MAN Commercial CEO Iain McCallister was as a live studio guest this morning on BBC 5 Live’s popular ‘Wake Up To Money’ programme!

Wake Up to Money is a daily early-morning business and finance programme broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live from at 5.00am. The show, which is also downloaded as a podcast by millions, offers in-depth coverage of UK and global business news, financial markets, economic policy, and technology trends. It features live interviews with industry leaders, economists, and entrepreneurs, providing listeners with timely insights into the financial world, and we are delighted to see Iain invited along.

Link below to the full show, broadcast on 15^th May 2025 – have a listen to Iain speaking to Will Bain and sharing his insights on a range of topics, including why a physical presence will always be so important in delivering top-tier security services. The conversation also covered innovation and the increased use of tech across various industries, as well as MAN Commercial’s first-hand experiences working out in Saudi Arabia.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002c35f

MAN Commercial are proud to be supporting the People, Property, Places – Professionally Protected (3 Ps) campaign launched by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA).

People, Property, Places: Professionally Protected is a campaign aimed at increasing the profile and awareness of the crucial work security officers carry out 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year keeping the public safe.

The campaign highlights how both a career in the industry and the provision of professional security as a service carries a diverse range of benefits.

Being a security officer is a career of choice and is open to anyone, from any background, ethnicity, sexuality and age group. Security professionals are committed and take pride in their work. It is also a career with great routes for progression.

Security officers don’t just ‘do a job’ for their company and client; they are highly trained and compassionate individuals with great responsibility in keeping people, property and places professionally protected.

As brand ambassadors, we are actively supporting the campaign and our team’s will be wearing their 3P’s badges to highlight the importance of their roles. Our aim is to change public perception of what it means to be a security officer and encourage more people to consider security as a smart career choice.

Find out more here: People Property Places (bsia.co.uk)

We kick started the month in the capital, when after 889 long days, the London Marathon finally returned! The last 18 months have been a difficult period for everyone, but it was great to see the world-renowned event back up and running, and better than ever.

This was our third year at the event, where we had 80 team members covering three areas, ensuring the safety of both the crowd and participants.

We also provided the ringside security at October’s Frank Warren ‘Night of Champions event’ at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, featuring the eagerly awaited battle between Brad Foster and Callum Johnson which proved to be an exciting British Commonwealth showdown. And after a year out due to the pandemic, the NFL returned to London this month where our Events Team oversaw 60,000 fans in attendance at the stunning Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We were excited to see our CEO Iain McCallister named in the prestigious ‘LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders for 2021’ in October; what an achievement! As part of the celebrations, Iain attended a ceremony at Birmingham’s Hotel Du Vin, where he received his award.

More on the Ambitious Leader’s list here:

Our CEO, and founder of MAN Commercial Protection LTD Iain McCallister has been named as one of the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders for 2021.

Last month we shared that we will be attending the Security and Fire Excellence Awards, taking place in London in November, where we are in the running for ‘Security Company of the Year’. Further shortlists have now been announced, and we are delighted that our HR Team have been named finalists in the ‘Inspiration in HR’ category. Fingers crossed for the night!

We enjoyed an evening at the Solihull Awards on 14th October, where we had achieved finalist status for ‘Outstanding in Customer Service’. A great evening was had by all, celebrating the fantastic local businesses.

We have been busy at Head Office this month running various training days for our Managers, Supervisors and Officers. Sessions included HR process training and Emergency First Aid at Work.

Our Recruitment and Operations Teams have also been busy as we have mobilised four new sites in Crawley, Orpington, Peterborough, and Lutterworth. Our Commercial Team have also been working on new opportunities, with site visits and presentations happening in Bristol and London.

Our new HQ at no.7 Highlands Court enjoyed some finishing touches this month, with our ‘Memories’ and ‘Legends’ meeting rooms being decorated with some exciting memorabilia.

We are delighted to share that MAN Commercial Protection Ltd have been named ‘Business of the Year’ national champions by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) at the annual British Security Awards 2021!

This award selects the best from the UK security sector’s large corporations, so we were up against some tough competition!

In being named winners, MAN Commercial Protection have been recognised for our passionate ambition, professionalism and enthusiasm within the industry, along with our robust approach during the global pandemic which as a result has seen our business thrive.

