CROSS-UK Expert Panels

Professor Luke Bisby is Personal Chair of Fire and Structures and Head of the Research Institute for Infrastructure and Environment at the University of Edinburgh. Educated in Canada as a civil/structural engineer, for more than two decades his research and teaching have been focused predominantly in the areas of Fire Safety and Structural Fire Engineering.

Prof Bisby sits on a number of code and advisory committees relevant to Fire Science, Fire Safety Engineering, and Structural Fire Engineering of concrete, steel, and timber structures internationally. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Fire Safety Journal - the official journal of the International Association for Fire Safety Science.

He has considerable experience acting as expert witness in the wake of serious fires internationally, notably including his instruction as Expert Witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (ongoing).

He is passionate about public communication of Engineering, and has appeared in numerous factual/engineering documentaries for the BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, UKTV, and various international affiliates.

Paul spent over 30 years with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), retiring as Head of Fire Safety (Protection) in 2019. Working in several roles at Glastonbury Festival, Paul was Devon and Somerset FRS lead for fire safety before, during and after the festival.  Specialising in fire investigations and enforcement of Fire Safety Regulations, Paul was Fire Safety Manager for Plymouth Community Homes between 2019-2023 before establishing his own fire safety consultancy in 2023.

In addition, Paul chaired a regional National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) fire safety group of FRSs, and represented this group on NFCC Protection and Business Safety Committee at national level. He also contributed on other NFCC work groups including the development of the ‘Short Audit’ form and the statutory adoption of the Primary Authority Scheme for FRSs.

Paul sat on the steering group of the Heart of the South West Better Business for All Group, a programme designed to promote engagement and consistency between regulators and businesses. He also provided advice and papers on interpreting Home Office guidance to members of Professional Association of Self-Caterers (PASC), and engaged with the Home Office on the application of statutory fire safety guides.

Paul provided strategic advice on high rise buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) as a regulator, and then as the Fire Safety Manager for the duty holder. He also sat on one of the twelve national working groups set up following the Dame Judith Hackett report into the Grenfell fire, which published the ‘Competency Framework for Fire Safety Regulators’.  

Paul now provides advice on the impact of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the recommendations and legislation. He also currently sits on the ‘Standardising Inspections’ workstream for BIM4Housing to create guidance on management of fire safety facilities buildings.

After graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1987 I began my career in the field of fire safety as a Scientific Officer with the Fire Research Station. The following 34 years have flown by and I have been fortunate to have been involved in many interesting research and design projects as well running UKAS accredited testing facilities and acting as an expert witness.

I have always been a passionate supporter of the development of the fire safety engineering profession and the people in it. To that end I continue to be a very active member of the Institution of Fire Engineers and have chaired the IFE’s committee responsible for registration of Fire Engineers with the Engineering Council, the IFE’s Technical Strategy and Advisory Group and acted in an advisory capacity to the IFE’s Board of Directors.

As part of the construction industry response following the Grenfell Tower disaster, I have chaired the Fire Engineers Working Group (WG3) of the Construction Industry Council’s Industry Response Group that has published the recent ‘Setting the Bar’ report.

Hayley has worked as a Principal Fire Safety Consultant in private consultancy for the last 10 years. Prior to this, she worked in local Government carrying out fire risk assessments for a wide range of Government occupied buildings.

Hayley’s specialism lies in fire safety consultancy within the social care sector, advising clients on meeting the Fire Safety Standards of NIHTM 84 etc.

Currently, Hayley works with a range of clients developing fire strategy designs, completing fire risk assessments, fire safety inspections and providing consultancy on all aspects of fire safety.

Hayley is a Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner and a Chartered Building Engineer. 

Having previously been its Vice Chair, Hayley is currently International President of the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Vice-Chair of the Northern Ireland IOSH Branch.

Outside work Hayley enjoys playing golf and spending time with her young family. 
 

Paul is an architect with 40 years experience of architectural practice including job running experience and consultancy. He has developed a technical expertise in the application of all types of building related legislation and constructional guidance. He is the London representative of the in-house AHMM Architects Technical Consulting team who research current and best practice technical solutions in regulatory compliance who assist project teams to meet their statutory and contractual obligations on all projects. 

