How Radius Tech Solutions ‘engineered’ Richmond Fire’s path to IT prosperity

As a trusted, national provider of fire safety solutions, an effective and robust IT infrastructure is a necessity for Richmond Fire Engineers Ltd.

Headquartered in Richmond, North Yorkshire, but with design offices in Huddersfield and countless satellites across the UK, the firm has been delivering a range of services and consultancy to industrial, commercial and residential customers for more than 30 years – ranging from designing and installing fire sprinkler systems to carrying out maintenance contract services and responding to emergency callouts.

While continuing to deliver excellent customer services to clients, behind the scenes, the company had been quietly struggling with its previous IT partner that couldn’t quite keep up with the pace and complexity of Richmond Fire Engineers Ltd operations.

“We were basically project managing their work for them,” said Lee Smith, Director of Richmond Fire Engineers Ltd. “It got to the point where we didn’t believe what they were telling us.”

The signs of a deteriorating relationship with Richmond Fire’s former IT service provider were everywhere: from rotating account managers, sluggish support and an unwarranted and relentless focus on upselling rather than solving problems.

“We had three or four different account managers over a few years, each one promising the world and delivering very little,” explained Chris Ryde, Director of Richmond Fire Engineers Ltd. “It got to where we just lost faith.”

This lack of proactive advice and technical leadership left the company stranded. As Richmond Fire installs complex systems and relies on large design files and AutoCAD documents, it requires a consistently stable, responsive IT infrastructure. However, its team experienced frequent delays, broken file access and frustratingly slow VPN connections, which caused massive issues across the team, especially staff working out of the Huddersfield office.

Worse still, issues were often treated as chargeable incidents. “They quoted us to fix problems they created,” Lee said. “Everything felt like an upsell.”

Eventually, the pair’s frustrations with their previous provider reached a tipping point. After assessing the situation and testing the market for an alternative service provider, Lee and Chris sought the advice of a mutual IT consultant, who quite often acted as an informal sounding board: Lee Huck, Managing Director of Darlington-headquartered Radius Technology Solutions Limited,

“Lee had been giving us reassurance in the background,” said Lee Smith. “He assured us it could be done differently and more smoothly.

“Radius has delivered on everything that they said they would, despite our previous supplier throwing in extra obstacles along the way. From the first consultation, Radius took the time to understand how we worked.

“I’d advise any business in our position to sit down one-to-one with Lee and let Radius tailor something to your needs,” Lee added. “And have faith in it.”

One of Richmond Fire’s biggest concerns was whether a cloud-based system could handle the massive CAD files that its engineers use daily.

“Radius set up a test environment first,” Chris explained. “It was plain to see that it could work. Since we moved to the new system, it’s been a breath of fresh air.”

Performance improvements were immediate, particularly in Huddersfield.

“We’re four times faster at working, easily,” said Lee. Even the company’s head office in Richmond noticed no drop in performance despite shifting the data from on-site servers to the cloud.

“Our Alexa radio in Huddersfield used to crash four or five times a day when someone downloaded a file,” Lee laughed. “Since switching to Radius, it hasn’t cut out once!”

Perhaps the biggest impact of Richmond Fire’s partnership with Radius was intangible: the return of trust and peace of mind.

With the Radius team handling the heavy lifting, Lee and Chris could refocus on running the business rather than troubleshooting IT disasters.

“We’ve had hardly any need to contact support since the switch,” Chris said. “That was a weekly thing with the old provider.”

“98% of the time through the process, I was comfortable. And the other 2%? Well, Radius still reassured us. That personal touch has been missing for a long time.”

The move also included a hardware refresh, new HP docking stations for flexible hot-desking and a complete overhaul of Richmond Fire’s security posture, freeing the business from outdated on-prem systems and inflexible work setups.

“It has definitely made us more flexible,” Lee explained. “We’re all on laptops now. People take them home and bring them back. It just works.”

And perhaps most importantly, the relationship is no longer one-sided.

“Radius isn’t some massive, faceless company,” Chris said. “They’re the right size, with the right expertise. They don’t just sell to you. They advise you.”

“Don’t be afraid to change. Talk to someone who actually listens. And let them tailor the solution for you,” said Lee. “It’s not just about systems, it’s about trust.”