Interview with Carl Everest, A1S

British fire-curtain specialist A1S had, by Carl Everest’s own account, already reached the goals it set out to achieve. So when he thought about the company’s future, the question was less about growth than about safe hands, for the business and the people who had built it with him. In Bergman & Beving he found an owner who felt like a genuine fit, who trusted how A1S worked and was content to let it carry on.

A1S designs and manufactures fire curtains and fire protection products in the UK, with a rare combination of bespoke capability and the capacity to deliver some of the largest fire curtain projects in the country. By Everest’s account, its test evidence is second to none in the UK and its manufacturing ability is unusual within the industry. The range has come a long way, from the early fire shutter to today’s fire curtains certified to BS8524, the British standard for active fire curtain barriers.

Developed at any cost

Ask Everest what made A1S successful and the answer is specialist knowledge, vision and a determination to keep developing the product.

“The vision to develop fire products at whatever cost has paid dividends,” says Everest.

That reputation has become a draw in its own right, helping A1S attract good people, and Everest has always preferred to promote from within where he can. He is quick to credit the team for what the company has become, from accounts and sales through to production and the shop floor, and just as quick to acknowledge that building and keeping a strong team takes real investment.

Finding the right home

By the time Bergman & Beving came into the picture, A1S was not a company in search of a rescue. It was a successful business whose owner wanted to be sure it would be looked after, and that the future of a loyal workforce was secure.

Bergman & Beving was not the highest bidder. What set it apart was the fit. The people at Bergman & Beving were transparent and genuine, shared the outlook Everest had for the business, and made clear they wanted to leave A1S to continue without major change, trusting what the company did and how it was run. For Everest, that mattered more than the size of the offer.

Since then, little has changed in the way A1S runs, which is exactly the point. The company continues to prosper under its own steam, with acquisitions a likely lever for the next stage of growth and the backing of a long-term owner behind it. Everest is candid that he did not expect Bergman & Beving to transform what A1S already did well, and by his account nothing has, in fact things are going better than he expected.

“We are left alone to steer our own ship and navigate our future, and they are there to run situations by as and when we need,” says Everest.