Background

My practice is small and this means that every job gets my personal attention. I am very well qualified, both academically and professionally.
I have a massive fund of fire safety research and experience having had the benefit of twenty years experience working at the Building Research Establishment's Fire Research Station (the government's centre of excellence), and over twelve years subsequently as an independent fire safety consultant based in London.

My projects show that I have been recently involved in very large fire safety engineered projects (value more than £100million) as a checking authority for a major London Local Authority (responsible from project inception to handover). I am able to make and audit smoke control calculations.

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 .......

Terms

I work on an hourly fee rate. I do no speculative work and rarely any fixed fee work. Though I work mostly on my own, I am content to work with other fire consultants if the project merits it - examples are the Millennium dome (the biggest dome in the world) and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster. I request payment within 14 days of submitting invoice.