TAPPING into people’s taste for adventure, however modest, is a successful business model for John Beers.

Over the past 15 years, the Crossflatts-based firm he runs with wife Ruth has developed into a leading designer, manufacturer and installer of rope courses, climbing walls and artificial caving systems for a wide range of locations and clients.

Hangfast Adventure Engineering is also gaining an increasing international reputation for its products and capabilities, boosted by involvement with the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.

John launched the business in 2001 after working as a manufacturing engineer for a climbing wall producer but becoming dissatisfied with its lack of interest in after-sales maintenance and repair work.

“I found maintenance and repair very satisfying work, customers were always pleased to see you and I saw an opportunity to start up in that arena,” he said. “It was interesting and varied work and got me around the country as a one-man operator.

“For the first five years I focused mainly on maintenance of rope access equipment and the inspection of climbing walls. Eventually, customers started asking if I could help them design new equipment and I started with indoor artificial climbing walls.

“Over the past ten years we have specialised in helping customers take a concept and develop it and then designed and produced the equipment and installed it. Our business model is not to make a range of off-the-shelf systems but to focus on bespoke equipment and it has proved very successful.”

Hangfast has a workforce of more than 20 full-time employees and a team of up to ten regular freelance rope access engineers. The firm currently has four vacancies for people with relevant skills, including an experienced stores manager.

A year ago the £2 million turnover business moved into three units at the Castlefields industrial estate – doubling its operating space and providing room for future growth.

Hangfast works with a wide range of clients including Sport England, the armed forces, schools, outdoor education and leisure centres, and leisure and tourism attractions. Legoland, Center Parcs and Alliance Leisure are among the firm’s key clients.

The firm has expanded its capabilities from making basic low-level climbing walls to a range of ever more sophisticated systems. Hangfast also pioneered artificial caving systems and has a dedicated team producing these.

Among its most recent contracts was developing a large adventure system at a leisure centre in Selby incorporating ropes courses, climbing walls, a soft play area and ski simulator. It is also working on a system for a shopping mall in Spain.

Hangfast has developed and installed equipment for holiday park operator Center Parcs both in the UK and in Europe.

Adventure equipment has also been designed and supplied for Legoland sites in Florida and in Indonesia.

Over the past four years, Hangfast has attended the Euro Attractions Show which attracts 9,000 industry professionals from some of the biggest leisure and hospitality companies in more than 100 countries.

At a show in Barcelona last month, Hangfast unveiled its latest product – the world’s first Flight Tower. The 21-metre-high tower offers a range of adventure challenges, including abseiling and a zip-line to jump off the structure from various heights.

There are different routes to the top including a 13-metre challenging rock climb and a series of staircases leading users to the different challenges.

And Hangfast is partnering an Australian company for another venture – a “rollercoaster zipwire” which goes around obstacles.