How CROSS-UK is structured

Neil’s career commenced as an operational firefighter in the late 1970’s, initially serving as a firefighter in Derbyshire he progressed through the ranks to become Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, following the successful merger of the two services.

Neil was lead officer for fire protection within the UK Chief Fire Officers Association (now NFCC) from 2007 to 2013, chairing the group that managed the implementation of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. Since moving on from the fire and rescue service Neil has been President and CEO of the Institution of Fire Engineers.

He was chair of a national working group set up to improve product safety recalls, appointed by the then BEIS  Minister Margot James. The working group’s report lead directly to the creation of the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). He supported the post Grenfell industry led work, as a member of the Competency Steering Group and secretary of the fire engineers group as well as assisting Structural-Safety with the expansion of CROSS to incorporate fire safety.

Neil has been awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal and is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers.

Bill Hewlett was appointed Chairman of SCOSS in May 2016. He is currently Technical Director of BBA, the British Board of Agrément, having developed his career with construction companies.

In 2009 he founded the Temporary Works Forum with former SCOSS Secretary John Carpenter, and from 2009 - 2013 he served as a Vice President of the Institution of Civil Engineers; he joined the SCOSS Committee in 2011.

Bill takes a close interest in the education and formation of engineers, with a particular focus on hazard awareness and engineering risk management. He holds honorary Professorships at Cardiff University and at The Bartlett, UCL.

Prior to his current role he was Technical Director at several leading civil and structural engineering consultancies with responsibility for technical excellence and project delivery from conceptual design through to construction. He has an in-depth knowledge of design and delivery within programme and budget constraints demonstrated through the successful completion of numerous building structures across multiple sectors.

Paul’s experience also includes the management of multi-disciplinary design teams, due-diligence surveys, advisor to party wall surveyors, defect investigation, ground engineering, basement design, conservation engineering, temporary works, and façade retention.

Alastair was a founding member and Director of CROSS, and then Structural-Safety, from 2005 to 2021. In 2021, he became a Consultant and a member of the CROSS Technical Board. 

Previously CEO of a consulting firm, he has extensive experience in the design and constuction of major building and structural projects in the UK and internationally. He has had a long interest in safety and forensic engineering, and has a Sir Arnold Walters Medal, a Lewis Kent Award and a President’s Award from the Institution of Structural Engineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers presented him with their Forensic Engineering Award for 2021 and, in the same year, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers. 

Author of numerous publications, for many years he was visiting professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Liverpool, and is a Past President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.

Peter is founder and Director of Pyrology Limited, providing a wide range of safety, fire and risk engineering services to both established buildings and new-build projects. As well as being a Designated Person for CROSS, he is a Trustee and Past International President at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), the international organisation for fire professionals, helping to promote the profession and register professional engineers with the Engineering Council. Peter also chairs the British Standards Technical Committee FSH/24, developing and codifying fire safety engineering practices, such as the BS7974 suite.

Peter is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Scientist and a Registered Fire Risk Assessor, and holds an Engineering Doctorate where he investigated resilient fire engineering building design. Prior to his current roles, Peter was an Associate Director at the Fire Protection Association, overseeing the activities of the Fire and Risk Services group, and prior to that, an Associate Director with a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, leading a team of fire engineering consultants and fire risk assessors.

John is currently a Principal Nuclear Safety Inspector for the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and for over 20 years has assessed and permissioned civil engineering safety cases for construction, demolition and decommissioning activities at Sellafield Ltd, Hinkley Point C and the Magnox Sites.

He is the lead and “Intelligent Customer” for demolition including explosive demolition, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Temporary Works and provides specialist support to other UK Government bodies. He led on the first use of explosive demolition of the Sellafield 2007 and Chapel Cross 2006 cooling towers.

Previously, whilst at the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) he undertook accident investigations and acted as expert witness in criminal courts and inquests. This has included five fatal accidents including two multiple fatalities, including Didcot Power Station 2016 and Carnauld Metal Box chimney 2001.

Previously, he was the engineering manager at a specialist UK demolition company undertaking conventional and explosive demolition  and before that  was at Curtin’s Consulting Engineers. John is a member of the Temporary Works Forum (TWF) and a former  Past President of the Institute of Explosive Engineers (IExpE).

John is the author of the papers on:

• Relevant Good Practice (RGP) for Explosive demolition on civil and nuclear sites, published October 2020

• ONR’s Technical Assessment Guidance (TAG) on Building Information Modelling (BIM) 2018

• The Health and Safety section of Guidance for the safe inspection of commercial and industrial buildings in partnership with the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), published 2005

Additionally, John has been:

• a technical author for the IStructE's Guide to Surveys and Inspections of Buildings
• a HSE representative to the British Standards Institution (BSI) for BS6031 Earthworks, BS5607 Explosives and BS6187 Demolition, as well as BSI committees for B/514/26 Falsework