First Response Group is your total security, risk and facilities management solution anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales. d 2022 has been another year of huge growth and achievement for a business which started from very humble beginnings. The end of 2022 gives us the perfect opportunity to pause, reflect and to take stock of our journey so far, and also to highlight the work we have undertaken to ensure we offer high standards of excellence and consistency to our diverse client base.
Our journey to becoming industry leaders
The story of First Response Group is an inspiring one for anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations and any business owner in the UK. Co-founders Jamal Tahlil and Edgar Chibaka are both African immigrants who met while working as security officers for different companies. In 2007 they had the idea for their own start-up security company that through, hard work and a passion for putting people first, they made a success of. Over the next decade they were able to scale-up the business to offer a range of security, safety and facilities management solutions across a number of different industry sectors, and with UK-wide resources and offices in England, Scotland and Wales.
In 2018 First Response Group were able to attract a new CEO, Simon Alderson, who brought vast industry experience to the business and worked with the team to draw up a ten-year plan for sustainable growth. We are now at an exciting stage of that plan and this is why the end of 2022, with 1200 national employees and a forecasted £42 million revenue in 2022, is an appropriate time to momentarily draw breath.
The industry sectors we serve
A big part of our growth over the last 15 years comes from the variety of industry sectors we are now able to serve. We have achieved this by ensuring working with experts in all these fields and therefore are able to directly relate to and understand different individual challenges. Our work across England, Scotland and Wales includes working in:
- Construction, infrastructure and utilities – we have worked with organisations such as Anglian Water and Crossrail on technological security solutions and facilities management solutions which have helped them develop new sites and premises to grow their businesses
- Commercial and corporate – we have implemented 24/7 security and integrated fire and security systems for commercial names such as Q-Park and Aldi
- Public Sector – we have provided bespoke security solutions for events such as elections and vaccine trials and for NHS teaching hospitals and student accommodation
- Vacant property – we have worked with business owners to provide vacant property patrols, bespoke security solutions, trespass response and to assist with unauthorised encampments and removals
This experience means we have adaptable skills and robust solutions which we can apply wherever they are needed. But as well as the experience and the resources, we have quantifiable standards that we work to, and this is evidenced by the accreditations we have built up.
Our industry accreditations
Very early in our journey we understood the importance of accreditation and enabling clients to immediately recognise high standards of excellence, compliance and employee welfare. We have been at the forefront of compliance since 2007 and our development owes a lot to a commitment to maintaining these standards. Our memberships and accreditations include industry-specific ones, such as:
- Security Industry Authority (SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS)ACS Pacesetters which means we are in the top 15% scorers in SIA benchmarking
- NSI Guarding Gold
- NSI NACOSS Gold
- NASDU – National Association of security dog users
- FIA – Fire Industry Association
We also subscribe to a number of associations and memberships which demonstrate supplier and employer performance standards, such as:
- Living Wage Foundation recognised service provider
- Constructionline Gold – a database of approved supply chain organisations for procurement management
- Builder’s Profile
- Supply Chain Sustainability School
- UVDB – supply chain assurance for the utilities sector
- RSSB RISQS – supplier of services to the rail transport industry
- British Safety Council
- BICSc – British Institute of Cleaning Science
- Armed Forces Covenant
- Cyber Essentials – a Government-backed scheme to protect businesses against cyber attack
- Gate Safe – safety with electric gates
- Disability Confident Committed
- Inclusive Employers Standard Bronze – showcasing our commitment to creating an inclusive workplace in 2022
- UKCMA – Crowd Management Association
We recognise it is important to maintain these memberships and accreditations to aid compliance and to demonstrate that we go above and beyond to ensure standards of excellence with the services we provide.
First Response Group winning awards
While we can talk all day about things we have done and the quality of the work we can provide, when this work is recognised by highly-credible independent bodies it speaks volumes and says much more than anything we could say ourselves. Over the last 12 months or so we have received a number of awards and examples of industry recognition which have helped us achieve this status as the leading total security, fire and facilities management provider in the UK. These include:
- Black British Businesspeople of the Year 2021 – our co-founders won this award at the BBB awards 12 months ago as the ultimate recognition of their inspiring journey
- 2021 Living Wage Champion – showcasing our commitment to employee welfare
- EY Entrepreneurs of the Year 2022 – our owners were named regional finalists in May 2022
- ACS Pacesetters Security Officer of Distinction Awards – This year three FRG Security Officers won an award for their response to an RTA on public roads close to their project.
- Security Guarding Company of the Year 2022 – the ultimate industry recognition at the recent Security & Fire Excellence Awards
Contact First Response Group
Amongst our work during 2022, our employees have also found time to support homeless charities, climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks for charity and we have also promoted mental health awareness and World Day for Safety and Health at Work. We couldn’t do it without the amazing staff resources we have built throughout the UK, and our offices in England, Scotland and Wales are always open to serve you, so get in touch with First Response Group today.
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