BDS - History
A little of our history as a business in a graphical format.... Underneath you will will find some significant points of note
December 1st 1993 - Building Detection Services (BDS) was launched
November 1999 - Our first target of £1m turnover was reached and BDS became BDS Ltd
The early 2,000s saw BDS become a systems integrator with Honeywell, supplying and supporting their three main brands, Gent, Notifier & Morley, a relationship we are proud to continue to this day
2002 saw major contracts such as the NIA Birmingham won and we opened up our Northern Office
October 2005 saw a £1.8M Fire Alarm upgrade to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a major win for us
Kings Place was a significant project in 2007 with a New Fire Alarm and Security package worth £800K installed, along with a 200K Graphics Upgrade to The Palace of Westminister
2010 saw the continuation of our long term relationship with Ford where BDS secured the Fire Alarm upgrade at Daventry worth in excess of £500K
1st July 2010 - BDS merges with and becomes part of the ID Group and the Fire Division grows to become an £8m business
August 2nd 2013 - The ID Group with all its service divisions went into receivership, citing problems with the HVAC and Integrated Security arms of the business...
5th of August 2013 - The decision to resurrect BDS now standing for Bespoke Detection Services is made and the business was incorporated immediately. This is the Company you will deal with today...
2013 was a year of re-construction and regaining all of the all important accreditations such as BAFE, NSI Fire Gold, FIA, UKAS, Constructionline, and many more...
During 2013 we also needed to re-kindle and re-establish existing and old relationships, stepping in to help where we were needed and strengthening the bonds of our family business
Our ongoing commitment saw some big wins for us in 2014 with major updates to Ford plants in Dunton and Southampton, plus the maintenance contract and ongoing expansion to the Kings College Hospital Morley Network...
2015 has seen our elevation to Gold Partner Status, NHS IHEEM accreditation, our commitment to the Government sponsored 'Trailblazer Apprenticeship' scheme...
2015 has also seen our new division 'Home Security' starting, a perfect fit for our Integrated Security division
In 2016 BDS we took the next step with Home Security offering Smart Home Solutions Teaming up with LOXONE, and so the story continues...
In 2017 we took over the Fire & Security Infrastructure Maintenance Contract at Ford Motor Co. This extended the national coverage of our existing contract by adding Manchester and several London facilities. Upgrade works then followed within the UK, Netherlands, Switzerland and France.
On the 1st August 2018 we secured the maintenance contract at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, the start of what we hope will be a long lasting relationship with Wimbledon...
Lords, the home of cricket was a big win for us in 2019 and we'll begin the installation of two new systems to the Compton & Edrich stands starting late 2020. George Blyde is our account engineering manager at the site
We secured major Contracts at HMRC Stratford The Metro Building Hammersmith & some clients took advantage of their empty buildings and committed to much needed upgrades, no one will forget 2020 - Our Story continues
Significant Points of note in our History...
1993
BDS (at the start known as Building Detection Services) began life using the last of a Credit card limit (£2K), a £5K loan and a vision. This enabled Kevin to buy a 10 year old Belmont Astra and just literally get on with it. Interest rates at the time were 15% and a crippling mortgage was quite a motivation for our young MD
2010
17 years of success continued until 2010 when BDS were approached by a represent ative from ID Support Holdings. The company were on their radar as they were looking for an independent fire alarm
company with a foothold in the south and a diverse customer base with regular repetitive revenue streams. We fitted the bill and BDS was merged into the parent company
2013
Sadly on August 2nd 2013 the ID Group with all its service divisions went into receivership. On the 5th of August 2013 after a long weekend discussing options, Kevin Blyde along with Brother Mitchell and wife Mandy decided to resurrect BDS now standing for Bespoke Detection Services a name that suits us and all of the many years experience our senior management team have. The business was incorporated the following day and remained in the same offices
2018
The Directors of Bespoke Detection Services had the opportunity to team up with a much-respected Engineer in the Fire industry John Brewer having all worked together at FACE Alarms in the 80’s. John went on to become a partner at PowerPoint. His quality of engineering enabled him to maintain the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) site for over 20 years.
In 2018 John was looking to secure his future with a managerial role within BDS with the aim to handing over the reins to the next generation of Engineers. BDS secured the maintenance contract on the 1st August 2018 also employing Johns understudy Garry Wells.
Tragically John became gravely ill and we lost the great man on the 11th October. Garry has taken the role of site manager having greatly appreciated being mentored by one of the best Fire alarm engineers in the country RIP John!
We are very proud of our achievements at BDS and since our inception in December 1993 (then as Building Detection Services) to now as Bespoke Detection Services, much water has flowed under the bridge and our history is very important to us. The slideshow above details some of the more significant dates in our history, we hope in a graphic and interesting way
Our company owes a lot of its success and where we are today to our Managing Director Kevin Blyde - click here to read about his charming and fascinating journey with BDS
Do you have questions or perhaps need some more information? Please don't hesitate to call us on 020 8773 3377 or email us here, no question or enquiry is too large or too small...