Iain McCallister, CEO, said: “The past year has brought many challenges to businesses, and I am proud of how we reacted to the unprecedented situation and continued to deliver an outstanding and uninterrupted service for our clients. During this time, we continued to win additional clients and contracts and have been able to create many new jobs across the UK as a result of this. To be recognised for our success and as an industry leader is a fantastic achievement.”

Due to current restrictions in the UK, the 2021 awards were held online so although there was no glitzy ceremony to attend, we screened the awards in our training room at Head Office and were able to enjoy a socially-distanced toast to our big win!

MAN Commercial were also extremely proud to be regional winners and national finalists in three other categories – Service to the Customer, Security Manager of the Year and Contribution to the Industry.

Congratulations to all the winners on the day and thank you to the BSIA for a great ceremony celebrating the brilliant achievements in our industry.

Another month has passed in the blink of an eye and what an exciting and busy month April has been, with lockdown restrictions easing within the UK we were back to some form of normality.

Our bid teams have been across the country this month working on presentations and mobilisations of 18 new sites.

You may have seen in last month’s news we have mentioned the purchase of our new office within Highlands Court and this month the renovations for this were in full swing; this journey is going to be fully documented via our social media accounts so keep your eyes peeled for the latest updates.

Our People & Communications Director Laura went on maternity leave as you will have seen in the March News and we are pleased to announce the safe arrival of Baby Boy Liam, congratulations Laura & Family on your new addition! 

Over the past 12 months our Keyholding department has gone from strength to strength and to thank our Keyholding Manager Stuart Park for his continuous dedication and hard work this month, we awarded Stuart a special recognition award. 

Our Head Office continues to grow as this month we welcomed Tom our new addition to our Vetting Department, and welcomed back Emily our HR Administrator after 9 months maternity leave. 

MAN Commercial’s Head Office training room finally got some use following COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, as we held RSAS training, using training providers STM for our clients TFWM. 

We announced last month we would be taking part in the BSIA & ACS Pacesetter awards again this year, we are delighted to announce we were awarded regional winners for the BSIA Security personnel awards and have been shortlisted for the ACS Pacesetters award, with the results for this being announced in the next coming weeks.

As lockdown continues to ease throughout the UK we are anticipating a busy events season ahead of us with confirmation of events taking place later on in the year, post lockdown and we are all very excited for a busy summer! 

February has bought us lots of very exciting new opportunities here at MAN Commercial, including the acquisition of a second office building! As many know, we are based in Solihull in the West Midlands, which is a fantastic location for our Head Office, allowing easy travel to our sites and clients across the UK. With our continued growth and big plans for continued future expansion, we are delighted to reveal we are in the process of purchasing a second office space at Highlands Court, a stone’s throw from our current premises.

We are very much looking forward to kitting the place out MAN Commercial style and moving some of the team across later this year. As security industry key workers, it is essential that many of our Head Office staff continue to be office based throughout the pandemic, and the new space will assist us with ensuring we have a safe, socially distanced space for all.

With growing our base and brand a big focus for us in 2021, we have been working on some special MAN Commercial merchandise that you may have seen pop up on our social media; we have launched hoodies, water bottles and stationary, with more coming soon!

We also have high hopes that Summer 2021 will bring the return of our busy events season – we have already been inundated with enquiries since the Government announcement on the 22nd, so exciting times are ahead!

We have also been busy recruiting this month to expand our keyholding team. Due to more contract wins in this sector, expanding the team will ensure we have 24 hour, 7 days a week dedicated support for our key and alarm response customers.

Recruitment has also been happening in our Finance Team, where we have placed one of our Vetting Officers on a part-time secondment supporting the department; this opportunity has come up thanks to our continued turnover growth increasing the workload.

We have been investing in our officers this month, with IOSH Working Safely training being made available for those who will be working on exciting construction projects we have lined up this year with an existing high-profile distribution client.

As always, mobilisations have been underway for new contracts – we have been busy getting ready for the launch of a new central London concierge assignment, as well as undertaking more work for existing clients in fashion distribution and NHS supply chain. New sites have also gone live in Hinkley and Birmingham. Additionally, we have been hard at work planning and preparing for an exciting upcoming London retail opportunity!