The Evolution Story
In January 1996, Richard Lambert and John Wust sold their houses to finance the formation and development of a new security company.
Both had over 15 years’ experience in the electronic security industry and having worked together since 1990 had long held the ambition to set up on their own, but wanted sufficient finances to buy themselves the time to develop a business which would have the capability to provide security systems to multi-site, national and international clients.
Explaining the driving force behind their vision Richard remembers,
“In the first few weeks of setting up our business, I received two enquiries from a local engineering consultant - he happened also to be a long-standing friend of mine - to tender for the security at several water treatment sites; it was a very exciting time for us, but at that early stage in our history, we hadn’t even decided on a company name!”
“The upshot of that, Richard continues, and with quotes needed in days, not weeks, I remember waking up at 3.10am exactly on Wednesday, 10th January 1996 and grabbing the Oxford English Dictionary in the hunt for a suitable name for our business. The business ideals were clear to both John and me; we wanted to be recognised as providing security systems that would grow and adapt to the changing needs of our clients, being easily upgradable and not to box them into a corner with obsolete systems as their sites developed. That’s why we decided on the name ‘Evolution’. Our goal was to provide security systems that would evolve with our clients’ as their threats and needs changed and in doing so be able to demonstrate a quicker return on the their investment through lower running costs.”
Since formation over 25 years ago, Evolution has worked in most European countries and several further afield, has expanded to six offices across the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands and developed new areas of business and expertise in Risk & Design.
In April 2022 Evolution transitioned to an Employee Owned Trust (EOT) for the future benefit of all employees. The Evolution Trust is owns 77% of the company and every EOT member will share in the profits for as long as they are part of the business.
Current owners and founders Richard Lambert and John Wust retain 23% of the company to ensure management continuity and as a signal of their ongoing commitment to employees and customers alike.
To learn more about the Evolution EOT click here.