Career
and interests
Career
After
completing a 5 year engineering apprenticeship with Bristol Aircraft Company and
ICI, I designed and patented a 2-storey frameless steel building (BISRA), undertook
product development work on polyurethane foams in buildings (Dunlop Rubber Company),
and guided research/design on an industrialised housing system using steel (IBIS
project funded by RTB and Pressed Steel Company). I then researched the behaviour
of steel structures in fire (BISRA/FRS).
I
joined a large London firm of consulting engineers (Pell Frischmann and Partners)
where I became Chief Engineer of the Building Services Department responsible
for 35 design engineers and contract control, and became a Partner of Pell Morch
and Partners working on the Nottingham combined district heating and refuse incineration
project.
Deciding
to specialise in fire I joined the Building Research Establishment's Fire Research
Station in 1975 and pursued a number of research, consultancy and management roles
associated with fire and buildings. I was Head of the Fire Advisory Service, Head
of the Regulations and Codes Section, Head of the Structural Safety in Fire Section,
Acting Head of Fire and Materials Division (responsible for 25 staff working on
toxicity, fire modelling, smoke control, materials flammability, and development
of tests), and Acting Head of Fire Protection Division (responsible for 25 staff
working on fire control and extinction, industrial hazards, protection engineering,
structural safety, fire engineering and fire regulations).
I
obtained a PhD in structural fire engineering in 1987 and was awarded Personal
Promotion in 1988 allowing me to undertake important work on European harmonisation
and fire safety engineering free of management duties and to pursue high-profile
consultancy as the Station's Principal Fire Protection Consultant. I was concerned
with all aspects of fire safety, especially for those buildings for which the
prescriptive rules were inappropriate.
In
1995 I set up as a Fire Safety Consultant in London while remaining actively involved
in national and international committees concerned with fire safety engineering
and fire precautions in buildings. Sponsored research has included the development
of assessment techniques for long-span structural sandwich panels exposed to fire.
Interests
- past and present
I
have had a lifelong interest in the water - swimming, sailing, rowing - and was
brought up in a large family sailing in the treacherous and exciting muddy waters
of the Brisol Channel. I earned enough money in school holidays working on the
mystery train (then called the 'Chattanooga scho scho' I think) which ran round
the end of the Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare to buy the materials for building
my first sailing dinghy - I have built a couple of sailing boats since and was
a keen competitive dinghy sailor - before I got married!
I
captained the University of Wales (four constituent colleges) sailing team and
sailed against many other university teams in different parts of the country,
sailing National 12's , Firefly's and GP 14's. I was also captain and treasurer
of the Cardiff University saliing club, and - a dubious claim - captain of the
Engineer's hockey team.
I
have made furniture in neo-classical styles with simple hand tools, and most is
now in my children's homes. I have also plastered and 'done up' too many delapidated
houses in London.
My current relaxation is rowing on the river Thames and boating on French rivers.
Oh, and I like Billy Holiday and Bach (JS) and Joseph Conrad and .......
.