Consistently delivering industry-leading plumbing, heating and ventilation services, Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating was named Small Contractor of the Year at the 2025 Plumbing & Heating Awards. Building Ireland interrupted hands-on proprietor Jake Moran’s busy schedule to find out more about this exceptional mechanical services contractor.
Dedicated to professionalism, efficiency and invariably exceeding customer expectations, upwardly-mobile Thomastown-based mechanical services contractor Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating (KPH) triumphed in the Small Contractor of the Year category at Ireland’s Plumbing & Heating Awards 2025.
The award – presented at a black-tie gala evening in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown – recognises the company’s continued excellence, innovation, and leadership across Ireland’s mechanical services sector, with the judging panel noting that ‘KPH continue to punch above their weight’, highlighting the team’s dedication to quality workmanship, teamwork and continuous improvement.
With over 400 people in attendance, this annual awards ceremony is one of the highlights of the plumbing and heating social calendar, celebrating and recognising the sector’s premier contractors, consultants, merchants, manufacturers, people, products and projects.
Founder and MD Jake Moran agrees that this prestigious national award represents fitting testament to his wonderful team, clients and suppliers: “It was great to get it and it’s always nice to be recognised by the industry. There’s tough competition out there, so you’ll take any award you get. I’d definitely dedicate it to our staff, clients and suppliers – you have to give them all a mention.
“The award recognises what we care about most — quality work, done properly by a skilled and supported team. Going forward, we’ll continue to invest in our people, our clients and our community.”
Among the many outstanding projects that defined Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating’s brilliant year were Sullivan’s Brewery and The Club House Hotel, both in Kilkenny.
Works carried out at Sullivan’s Brewery comprised a full mechanical fit-out of the new brewing facility, including a high-efficiency ventilation system and custom water services tailored for brewery operations.
Meanwhile, at The Club House Hotel, KPH successfully delivered a complex mechanical refurbishment of the bedroom wing – completed while the hotel remained open, requiring careful scheduling and phased execution.
Since its inception five years ago, Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating has developed an outstanding reputation across Kilkenny and Leinster for professional, efficient, value-added installations – none of which would be possible without a skilled and experienced crew:
“It simply wouldn’t work without the team,” says Jake. “Onsite, I have a crew of 16 direct at the moment, alongside another six or seven contractors who row in behind me.”
The owner of Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating has been in the industry all his working life, for over 20 years, having started straight out of school at the age of 16. “I started Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating just after Covid,” he reveals. “It hasn’t always been easy, but anything worth having is going to be difficult. My wife Katie helped me get the business off the ground and we’ve faced all the challenges head-on, eventually getting our name out there and starting to get the business established.
“I was working for a local contractor and had been thinking about leaving for a long time, but was in the middle of building a house and had mortgage repayments to consider, and I couldn’t take the risk. Then Covid happened and I bought a van and just made it happen.”
Armed with a stellar reputation for quality workmanship and a SIM card full of contacts, Jake started off as a one-man, one-van operation and painstakingly built the business up from scratch. “I started off small, doing domestic work and bathrooms. From there, I started subbing some site work off bigger contractors, took on my own staff, and I could then price jobs myself because I had the team.
“I started with literally nothing and all my money was going into the house. I had to build it up gradually and carefully and failure was not an option.”
Through hard work, dedication and know-how, Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating has quickly grown into a respected commercial mechanical services contractor, skilled in design, planning, installation and maintenance whilst committed to providing first class, cost effective, energy-efficient and safe solutions.
Delivering bespoke installations covering new builds and retrofits, with minimum disruption to customers, staff and clients, Jake and his team offer free site surveys, estimates and quotes.
The aforementioned Club House Hotel, a landmark Georgian property, required a full refurbishment of its bedroom block. The existing plumbing, heating and ventilation systems were outdated and had to be completely replaced. The project demanded careful planning to integrate new services while protecting the character and heritage of this historic building.
KPH completed a full strip-out and rebuild, installing independent heating, ventilation and water systems to support modern bathroom fit-outs. Working to a strict deadline, the team re-plumbed 25 boutique-style rooms on time for Easter bookings. KPH also completed a full overhaul of the hotel’s boiler house. This unique project showcased KPH’s ability to combine technical expertise, heritage sensitivity and dependable project delivery.
KPH was also on hand when Saint Brigid’s Primary School required a comprehensive upgrade of its heating system to improve efficiency and comfort throughout the building. Working directly with the board of education, the project involved the installation of 116 new radiators, decommissioning of the old plant room, oil tank, flue stacks and outdated radiators. All work was conducted while the school remained open, requiring careful planning to minimise disruption to staff and students.
When the outdated heating system in Saint Canises Hospital’s office space and bathrooms was inefficient, unreliable and no longer met the high standards for hygiene and comfort, KPH undertook a comprehensive upgrade, decommissioning and removing the old radiators and pipework. They then installed a brand new heating system, complete with modern pipework and efficient radiators. To further enhance hygiene, they also installed a new bathroom, ensuring a clean and comfortable environment for staff and patients alike.
Elsewhere, the Oriel House Medical Centre project consisted of the complete installation of mechanical services associated with the construction of a new two-storey HSE medical care facility in Kilkenny. Here, KPH worked with Eugene Foley Construction and mechanical consultants Ronan Meally Consulting Engineers Ltd. Services delivered included co-ordinating M&E services, ventilation water services, air conditioning, mechanical ventilation heat recovery system, air to water heat pump, and soils and waste drainage.
Specialising in hotels, schools, office blocks as well as private work and also maintenance services for existing clients, Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating completed works at Ballymacarbry National School in Waterford and Duiske College in Graignamanagh, Kilkenny during the summer and at the time of writing are mobilised onsite at Old Leighlin National School in Carlow.
The key to KPH’s success to date? “Professionalism, and the knowledge that our work is quality work,” comes the swift response. “Anybody who comes to us tends to stay with us, and that speaks for itself. We carry out a very high spec of installation and because I have been in the industry so long I choose the right guys to work with.
“We have a great team and we’re bringing through our own apprentices. We have five on board at the moment and I’ve actually noticed a big turn there because they do want to do plumbing and heating apprenticeships now. A couple of years ago, you couldn’t get them because everybody wanted to be an electrician, but that’s not the case anymore.”
Jake is pleased to report that he has a tidy order book of work in front of him extending into the summer of 2026: “The plan is to keep building our client base going forward and to keep bringing new work in – we’re always trying to find new clients,” he concludes.
“We are more than holding our own and so far, so good. We’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing, and keep improving, because that approach has been working well for us so far. We pride ourselves on giving customers the best possible service, and this includes being available on the phone after the work is finished. Whatever it takes to make sure you always have happy customers.”
Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating,
Unit 6,
Thomastown Business Park,
Cloghabrody,
Thomastown,
County Kilkenny.
Tel: 056 7738297
Mobile: 087 1718986
Email: [email protected]
Web: kphltd.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, March 2026, Vol 12 No 3
featured, Kilkenny Plumbing & Heating
