Firex North

BFC finds trade show is Just the Job for new strategic alliance

Firex North was the site of one of the UK fire industry’s newest and potentially most lucrative business partnerships. The British Fire Consortium (BFC) formed a strategic partnership with industry recruitment specialists Fire and Security Jobs. As a new corporate member, the company will offer BFC members special terms on recruitment work carried out.

The membership stands to save a massive 50% on recruitment services when they consult Fire and Security Jobs.

“Part of our aim is to remain the leading recruitment consultancy serving the fire and security industry in the UK today,” explains Fire and Security MD Brett Ennals. “We see the BFC membership as a group of dedicated professionals for whom finding the right personnel for key roles is one of the most important management functions, along with accounting, marketing, business planning and so forth.

“Permanent staff are a key component of successful business strategy and we offer a service second to none in this area. Also, contract staff are increasingly important because covering sickness or other staff absences can impact a business quite heavily if the right temporary people can’t be slotted in.”

BFC Head of PR & Marketing Daren Pool described the new alliance as precisely the kind of benefit the Consortium is hunting for this year as part of a dynamic programme to add value to the current membership and to attract new members.

“Fire and Security Jobs is the obvious recruitment partner for the BFC for several reasons,” comments Daren Pool. “Aside from their contact network and proven track record in the industry we like the fact that it’s a truly national business with offices in Glasgow, Loughborough and London. This will be a great advantage for our members whose busy schedules mean that a regional office can make the difference between actually getting on with key recruitment issues or being forced to defer them – often with negative consequences.

“Added to that, the very generous 50% rate for BFC members says to me that this is a business that is confident in its abilities to get the job done for as many of our people as care to take advantage of this valuable management service.”

Joint managing directors Brett Ennals and Robert Bruce bring a combined 50 years’ experience in the business to the table. Their contribution to BFC membership benefits is greatly welcomed.

Photo details – (L-R) Colin Rhodes (Chairman - BFC), Daren Pool (Head of PR & Marketing - BFC), Sarah Davies (Head of Marketing – Fire & Security Jobs), Brett Ennals (MD - Fire & Security Jobs), Robert Bruce (MD - Fire & Security Jobs), Ken Day (Head of Training – BFC)

BFC features in safety signs manufacturer EU-wide strategy

Emergency sign manufacturer Everlux has strengthened its UK service offering by appointing Mark Bridgens as its regional sales manager for the southern UK.

Bridgens enters the UK fire industry at a time of significant change – not necessarily in terms of changing legislation but in the sense that its monitoring and deployment will undergo real transformation in coming years under the new Conservative / Lib Dem coalition’s strategy to reduce civil management and the influence of quangoes.

After spending several years in the hydraulic lifts industry, Mark Bridgens will bring to the Portugal-based photoluminescent signs manufacturer a degree of expertise common to both industries, as well as a new perspective more associated with his previous market sector.

Everlux managing director Rui Soreto anticipates he will rely quite heavily on Everlux’s membership of the BFC to ensure his new sales manager is brought up to date with all relevant training and industry best practices. In its capacity as a BFC member Everlux can access all the needed training expertise both throughout the UK and in Portugal if necessary.

Bridgens becomes immediately responsible for some 70 active accounts between Sheffield and Cornwall – including the densely populated southeast. The Everlux RL range although 2 years old is still one of the industry’s most popular signage ranges, while the brand new range of stainless steel and smoked glass signs is expected to make a big impact on the market in 2010 and 2011.

Welcome, Comrade!

The Russian for authoritative advice is ‘BFC’, apparently, as the British Fire Consortium greeted two visitors to Firex North in Manchester from The Russian Federation.

Head of Commercial Section Dimitry Lebedev and Commercial Advisor Dimitry Kalmykov had journeyed from the Russian Embassy in London to gather information on best practices and informed advice on British products in the fire management sector.

Initially for deployment at Russian-owned premises in the UK, the Russian fact-finders also seemed interested in finding out about strategies and procedures that could be rolled out at legations all over the world and maybe even adopted within The Russian Federation itself.

BFC head of training Ken Day spoke with the Russians at some length about their training requirements.

“It’s not every day you meet a Russian commercial attaché in Manchester – let alone two of them,” commented Day. “We’ve been given a fairly detailed brief on the information they need regarding products as well as procedures. Early on they made sure we were aware that British products and fire expertise were up against German businesses who had already put forward their advice with assurances that German know-how is the best in the world. The Russians were adamant they were more than able to make evaluations for themselves! We liked them a lot.”