Paul is particularly interested in how regulations in all “people risk” areas of architecture including Fire Safety, and Health integrate with project risk management especially at design stages, in a proportionate manner. He was involved with the development of the CDM 2007 and 2015 regulations on behalf of the RIBA in order to provide a practical architectural view. He is currently very involved with the revision of Approved Document B and sits on other related Building Safety Bill committees to help improve fire and structural safety but also assist designers and Project teams to navigate the current complexities of the new fire regulatory regime.

Neal graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BEng in Civil and Structural Engineering and an MPhil in Structural Fire Engineering. He has been working as a fire engineer since 1998 at Buro Happold, Arup and now Design Fire Consultants. He is registered as CEng with Engineering Council via the Institution of Fire Engineers and has taken an active role within the IFE for more than 20 years.

Matt joined Suffolk FRS in 2001 as a firefighter, progressing through the ranks, and joining Protection in January 2011. He became the Technical Fire Safety and Fire Investigation Lead in 2017 and was seconded to the National Fire Chiefs Council Building Safety Programme (BSP) Team in March 2020, returning to Suffolk in April 2023.

He is an experienced Protection officer with knowledge and experience of enforcing the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, carrying out building regulations consultations and completing and overseeing Fire Investigations. He is a fire engineer with experience of reviewing and commenting on technical reports and information.

As a member of the BSP Team, Matt worked with the Government and partners in developing and implementing the recommendations of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. He engaged with FRSs representing their views nationally, providing professional support and guidance on fire safety matters, as well as engaging external stakeholders on development of advice and guidance. He is now back with Suffolk supporting the implementation of the new regulatory regime under the Building Safety Act 2022 and leads the Eastern Region team.

Krish is a former Chair of BSI CPL34/4 (Luminaires) Committee, Convenor of IEC Working Group for Emergency Lighting Standards, and UK representative and technical expert for numerous international lighting committees (CEN, CENELEC, ISO and IEC). He was also the Technical Manager and Secretary for the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) committees for Emergency Lighting, Lighting Applications and Luminaires, and Connected Lighting. Krish was responsible for the drafting, editing and publication of numerous guidance documents and standards for the lighting industry.

As the Technical and Operations Manager of the LIA Laboratory, which is one of largest independent test and certification laboratory in Europe dedicated to lighting, he has extensive knowledge of standard applications and accredited laboratory testing. He was responsible for maintaining the ISO 17025 and ISO 17065 UKAS accreditation for the laboratory and he also qualified as an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor in 2015.

Krish was the recipient of the IEC 1906 Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission for standardisation activities related to his work on luminaire standards in 2021. He achieved an ILM 7 in Strategic Management and completed a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in 2020. He also holds a First-Class Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering.

Roger is Technical Director of Fire Safety at BRE Global. He has over 30 years’ experience in the discipline of Fire Safety Engineering, with an expertise in smoke management, fire dynamics, fire strategies and fire risk assessment.

Much of his career has been working in the field of fire research and consultancy, and more recently as UK technical lead in fire for one the world's largest multi-discipline engineering consultancies. His work has involved a wide range of projects for government / commercial clients and academic institutions, demonstrating innovation in Fire Engineering. His research has been used to underpin and develop new guidance relevant to national and international fire codes and standards, and in support of validation of computer fire models used internationally.

Roger has lectured in aspects of Fire Engineering, published widely, and presented at international conferences such as the IAFSS Symposium, INTERFLAM, EUROFIRE and Fire Australia.

Dr. Mostafa Jafarian is a Charted Fire Engineer and works as Technical Director at Hydrock-fire safety division and specialising in structural fire protection and façade behaviour under fire.

He obtained a bachelor degree in civil engineering, an MSc in Structural Steel Design at Imperial College London in Structural design, and PhD in Structural Fire Engineering at the University of Manchester. His PhD project formed part of the RFCS (The Research Fund for Coal & Steel) funded European project COMPFIRE investigating robustness of steel and composite connections in fire.

