honora Kelleher and Mike Hennessy live in Ballylouge, County Cork. They own their own home that was originally built by Mike’s grandparents back in the early 1980s.
The house was fitted with an oil boiler but with very little insulation.
During the winter months, when it was very cold, they had to leave the boiler on for roughly 14 hours a day, just to keep the house warm and liveable. And during the summer months it got way too hot inside. This is what it’s like living in a home with a BER F!
One-Stop-Shop Approach
Honora and Mike started to research different options that would help them upgrade and transform their home. They knew they needed to make the house warmer and more comfortable, and this would involve insulating the attic, walls and floor, at minimum. They also knew they wanted to create more space now they were working from home.
The One Stop Shop (OSS) grant route offered a complete home energy upgrade solution for Honora and Mike. It ticked all the boxes!
The One Stop Shop service provider would come out and assess their home, advise on what upgrades to get done to bring their home to a minimum BER B2. They would also manage the contractors, apply for the SEAI grant, and then deduct this from the costs. There was very little for Honora and Mike to do which is obviously very appealing for a busy couple. It was an easy decision to make.
Energy upgrades carried out
Honora and Mike’s got new windows and new doors, external wall insulation and ceiling insulation.
They replaced their old oil boiler with
an air-to-water Heat Pump.
They also invested in solar PV, which makes perfect sense for a couple spending a lot of time at home during the day.
Envirobead, an SEAI registered One Stop Shop service provider, managed the project from start to finish.
Honora and Mike’s New Home Experience
Honora and Mike’s entire homelife experience has been boosted through the One Stop Shop upgrade.
The project was efficient and non-invasive for them both and it all happened very quickly. Contracts were signed in September 2022, and the works commenced in December 2022. Everything was completed by end of January 2023 – a matter of weeks!
Honora and Mike’s BER has gone from F to A3. This is a massive uplift in energy performance of the home. They are using less energy to keep the house warm and this is having a very positive impact on their energy bills! They are also generating their own electricity from the solar PV so this is also helping to keep the electricity bill much lower.
Interested in taking the One Stop Shop Route?
In 2023, the average costs of One Stop Shop services and grants for homeowners was just under €33,000 for mid-terrace homes and €38,500 for semi-detached/end-terrace homes.
The One Stop Shop approach lifts the BER of homes, with average BER uplifts in 2023 going from as low as E1 up to A2.