A successful collaboration with Adaston

As a business centred on delivering a quality, expert and honest service, leading passive fire protection specialist Adaston has successfully established itself as a trusted and reliable partner to some of the biggest contractors in the UK.

With shared values and a commitment to driving building standards throughout the industry, the relationship between Minster and Adaston has continued to thrive during the last 12 months, with the two-business collaborating on a number of prominent construction projects.

In this interview we talk to Carrie Blackshaw, Fire Protection Sales Director for Minster, alongside Nic Bohanna, Key Client Manager at Adaston about the success of this partnership and the impact it is having on their projects.

Nic begins, “Adaston has grown rapidly over the last six years, driven by demand for an expert consultancy service in the fire protection market. At the core of our values lie quality and integrity. The work we do is of the highest standard, meets the highest regulations and we can be relied upon to deliver what we say we will.  To do that, it is vital that we work with partners who have the same ethos and who are focussed on delivering a professional and consistent service. We have most certainly found that to be the case with Minster.”

Carrie adds, “Operational excellence is at the heart of our business and we strive to ensure the service we provide is of the highest standard. Our business is very much built on relationships and trust, and the growth of our work with Adaston is testament to the success of that. We have spent a number of years collaborating with the team, shaping our service so that it meets their requirements and ensuring that we can support them with the products they need.

“Since updates to the Building Safety Bill were legislated and the Golden Thread was introduced, demand for fire protection services have increased exponentially.  As a materials provider, we too have focused on improving our offering, increasing product range and technical support across the country, enabling us to provide an enhanced service.”

With its head office in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Adaston employs a team of 30 people, contracted to work on large construction projects nationwide. The company is involved in a range of fire protection activity, from install and remediation work to survey and consulting.

Typical projects include hospitals and healthcare buildings, schools, student accommodation and high-rise developments, ensuring buildings are safer for those who use and occupy them.

Having collaborated on a number of large projects with Minster, Nic had this to say about the service they receive: “Minster provides quality materials, technical support and delivers when it says it will. I can honestly say that to date, I cannot come up with one occasion when Minster has not delivered or performed. The team has always been able to accommodate last minute requirements and orders - they always come through!

“The fact that Minster operates nationwide is also a real bonus for us. We manage projects across the country too so it is great that they can be serviced locally. We’ve also found that if there isn’t any stock in the nearest branch, the team will ensure it is transferred from another outlet and is with us within a day or two. They really do pull out all of the stops and go the extra mile for us.”

A key element of any successful collaboration, communication is something that both Carrie and Nic have found to be vital to the success of their working relationship. Carrie commented, “The team at Adaston likes to do business personally. They like to pick up the phone and talk to people or even better, meet face to face. We are the same. As a distributor one of the most important elements of our business is service, and building strong, lasting relationships is an essential part of this.

Nic added “We always feel really supported by the team at Minster no matter who we deal with. They have recently worked with us on a large student accommodation project and have proved to be an excellent partner. The team has been able to provide clear data and technical information whenever requested, has had ample levels of stock and delivered a dependable service.

“Minster is also one of the few suppliers that we work with that meet the quality management standard ISO 9001 which we have found to be very impressive. We too operate this standard and it is reassuring to know we can trust a supplier to work to the same paradigms we deliver and expect.”

Looking to the future, Carrie summed up her ambitions adding, “Driving fire safety standards is something we are committed to achieving throughout the industry and it is businesses such as Adaston that are central to that. We are looking forward to continuing to work with the team and to ensuring that buildings throughout the UK achieve the highest safety standards for their occupants.”