After obtaining a PhD, he worked as Research Associate for about two years at the University of Manchester developing a method to specify intumescent coating for concrete filled tubular columns.
Prior to join Hydrock-fire safety division, he worked for Warringtonfire working with different manufacturers and contractors evaluating performance of various structural fire protection systems and façade systems under fire conditions. 

He is a member British Standards Institution (BSI) committee (e.g. Eurocodes structural fire design co-ordination panel), and worked with Association of Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) (TG1-for reactive fire protection and TG2- for non-reactive fire protection). He is also working closely with BSI committees developing standards related to façade tests and structural behaviour under fire condition.
He also has written and contributed to different books and papers. The latest one being the book on design of steel and composite connections under fire condition. 

Chris is the legal advisor to CROSS as well as an experienced litigator in the Technology and Construction Court and the Commercial Court and has conducted international arbitrations under the LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICC and ADCCAC Rules. Chris regularly commences and defends adjudications and has also conducted mediations for clients.

Chris' practice focuses on contentious construction and projects. He has acted on domestic and international projects and has a thorough working knowledge of FIDIC, JCT, NEC, IChemE, MF/1 and bespoke contracts. Chris' clients include contractors, employers, developers, funders, joint venture partnerships, and consultants.

Recent examples of Chris' experience include:

• Conducting an arbitration concerning a project in the Russian Federation, in which he obtained an anti-suit injunction in the Commercial Court in support of that arbitration;

• Advising a client in relation to various disputes concerning the construction of a particle accelerator;

• Advising in relation to over 40 projects with fire safety and/or cladding issues;

• Advising on various disputes connected to a portfolio of water treatment plant projects in the UK;

• Resolving a series of disputes connected to the construction of a nuclear power station; and

• Conducting an arbitration concerning a large mixed use development in Kazakhstan.

Jon is Chairman of the Fire Engineering Council of the Fire Industry Association, a trade body which provides leadership for companies delivering fire safety within the construction industry.

Jon’s experience in fire engineering includes shopping centres, airports, railway stations, office buildings, schools and with a particular focus on large residential and multi-use buildings.

Recent work includes a focus on the fire safety design of external walls. Some projects relate to existing buildings, in which case the work would include a review of the fire safety performance of the existing external walls. For new buildings the challenge is how to meet the more stringent standards that are required to meet current fire safety regulations.

Mark is an experienced Building Control Officer with a particular interest and specialism in structural engineering and fire. He has been involved in assessing some of the largest and most complex schemes in the country, including a number of very tall commercial towers.  This involvement has spread from early design, through approvals, inspections from foundations to occupation, and some interesting factory inspections in Europe and China. He manages a group of multidisciplinary building control professionals, ensuring the safety, accessibility and energy efficiency of buildings withing the City of London.

He is vice chair of the IStructE safety health and wellbeing panel, and a member of the business practice and regulatory control committee. Since the Hackitt report, Mark has been much involved in advice to government on the future of building control, including being a member of Raising The Bar WG6 and the Future of Building Control Working Group.

He has been involved writing a number of publications, including the IStructE ‘Design recommendations for multi-storey and underground car parks’.

Charles-Elie worked as a consultant for ARUP and as a Fire Engineer for the London Fire Brigade within its Fire Engineering Group before being seconded to, and then employed by, DLUHC.

He holds the following qualifications - Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie (French Diploma) in Health, Safety and Environment; BEng in Fire Safety Engineering; MSc in Fire Investigation and Master 2 (French Master) in "Risque Maj eur" (Risk Management).

While a student in France, Charles-Elie was a retained firefighter - a volunteer service which provides a response to fires and emergency first aid.

Niall started working in fire in 1979 graduating to managing the Warringtonfire test laboratory in the UK in the early 2000s. He served and still serves on many British Standard committees on fire testing. He has chaired the national BS committee on fire resistance testing for the last 6 years.

In the 1990s, he was seconded to CEN to draft the 12 most significant new European fire resistance test methods in support of the CPD.

He also drafted several documents on behalf of the Passive Fire Protection Forum including the original Guide to Undertaking Assessments in lieu of Fire Tests.

