The fencing around a prison, army base or substation starts with a business. We set out to identify the firms behind those installations.
For our September 2026 screen, we reviewed company websites for 1,108 legal entities across the UK and Ireland. We identified 177 core firms making or installing security fencing, barriers, bollards and gates. Alongside 225 adjacent businesses, they formed a sector sample of 402 firms.
The research began with 1,285 legal entities. We removed branches and set aside firms without a usable website. Our focus was physical perimeter security: businesses that make, install or maintain the products protecting sites.
Core firms offered security fencing or physical perimeter protection. General fencing contractors could qualify if they showed a real commercial or public-sector security offer. Adjacent firms included gate automation, car-park barriers and commercial fencing without a clear security focus. We excluded firms offering only garden, domestic, agricultural or sports fencing.
These counts describe our screened sample, not a census of every UK and Irish fencing business. Core and adjacent firms remain separate. A buyer seeking high-security manufacturers would use a different shortlist from one seeking installation businesses.
Most firms are still independent
We expected a market further along in consolidation. The buyers are already active: Jacksons joined BRCK Group in July 2026.
In August, ASSA ABLOY agreed to buy Gunnebo Entrance Control. The company expected completion in the fourth quarter of 2026. The deal remained subject to approvals and closing conditions.
Yet our sector sample still contained 314 verified independent firms. They employed 63% of the known workforce. The ten largest groups together employed 26%. Headcount was available for 352 of the 402 firms.
For private equity firms and strategic buyers considering perimeter security acquisitions, those findings provide a substantial independent market to investigate. The ownership check matters: a business that appears independent in a register may already belong to a group.
Owners have been in the chair for decades
We identified owner-director ages for 273 of the 314 independent firms. We used the oldest owner-director we could identify for each firm. In 156 firms, that person was 60 or older: 57% of firms with a known age. The group included 66 aged 70 or above.
The median age was 61.8. Median tenure was 23.5 years, measured from the director's appointment date. Two records used incorporation dates where appointment dates were missing.
Narrow the screen to independent firms with at least ten staff and 152 remain. In 71, the oldest owner-director was at least 60 and tenure was at least 15 years. Together, those 71 firms employed 2,439 people.
We could not establish owner-director ages for 41 independents. The age percentages describe the 273 firms with data.
The findings support succession research. They do not establish an owner's interest in selling or whether a family succession plan exists. Buyers still need to speak to the owner.
A market for a buy and build strategy
Manufacturing fencing, installing barriers and maintaining gates are different businesses, even when they serve the same sites. Products, machinery and technical capabilities may give a manufacturer value that a relationship-led installer does not share.
A platform company needs a management team that can lead the core business and integrate later purchases. An add-on acquisition may serve a narrower role: a product range, an installation team or access to a new region.
Review target companies' customer base, track record and supply chains alongside the accounts. Establish which products address customers' security risks and how security teams assess them.
Only 19 of the 177 core firms showed a crash-rated product on their websites when we reviewed them. That is a website finding. Product capabilities and test evidence require separate checks during due diligence.
Owner relationships and client retention
An installer with 20 or 30 staff may still rely on one or two people to bring in work. Staff numbers alone do not establish how much of the customer base would stay after those people leave.
Buyers need to check who manages key accounts. They should confirm whether maintenance work is under contract and who can run the business without the founder. The screen presented here does not measure recurring revenue, management depth or client retention after a sale.
Those checks matter before a target acquisition. Over the long term, plans for organic growth and benefits of scale need evidence from each business.
The owner profile and independent-company count make this market worth further research. This is what a buy and build strategy looks like before anyone has built it.
The research behind the numbers
Our one-pager sets out the screening funnel, ownership findings, owner ages and financial coverage. The research covers the UK and Ireland, with data as of September 2026. We report independent firms and owners only in aggregate.
Financial figures include filed accounts and modelled estimates. An estimate is not a verified result or a valuation. The full target list requires further qualification against a buyer's brief.
For security company acquisitions, discuss market mapping and deal sourcing with Acquilerate.