Brakel Airvent joins Kingspan family

Brakel Group, parent of UK smoke control specialist Brakel Airvent – and one of the biggest names in European ventilation, fire safety and daylight access for 40 years – has been acquired by Kingspan, to sit within the Kingspan Light + Air division.

Kingspan is well known in the UK, Europe and globally as a major name in construction supplies and services with over 100 facilities and 11,000 staff around the world. Brakel Group and Kingspan Light + Air both share the same vision of efficient and safe control of air within buildings.

Brakel Group is the parent of Brakel Airvent, the UK’s leading provider of whole-life smoke control maintenance services – a company that has been helping to shape the industry for 30 years. Brakel Airvent works to ensure its clients are legislatively compliant, offering fire-safe properties for residents, staff and visitors that operate in an energy-efficient manner.

Smoke control is the focus – managing smoke in the case of fires to minimise risks, enable fire fighter access and keep escape routes clear for hazardous, fast-moving smoke. The law requires proper maintenance of such systems and few businesses are as qualified or experienced in this specific specialism.

Brakel Group CEO, Ton van Gerwen, commented: “Our shared vision and growth strategy will accelerate our ambition and create new market opportunities. Furthermore, Kingspan Light + Air offers an excellent stable foundation for the future development of our employees.

“In addition we feel that there is a good cultural fit and that our companies are complementary to each other very well in terms of geography and product portfolio.”

Charles Hurdman, Brakel Airvent director, added: “We consider Kingspan the perfect partner for our company’s ambitious grown plans. We’ve had a great 2017 in line with our five year expansion mission and this will flourish into 2018 under the new parent company, which understands construction and maintenance through and through.

“From our existing clients’ point of view, it’s very much a case of ‘business as usual’. We’ll continue doing what we do well, which is helping our customers ensure their legal compliance and that their buildings are safe and healthy places in which to live and work.

“We’re looking forward to embracing the obvious synergy of our two brands and ensuring that we continue to be at the very cutting edge of smoke control system maintenance and design.”

The deal was finalised on Friday 24th November 2017, with the two businesses’ values and aspirations already neatly aligned, making for an ideal pairing that will be stronger than the sum of its constituent parts; Kingspan Light + Air describes its purpose thus: “A healthy internal building environment, including the supply of fresh air and quality daylight, is imperative to the well-being of building occupants; safety is another vital building feature. We enable all of these key health and safety elements through our provision of daylighting, natural ventilation and smoke management solutions.”

Published December 2017