06.12.2007

Peter Frisk 1934 – 2007

Peter Frisk, the founder of Zip-Up Svenska the Swedish distributor of Zip-Up, Instant alloy scaffold towers and UpRight aerial work platforms has died of a heart attack aged 73.

He was at his summer house in the south of Sweden last Monday, seemingly in good health when he suffered a severe heart attack just after breakfast.
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Peter Frisk

After graduating with a degree in economics Frisk went into the shipping business first of all as a trainee in Germany and then in Buenos Aires Argentina. In 1972 he entered the access business by joining Aldo the Topper trailer lift dealer based in Eskilstuna.

Aldo was owned by John Alderin Junior, a close friend of John Rusling at Access Equipment, the UK licensee for UpRight scaffolds which resulted in Alderin becoming the second Instant Scaffold dealer in Europe.

Alderin overextended himself and the company in the late 1970’s with a franchise scaffold rental scheme and a Camarro racing team which led to severe financial difficulties resulting in a split between Frisk and him.

Frisk became the dealer for the Zip-Up alloy tower product range built by Access Equipment, mirroring a split between the Instant and Zip-Up brands in the UK after Rusling left Access Equipment to form John Rusling Ltd which become a subsidiary of UpRight selling the Instant brand scaffold in competition with Zip-Up.

Frisk established Zip-Up Svenska in the outskirts of Stockholm selling and renting Zip Up towers along with sales of specialist ladders. UpRight established its own company Vectur Aluminiumställningar ab based in Gothenburg, the company was renamed Instant Sweden in the late 1980’s.

In the early 1990’s UpRight, which had in the meantime acquired Access Equipment in the UK, was divesting itself of its European sales subsidiaries and Frisk and his partner Lennart Mattson, who had joined him in 1982, acquired the business adding a second location along with the distribution of UpRight aerial lifts.

Frisk remained with Zip-Up Svenska until retiring in 1997, he sold his majority shareholding in the business to Mattson and turned towards his many hobbies, including horseracing, golf and sailing. .

The team that he created at Zip-Up is pretty much the same today that it was in the mid 1990’s, with a good deal of the spirit and friendly approach to customers that Frisk adopted from the start.

Our condolences go out to his wife Aimée and children Gustaf and Martina. We do not have all the details of his funeral, but we understand that there will be a private cremation service and his remains will then be taken to Stockholm for burial.