A leading supplier of sustainable heating products has set up shop in Dublin. STIEBEL ELTRON, a German group with 26 sales operations around the world, has marked its 100th anniversary with the opening of new regional headquarters in Blanchardstown.
With 50 years of experience in heat pump technology, and a wide range of electric hot water, space heating and ventilation products, the firm is aiming to support homes and businesses across the island of Ireland in their transition to net zero.
The new headquarters includes a showroom open to the public, and a training centre offering a unique service provision upskilling installers in the burgeoning renewables sector.
Mark McManus, STIEBEL ELTRON Ireland Managing Director, said, “The Irish markets hold huge opportunity for renewable energy technologies, so developing an office which will support this sector was a no brainer.
“At STIEBEL ELTRON we have a track record in creating and supplying tried and tested innovative renewable energy products to a global market, as well as being a leader in sharing our expertise to drive these green solutions forward.
“We want to offer an excellent service to end-customers and installers, and if there are installers out there who are thinking they would like to recognise the opportunities, we’re here to help them get into the sector and train them up.”
Greatest interest in its heat pump solutions is initially expected to come from the Republic of Ireland market, where grants and subsidies are already available.
In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, STIEBEL ELTRON is seeing strong uptake of its electric heating products, with notable success in the student accommodation sector including a current project in partnership with Fox Electrical Contracts on Nelson Street in Belfast.
While STIEBEL ELTRON products have been present in the all-Ireland market through distributors since its UK headquarters opened 16 years ago, Brexit together with the advantages of a physical presence in the market prompted the expansion into Dublin.
Blanchardstown was selected for its easy access to the airport and motorway network, with STIEBEL ELTRON’s logistics partner Rhenus occupying a neighbouring premises.
Stock can be delivered anywhere on the island of Ireland within 24 hours, with Rhenus housing stock in Blanchardstown and potentially at its Galway depot.
“We have over 1,500 stock-keeping units that we can put onto the Irish market, but generally 80% of the turnover comes from 20% of the stock and that’s what we’re going to be promoting to the Irish market,” said Mark.
Its range spans small domestic to large commercial applications, from 5kW to 1MW, with larger projects often combining air-source heat pumps with electric space heating, hot water and ventilation products.
“If we look at a school for example, we might put a heat pump in for the heating solution,” said Mark. “However, because there’s lots of points of hot water being produced, we might also put small instantaneous water heaters in at point of use and provide hand dryers and things like that from our product portfolio, so we’re creating almost a turnkey solution for the mechanical electrical installation company.”
Five employees are already in place at the new office, supporting customers from end-consumers to installers, developers, consultants and architects.
STIEBEL ELTRON’s strategy is to pair a sales representative with a service engineer, with the two working closely together.
“A key part of what we’re offering, the differentiator, is our service provision,” said Mark. “We work hand in glove with installation partners to help them grow their business and we support them, particularly those customers who are trying to move into heat pump technology from existing fossil fuels.
“What we do at STEIBEL ELTRON is train them completely free of charge, commission their systems free of charge and hand hold them all the way through the process to make sure they’re competent and understand what they’re doing.
“We’ll take leads to installers to help them recognise opportunities and win business and then once they install the product, we’ll commission it as many times as they want while we’re training them.
“It’s really that support package that’s a little bit different from competitors in the marketplace.”
Ground Floor, 2 Stemple Exchange, Blanchardstown Corporate Park, Blanchardstown,
Dublin D15 W35. T: +353 (0)1 514 3696
E: sales@stiebel-eltron.ie
www.stiebel-eltron.ie