During this period he ran the DCLG funded RADAR 1 test program comparing the results of British Standard fire resistance tests with European versions to provide input into the 2006 revision of Approved Document B. He also served on the RADAR 2 test program committee which undertook the same function for Reaction to Fire tests. Consequently, he has an unrivalled knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses, scope and applicability of fire tests in the UK.

From 2005 Niall served on the board of EGOLF the European organisation of fire testing laboratories and was President from 2007 to 2009. He is now President of the European Association for Passive Fire Protection.

In 2009 Niall became Technical Officer for the Association for Specialist Fire Protection becoming CEO between 2017 and 2021. He is currently the ASFP’s Technical & Regulatory Affairs officer and spends much of his time involved with fallout from the Grenfell Tower fire.

Lynsey joined London Fire Brigade into the fire engineering group in 2004 from a background as a mechanical engineer. She requalified as a fire engineer and has since gained a significant amount of experience in reviewing and considering building regulations consultations on behalf of LFB including some of the most complex building projects within London.

She is an experienced protection officer with good working knowledge of fire safety Legislation having been trained as an expert witness offering technical views on enforcement and prosecution cases.

Lynsey has represented LFB and National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) on a variety of fire committees and steering groups and providing technical opinion and support on public consultation responses on behalf of the Brigade.

She is the current vice chair of the IFE ethics committee and is a passionate advocate for improvement in the built environment. Lynsey is also a STEM ambassador and part of the women in the fire service network.

Currently responsible for developing international standards and guidance for 135,000 RICS professionals globally in 137 countries and is RICS media spokesman on professional & technical surveying subjects. He has appeared on many international tv channels including BBC One Show, BBC radio and overseas tv and radio channels.  

Gary is a regular contributor to various journals and as a keynote presenter at international conferences. Currently consultant to BBC, consultant to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and post Grenfell Tower is leading the RICS Fire Advisory group advising national governments; is a member of the UK Construction Industry Council Building Safety Expert Panel, and the Govt IRG Competence Steering Group (CSG).

Gary is also a member of the UK Govt DLUHC (Dept for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities) Expert Review Panel for Balconies, Spandrels and Glazing technical review of Approved Document B; a member of the BSI Steering Group responsible for developing PAS 9980 EWS Assessments; and a member of BSI CPB/1 Steering Group responsible for developing the national competency frameworks PASs.

Gary is the founder and Chair of the UN backed International Fire Safety Standards (IFSS) Coalition - a global coalition of professional bodies he formed and launched at the UN in July 2018, whose aim is to achieve consistent global fire safety Standards particularly for high rise, high risk buildings. The IFSS standards were published on 5th Oct 2020, and are adopted as UN standards applicable to all 193 countries in the UN. In addition, he led the publication by the Coalition of the ‘Decade of Action for Fire Safety 2022-2032’. https://ifss-coalition.org/

Gary is also a member of the EUFireStat Steering Committee, established by the EU Commission, to develop improvements and consistency in fire safety data collection across the EU member states.

Gary is Chair of the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) Fire & Life Safety Committee, incorporating fire performance of facades panel, fire evacuation panel, & tall timber buildings fire & building safety panel; and is a member of the Fire Jury panel. https://www.ctbuh.org/

Finally, Gary is adviser to the RMIT University, Melbourne fire engineering group. https://www.rmit.edu.au/

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

Bill Hewlett was appointed Chairman of SCOSS in May 2016. From 2021, he was Technical Director of BBA, the British Board of Agrément, having developed his career in civil engineering and building construction, as designer and contractor. He retired from BBA in July 2023.

In 2009, Bill 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, then the Engineering Council; he joined the SCOSS Committee in 2011.  Bill holds a Visiting Chair at Cardiff University and maintains consulting and academic work.

Bill takes a close interest in the education and formation of engineers, with a particular focus on hazard awareness and engineering risk management.

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

His expertise includes multidisciplinary design of transport infrastructure, extending from outline design through to completion on site. He has led the architectural design of many complex projects, exemplified by his role as Lead Architect on the £680 million Crossrail Bond Street Station.

Thomas led the Government's technical policy on structural safety from 2018 to 2023, project managing and co-authoring the Government's Manual to the Building Regulations.

