Integrity Security Group has capped a milestone year by acquiring a local rival in a bid to strengthen its customer base in the West Midlands.

The Solihull-based company, which celebrates five years in business in 2013, has sealed a major deal to buy Roscot Security.

All 60 staff and existing contracts have been maintained as part of the transaction, creating one of the fastest growing firms in the sector.

Will Adams, Director of Integrity Security Group, explained: “This acquisition has been twelve months in the making and we are delighted to have taken over the operation of such a successful and well respected business.

“It came to our attention that Mike Ross, MD of Roscot Security, was looking at early retirement after suffering from a loss of hearing and we felt it represented a perfect match with what we were trying to achieve.”

He continued: “His firm has an excellent reputation for reliability and quality of service and also held a number of prestigious contracts in sectors we didn’t previously operate in.”

Commercial finance from Barclays was used to complete the deal, which sees all of Roscot Security’s contracts and staff become part of Integrity Security Group.

The enlarged company will trade under the single brand and will be responsible for more than £2m of contacts for clients ranging from city centre office developments to major manufacturers and regeneration projects.

Tony Turner, Director at Integrity Security Group, picked up the story:

“We now have a combined workforce of 120 staff, working on contracts across the West Midlands and for clients all over the UK.

“The acquisition gives us a great platform to achieve a record £2.5m turnover this year, which will represent growth of about 50%. Importantly, we want to maintain our reputation for high quality and continue the hard work and dedication of Mike Ross.”

Established in 2008, Integrity provides dedicated cleaning, facilities management and bespoke security services.

The latter ranges from manned guarding, mobile patrols and event security to key holding, alarm response and strategic consultancy.

The company has recently invested £100,000 into additional vehicles and a brand new website, not to mention increasing its head office to 3,000 sq ft.

All of this has helped Integrity pass the Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor Scheme, with a 37% improvement in its assessment.

Setting new standards is boosting the fortunes of a Solihull-based security specialist it was revealed today.

Integrity Security Group, which employs 120 people at its Highlands Road facility, has seen its commitment to quality officially recognised with re-accreditation to ISO 9001 and ISO14001 – all secured with zero non-conformities.

The firm has also passed the Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor Scheme with a 37% improvement in its assessment and is expecting this ‘trio’ of wins to help it reach £3m in turnover by the end of 2013.

“Our score with the SIA puts us in the top 09% overall of security companies when it comes to our commitment to high standards, the professional development of our staff and the way we identify new opportunities,” explained Will Adams, Director at Integrity.

“This is all part of our approach to changing the way the industry is perceived and continuous improvement in every aspect of our business is crucial.”

He went on to add: “We have won at least four contracts in the last two months that have been directly down to having these quality accreditations in place. These include work with high profile city centre office developments, regeneration projects and industrial facilities right across the Midlands.”

Established in 2008, Integrity provides dedicated cleaning, facilities management and bespoke security services.

The latter ranges from manned guarding, mobile patrols, event security and key holding and alarm response to strategic consultancy.

The company has recently invested £100,000 into additional vehicles, a new office in Aldridge and website, not to mention increasing its head office to 3,000 sq ft after support from the Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP’s Business Development Programme.

Tony Turner, Managing Director at Integrity, picked up the story: “We’ve had a really solid period of growth and don’t want this expansion to stop here…in fact, we are already looking at how we can double the size of turnover again by this time next year.

A West Midlands security specialist is celebrating its 5^th anniversary in style by creating up to 60 jobs and achieving 100% year-on-year growth.

Integrity Security Group, which is located in Highlands Road in Solihull, has secured a string of new contracts with high-profile manufacturing firms, huge distribution units and regeneration projects across the UK.

The company’s ability to offer tailored security and manned guard services has also seen it win a number of city centre office developments.

These successes have seen the firm expand to more than 120 staff and take on additional offices to cope with demand.

“It’s been a great year for the business and one that we believe could be the platform to launch us to our next stage of development,” explained Tony Turner, Managing Director.

“We’ve added over £1m to turnover this year and are currently in the closing stages for other significant contracts.”

He continued: “When talking to clients they’ve been telling us that some of our recent ‘wins’ have been down to ‘taking the pain away’, being cost competitive and employing security specialists who are professional, courteous and become part of their business.”

Integrity Security Group was established in 2008 after Tony and fellow Director Will Adams spotted a niche in the marketplace to change the industry perception of poor personal service and customers being let down.

The company, which holds Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor status, Safe Contractor Accreditation, Principal Membership of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) and ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, has always invested in the best possible training for its staff and in implementing new processes and the latest technology.

In the last year alone, it has invested £100,000 on additional vehicles, a new operations centre, brand new website and increasing its head office to 3,000 sq ft.
The latter was supported by a grant from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’s Business Development Programme (BDP).

Will Adams picked up the story: “We don’t want our growth to stop here and are already looking at how we can double the size of turnover again by this time next year.

