News / Awards

Trade Professional of the Year Award 2008
By Bláthnaid McCaul, Northern Standard

Alan Duffy founder of Allbrite heating and plumbing solutions, Carrickmacross, is the toast of Irish traders after he was successfully named Overall Trade Professional of the Year 2008. The 28 year old who hails from Lough Egish was presented this prestigious award by Duncan Stewart, award winning architect and RTÉ presenter. Winners were announced at the inaugural Onlinetradesmen.com Trade Professional of the Year Awards ceremony in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Selected from over 2,000 public votes and assessed by an expert judging panel chaired by Duncan Stewart, Alan Duffy was announced as the overall trade professional of the year 2008.

Ted Laverty, Managing Director, Onlinetradesmen.com said the standard of trade professionals nominated for the awards was extremely high and impressed everyone associated with them. “Alan Duffy stood out through his incredible commitment, expertise and customer service in applying his skills. He has provided his customers with significant savings on their energy bills and is extremely passionate about what he does,” he stated.

Onlinetradesmen.com called on members of the public to nominate trades people who they considered to be the best in their field. Mr. Laverty explained that the reason behind the awards. “We are dealing all the time with trades people and property holders and we are aware that there can be a bad perception of some trades people in the sector. So the reason we first started these awards was to promote all of the good trades people that were out there and deliver some good news to the sector.”  A total of 800 trades people across the country were nominated and this was then narrowed down to a short list based on the number of votes received.
Mr. Laverty described Alan’s work as “exceptional” stating that he is very much ahead of the curve with the type of work that he carries out. “The thing with Alan is he has been doing this for a number of years before the whole idea of green systems became popular.”

Speaking to the Northern Standard Alan admitted that when he first heard about his nomination he wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not. “At first I thought my friends were winding me up but it wasn’t until the judges travelled to Carrickmacross the following day that I knew it was genuine.”

Alan first began working as an apprentice electrician under two men Joe McConnon and Tony Carville. “I served my time as an apprentice electrician with these two men and Tony Carville was actually with me on the night of the presentation.” A number of years a go he began researching alternative energy saving systems and it then that he decided to begin his own business Allbrite. Before there were recognized training courses established in Ireland, Alan travelled abroad and received an education in energy saving systems in the UK and Austria.

Allbrite provides energy saving systems, targeting plumbing and electrical works. Work includes under floor heating with heating controls, solar for heating and solar for hot water as well as ordinary plumbing and electrical work. “You come to any job we do and you will see the attention to detail that we have. I’d like to think that the standard of our work couldn’t be compared to anyone else. Even the quality of the materials that we use are the dearest most recognized brand names out there. It’s all number one stuff in Austria. It is top class stuff. With the quality of our work combined with the best materials, I would like to think that there is no competition out there for us. For me at the minute there isn’t much money in this business but there is plenty of glory in it. I want to keep building my name and I think that in a few years it will be worth my while. I genuinely love what I do and every job is unique and interesting."

Duncan Stewart award winning architect and RTE presenter, was so impressed by what it is that Alan has been doing that he has expressed an interest in featuring Alan in one of his programmes on RTÉ television. Duncan Stewart, FÁS and the government hope to open up a centre of excellence for electrical, plumbing and renewable energy and he asked if Alan would get involved in the teaching of these skills. Speaking on the night Duncan Stewart emphasised the importance of the awards to Irish property owners and to the trade sector in general. “These awards are the only platform of their kind to identify and reward tradesmen who excel in their field. They represent an important opportunity to increase overall standards within the sector for the benefit of both property owners and trade professionals. I am honoured to be associated with them. Alan Duffy was very worthy of this award and he is very passionate about what he does.”