Meet Mark

Alpine Fire is one of the UK’s leading specialists in the design, project management, commission and maintenance of large-scale fire suppression systems. With family-owned foundations, this long-established company is continuing to thrive under its second generation of private equity ownership.

We chatted to Mark Jones, Finance Director of Alpine Fire, about HURST’s role as an extension of Alpine Fire’s experienced in-house finance team, and the many benefits of being able to draw on an informed fresh perspective.

I joined Alpine Fire back in 2020, and HURST had already been a long-standing partner. I believe their corporate finance team supported our transition from family ownership to private equity with Core Capital.

Since December 2022 we’ve been under the private equity ownership of Westbridge, and HURST continue to provide valuable support to us, focused primarily on audit and tax matters these days. Although I have an experienced in-house team, there’s a lot of reassurance in knowing I can draw on a wide gamut of specialist and niche advice at any time from HURST. It’s just a matter of picking up the phone to Chris or Adrian.

Without a doubt I’d say they go far beyond and further than any ‘standard’ service delivery. They’re really good people to bounce ideas off. I know they’ll be responsive and generous with their time, and I know they’ll offer balanced advice, sharing an informed  perspective that’s in the best interests of our business.

Having worked in both PLCs and SMEs throughout my career, I’ve experienced a wide range of accountancy and advisory partnerships. One thing’s for certain – they’re much more responsive than some of the larger players… we have a partner-level relationship, and that just removes all the layers of approvals and input. You get an expert opinion pretty much straight away, and it’s always responsive and thoughtful – we feel like we matter as a client, and that means a lot to any business. 

We’ve often sought their advice over the years, and having their input tends to stand us in good stead. We’ve never had an audit adjustment, for example, so that’s probably a sign that things are working well!

HURST in three words? Informed. Responsive. Accommodating.

To find out more about Alpine Fire Engineers, and their industry-leading expertise in large-scale fire suppression systems, just visit www.alpinefire.co.uk