Ventro Group is strategically growing across the UK and setting new standards for fire and life safety solutions
With proven expertise, extensive experience, and a strategic presence across the UK, Ventro Group (Ventro) has grown into one of the UK’s leading fire protection and life safety compliance companies. Providing end-to-end compliance solutions, Ventro services include active and passive fire safety, security, electrical and SIC (Survey, Inspection and Consulting) services across diverse sectors such as social housing, healthcare, education, and facilities management.
Ventro has extensive experience in the housing sector, supporting housing associations and local authorities to ensure residents are kept safe and buildings are maintained to the highest standards. For healthcare applications, the company provides passive and active solutions for hospitals, medical facilities, care homes, 
and GP surgeries. Educational settings vary in structure and function, from classrooms and laboratories to accommodation and recreational areas, as do government buildings, with each presenting unique fire risks that require tailored fire safety protocols. Ventro is also a key partner to some of the largest names in the UK’s facilities management and commercial sectors.
“My brother and I founded Ventro in 2014,” opens Harvey Melvin, CEO. “We started off in passive fire protection, providing core products from fire doors and fire stopping to improve building compartmentation. As we grew further, we moved into active fire safety, systems such as fire alarms, emergency lighting, sprinkler systems, AOVs etc. More recently we have moved into areas of compliance beyond fire safety, such as electrical, security, water and air to support the company’s future growth and add convenience for our customers.
“In 2020, we established our sister business, Firntec, which offers surveys and consulting, with a view to providing end-to-end fire safety and wider building compliance solutions. We support many of our customers in meeting the requirements of regulation including the recent changes instigated by the Building Safety Act. Through our consultancy services we also advise multiple customers’ fire safety teams and boards assisting them in making compliance-driven decisions.
“We’ve worked with various social housing providers for several years, as well as other areas of the public sector such as NHS facilities and universities, and we’ve built a specialist knowledge base within each industry. Over the last five years or so, we’ve expanded into the commercial sector with large blue-chip clients like Tesco.”
Strategic acquisitions
In recent years, the industry has faced significant change and increased compliance demand, largely as a result of the Grenfell tragedy in 2017. “Our customers are more educated about the fire safety standards they need to comply with, and the Grenfell tragedy has driven much higher standards across the industry,” Harvey shares. “Accreditations are now very important to prove competence when working in our customers’ buildings, and we’re fortunate that Ventro is the most accredited fire safety business in the UK.”
Through strategic acquisitions, Ventro has solidified its presence to provide extensive geographic coverage across the UK. “Starting off as a core base of one integrated company, acquisitions have been an incredibly important part of Ventro’s growth journey so far,” Harvey explains. “We recently acquired Dorset Fire Protection, which has given us a strong engineering base across the South of England. There are several more acquisitions in the pipeline, not aimed at extensive growth for the sake of it but to better serve our customers. Each acquisition either adds a new capability or service to our portfolio or strengthens our geographic footprint.
“In terms of geography, we moved to covering the whole of the UK in 2016, and we’ve been strengthening that footprint ever since. Acquisitions are a great way to achieve this, as they come with a team of experienced engineers ready to take on projects and maintenance contracts. This not only increases our response times to customers but also enables us to expand our technical expertise across different areas of compliance, such as electrical, security, air safety, and water compliance.”
Social responsibility 
Another key milestone in Ventro’s growth journey has been a recent investment from private equity firm, KLAR Partners (KLAR). “We’d been looking for a private equity partner to turbocharge our growth for some time, and we were very glad to partner with Klar earlier this year,” Harvey says. “Many of KLAR’s portfolio companies are involved in field service management, so they have a genuine understanding of our operations and can help us scale the business moving forward. We’ve also had a couple of new board members through this investment; Kiwa’s CEO for many years, Paul Hesselink, and Jonathan Ford, who brings experience from HomeServe and Centrica, have now joined, bringing more industry expertise to our team and experience in building leading TIC and engineering companies.”
Alongside ambitious growth plans, Ventro is also embracing sustainable practices. “We’ve signed up to the Pledge to Net Zero, and as a result we’re embedding lots of initiatives across the business, including changes like installing solar panels and shifting to electric vehicles,” Harvey explains. “We’re also working with a waste partner and so far, we’ve been able to prevent 96 per cent of our waste from going to landfill, but we’re constantly working to improve that figure. Another area of focus is on social responsibility, where we’ve created initiatives aimed at giving back to the communities in which we work. We’re looking to support some of our long-term social housing clients with planting initiatives or by refurbishing communal spaces like community halls.”
Compliance champion
To close our conversation, we’re keen to hear Harvey’s thoughts on what the future holds for Ventro. “We were recently part of an exciting event with the Building Safety Regulator at the QEII Centre in Westminster, where we delivered a speech alongside other speakers for a great day of learning and networking,” Harvey says.
“Further afield, we are continuing to scale the group and we’re on track to finish 2025 at around £100 million revenue,” he concludes. “To enable this level of growth, we’re consistently investing in systems, people, and acquisitions to expand our services across the UK. Our customers are increasingly looking for a brand they can trust to manage their compliance services, so we’re pleased to introduce to customers additional services we provide across other areas of compliance. We want to be the most convenient and trusted supplier to our customers, and our ultimate aspiration is to be the UK’s leading technical compliance group.”