Paul Sherwood Photographer paul@sherwood.ie 00 353 87 230 9096
Kylemore Cars, Ballymount, Dublin. September 2022
Kylemore Cars, Ireland’s largest independent second-hand car sales company, has just opened its new, almost-carbon-neutral, purpose-built car showrooms in Ballymount following a significant investment.
The concept for the building, which has been planned and developed over the past four years, is the vision of Graham Clarke, owner of Kylemore Cars. Kylemore Cars now sells more than 2,000 cars per year. On average 60% of these cars are hybrid, PHEV and full BEV models, echoing the wishes of buyers for more sustainable driving options, which in turn, is in line with the green credentials that the company upholds.
The company has grown massively over nine years and the staffing levels have increased from just two people to a now 30-strong team.
This hi-tech building is designed to offer customers the best possible experience when buying second-hand cars. This building is a contributor to Kylemore cars’ business goal of maintaining best value pricing through energy cost efficiencies, and in turn improving strong customer satisfaction rating because of an improved customer experience.
Speaking about this exciting new phase for Kylemore Cars, founder Graham Clarke said: “For this next generation of the Kylemore Cars business, the brief was to create one of the most cost-effective and energy-efficient buildings possible, in compliance with all current BCAR (Building Control Amendment Regulations) criteria and achieving NZEB (Near Zero Energy Building) certification. The building is to be future proofed where possible to allow for the ongoing integration of ever more sustainable systems and practices as these propositions become available, practical and economically viable.”
Mr Mark Robins, dealer principal at Kylemore Cars, said: “Our business has seen an increasing number of hybrid and electric cars being part of our offering, and we have the greatest number of vehicles in the 2014 upwards range compared with any other second-hand dealer. Our customers come from all over Ireland, and we pride ourselves on quality and price. This new showroom will offer our customers a hi-tech, state-of-the-art environment in which to buy a car, and a super workspace for our staff.
“We believe this exciting showroom will bring us to a new level, in terms of service and efficiency for our customers and will assist us in achieving our next goals of growing our business significantly over the coming three years.”
The main energy-efficient features of the building are a cooling control to ensure that the working environment is never too hot or too cold, and a lighting system that utilises the latest and extremely efficient LED (Light Emitting Diode) systems.
.In compliance with both BCAR and NZEB criteria, the building is airtight. This significantly reduces the service utility costs by optimising the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems and controls.
Central to the building’s renewable and sustainability ethos is the inclusion of a rainwater harvesting system. This sustainable initiative has the potential to impact positively on many levels, not only for the company, but also for the utility service provider and, most importantly of all, the environment.
A new Photo Voltaic (PV) panel array of 32No units with a projected output of 9000kwh has been installed and the company has installed 3No standard Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers + 1 super-fast 3 phase EV charger.
The building’s outer shell is constructed of an extremely efficient composite insulated cladding and roofing panel system that is both incredibly thermally efficient whilst also being structurally robust enough to maintain its integrity over the huge spans demanded by the modern showroom design.
The building has also been designed to incorporate excellent staff facilities, such as private showers and changing room facilities for those staff who wish to cycle or run to work, or for them to simply take a “head-space” break for gym activities and exercise.
Following on with this ethos, an excellent breakout area and architecturally designed in-house café with all kitchen facilities has been provided to allow the team to turn off for five minutes, and recharge as they require throughout the course of an often hectic daily schedule.