“This has the potential to create another 70 jobs and take us to between 190 and 200 positions. “

He concluded: “Where possible we try to recruit a certain percentage of unemployed people and over 30 have been taken on so far. They’re a great resource and we can offer them training to develop them in our way of doing business.”

In addition to security and manned guarding, Integrity also offers nationwide cleaning and facilities management services.

A Solihull-based security and manned guarding specialist has received funding from a new grant-aid programme to help businesses grow.

Integrity Security Group – with over 15 years of experience – is one of a growing number of companies in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) area to have benefitted from the Business Development Programme.

It will be using the funding to expand its existing offices in Highland Road as it looks to continue with 100 % year-on-year growth since 2008.

Tony Turner, Director, explained: “The BDP Grant has come at a perfect time in our development and will help us move forward a lot quicker than first anticipated.

“Having the larger office will give us an ideal platform to manage a string of new contracts we’ve recently won and will hopefully lead to us taking on another 40 to 60 people.”

He continued: “Ideally, we want to double the size of the business in 2013 and believe with this backing we can make this vision a reality.”

The Business Development Programme is an £8 million business support programme aimed at helping more than 400 across the GBSLEP area.

To qualify for funding of between £10,000 and £15,000 towards business expansion projects, companies have to have been trading for more than six months and have expansion plans ready to implement that will safeguard existing jobs or create new ones.

The programme operates across the whole of the GBSLEP area, meaning any firms in the Solihull local authority area will be able to apply. The programme is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013.

Councillor Ian Courts, Cabinet Member for Community & Economic Regeneration within Solihull said: “It is great to see the growth of local companies such as Integrity Security, supported by the Business Development Programme.  We recognise finance is a key issue for businesses  and this initiative provides a critical stepping stone to enable organisations to realise expansion and recruitment plans.  I urge all local businesses to get in touch and see how they can benefit.”

The Business Development Programme grant is available to businesses in eligible sectors that are located within the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership area.  The grant, will cover 45% of the costs of an eligible project, subject to satisfying criteria and approval.

As well as the financial assistance scheme, an intensive coaching and mentoring scheme for businesses has now launched.  The great200leaders scheme includes 100 hours of leadership development, delivered over a 12 month period in 10 peer group workshops. Each workshop is headed by an inspirational expert speaker and each participant receives £4,000 funding towards the cost. This programme is aimed at 200 ambitious business owners and directors, to deliver personal performance and business growth.

Integrity Service Group was formed in the depths of 2008’s recession by former colleagues, Tony Turner and Will Adams. With over 15 years of experience in the security industry, having managed 1100 staff and overseeing a turnover of £25 million, they decided the time was right to ‘go it alone’.

Initially starting from an office at home, within a couple of months they decided to secure office space in Solihull, attracted by the borough’s proximity to the motorway infrastructure and large commercial centres and also by the support given to businesses by Solihull Council. After two years in business, the company expanded into much larger premises and again decided to remain in Solihull.

Tony Turner outlined some of Integrity’s values: ” We have consciously decided to operate the business on a debt free basis which has provided us with a robust structure for the business. We have zero contract attrition as we offer a competitive price without sacrificing on quality. Initially, we reinvested much of the funds generated into gaining a number of accreditations, including ISO 9001; ISO 14001; Safe Contractor; Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor Status; British Security Industry Acssociation Principal Member and Investors in Excellence.”

Based in Solihull, Investors in Excellence Ltd (IiE) works with hundreds of private and public sector organisations across the UK and worldwide, helping them to continuously improve their all-round performance.

Ian Nield, Chief Executive of IiE, said: “Integrity Security’s commitment to achieve the Investors in Excellence Standard demonstrates a clear focus on continuous improvement and a desire to deliver the best possible service to their customers. Our work with Integrity to date shows them to be a successful, growing business, despite the tough economic climate.”

Sympathetic to the hard times that have seen many people lose their jobs, Integrity have enjoyed providing employment to many long term unemployed local workers.

Tony Turner, said: “We have recruited some excellent staff who have had bad luck in their careers, some of whom have progressed to be become managers within the Company.”

Steve Tommy, Commercial Surveyor for Hortons’ Estate Limited, commented: “We have used Integrity on numerous sites in our portfolio for some years and have always received a cost-effective, responsive and professional service.” Horton’s Estate Limited is an independent Midlands based property company formed in 1892. Their current property stock includes a number of landmark buildings, including office accommodation and lettings in Solihull.

Will Adams, Head of Operations at Integrity, added: “Our clients can be assured that in speaking to myself or Tony, they will always have access to the decision makers, and will not have to endure constant restructures and a subsequent lack of familiarity with their requirements which is often the case with national providers. We offer a level of proactivity and responsiveness that is second to none, and as we have carefully controlled costs and overheads, we are confident that we can offer to beat any like-for-like quotation.”

Integrity Security Group can provide security officers on a temporary or permanent basis, security patrols in highly visible vehicles, response to alarm, staff and vehicle searches and the installation of CCTV.