It is never good news when a long-standing local firm closes its doors. ACES M&E — also known as Avon Combined Electrical Services — has gone into administration, leaving a number of businesses, landlords and managing agents across Bristol, Somerset and the wider South West without a contractor looking after their fire and security systems.
Our sympathies go to everyone affected, staff included. But if you are one of their customers, the practical worry is simple: your fire alarm, emergency lighting, CCTV, intruder alarm or access control system still needs servicing, and your compliance paperwork still needs to be up to date. We can take that on for you.
What This Means If You Held an ACES M&E Contract
When a contractor enters administration, planned service visits usually stop straight away and call-out cover can no longer be relied upon. That matters because the legal duty sits with you as the responsible person, not with the company that used to hold your contract. In practice you should:
- Check when your systems were last serviced and when the next visit was due
- Gather any certificates, service records and logbooks you already hold
- Confirm whether alarm monitoring or remote CCTV signalling is still active
- Make sure someone is available to attend faults in the meantime
If you are missing records — which is common when a company stops trading quickly — do not panic. We can rebuild the picture from a site visit and a fresh set of test documents.
We Can Take On Existing Contracts
We are happy to take over ACES M&E contracts as they stood, on a like-for-like basis, so there is no gap in cover. We work on all the main panel and system manufacturers, so in most cases there is no need to replace anything simply because the contractor has changed.
A typical handover looks like this: one of us comes out and walks the site with you, records what is installed and what condition it is in, issues a written service report, and then puts you on a planned schedule with clear dates. Where we find genuine faults or compliance gaps, we tell you what is urgent, what can wait, and what it will cost — in writing, before any work starts.
Keeping Your Compliance Documentation Straight
The part people worry about most is paperwork, particularly if an insurer, fire officer or enforcing authority asks to see it. We issue proper documentation for every visit — BS 5839-1 service certificates for fire alarm systems, BS 5266 records for emergency lighting, and clear reports for CCTV, intruder alarms and access control — so your logbook tells a complete story again.
Why Businesses Are Moving Their Contracts to Us
We are a small, owner-run outfit. Adam and Jack have over 35 years in fire and security between them, and one of them will be the person who surveys your site and stands behind the work afterwards. There is no call centre, no rotating account manager, and no pressure to rip out perfectly serviceable equipment. Pricing is kept sensible because our overheads are.
We cover Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Bridgwater and the wider South West, and we can usually get out to a new site within a few days.
Talk to a Local Engineer
If your systems were maintained by ACES M&E and you need cover in place quickly, get in touch and we will arrange a no-obligation site visit. Have a look at our maintenance and servicing options, or contact us and speak to Adam or Jack directly.