His technical expertise is underlined by his membership of, and contribution to, a range of British Standards committees.

After a career in industry working for consultants and a contractor Jan joined the Health and Safety Executive in 2002 as a specialist inspector. Since then he has provided technical support to the safety regulator, helped with training inspectors and provided expert testimony to Coroners and in Crown Courts.

Professor Luke Bisby is Personal Chair of Fire and Structures and Head of the Research Institute for Infrastructure and Environment at the University of Edinburgh. Educated in Canada as a civil/structural engineer, for more than two decades his research and teaching have been focused predominantly in the areas of Fire Safety and Structural Fire Engineering.

Prof Bisby sits on a number of code and advisory committees relevant to Fire Science, Fire Safety Engineering, and Structural Fire Engineering of concrete, steel, and timber structures internationally. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Fire Safety Journal - the official journal of the International Association for Fire Safety Science.

He has considerable experience acting as expert witness in the wake of serious fires internationally, notably including his instruction as Expert Witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (ongoing).

He is passionate about public communication of Engineering, and has appeared in numerous factual/engineering documentaries for the BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, UKTV, and various international affiliates.

Following her studies in structural and fire engineering, Julie joined the Building Research Establishment in 2003. There she progressed to leading on BRE's standards and technical strategy and having run BRE’s Fire and Building Technology testing, research and certification business. She joined the leadership at TEDI-London, a higher education provider jointly founded by University of Arizona, UNSW Sydney and King’s college London, in 2021.

She has worked in academia, consulting and construction, giving her a blended experience in the multi-faceted interactions of engineering practice. From applied research, testing and certification in support of the most innovative projects in the UK and abroad, to representing the UK national position at key industry code and regulatory committees, her work is wide-ranging in impact.

Steven was with Carillion for 31 years specialising in temporary works design and providing engineering solutions and building technology advice across the Groups companies. He is now working as an independent consultant. 

Aidan graduated from University College Cork in 2010. Following graduation, he moved to Australia where he worked with The Reinforced Earth Company and Freyssinet Australia (both a subsidiary of VINCI Construction) on a wide range of civil and structural projects throughout Australia and SE Asia over a 5 year period.

In 2016, Aidan moved to Scotland where he joined Blyth & Blyth Consulting Engineers where he worked as design engineer on a number of commercial and industrial projects including The Event Centre Aberdeen. He now provides consultancy services to CROSS.

David Cormie leads the Resilience, Security and Risk team at Arup, and has over 20 years of experience advising public and private sector clients, government and regulators on the design of landmark and high-profile, high-threat buildings, infrastructure systems and assets world-wide. Through his work David helps clients minimise risk and build resilience into the design of their buildings, assets and systems.

David is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers, and has particular expertise in blast engineering and design against disproportionate collapse. He is the nominated UK expert on the European technical committee responsible for the requirements in the structural Eurocodes in relation to structural robustness, and authored the Institution of Structural Engineers manual for the design of high-risk buildings against disproportionate collapse.

Since the Grenfell Tower disaster, David has advised the Health and Safety Executive, UK Government and professional institutions on assurance of quality and competency in structural engineering design, and has provided design advice on the structural assessment of Large Panel System structures to both local authorities and private-sector building owners. David is a member of the standards committee responsible for the development of the first code of practice for design of civilian structures against disproportionate collapse in the US.

He was the recipient of the Lewis Kent award for services to structural engineering by the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2018.

After running Eckersley O’Callaghan’s Glass Structures group for 10 years, he is now the Technical Director with responsibility for the strategic operations across the company. This includes defining design processes and project delivery. He also leads Eckersley O’Callaghan’s Research and Development programme driven by a pursuit to explore the innovative use of material in design.

Throughout his career, Peter has been exploring how structural engineers can make their work easier and more efficient, often via the application of computer technology. While he started his career as a pioneer of CAD and BIM, over the last twenty years he has focused on structural analysis, optimisation and computational design.

He has worked as a structural engineer in general consulting as well as the water and petrochemical industry, as a CAD product manager, and now as the customer service leader at Oasys Software (the software house of Arup). He has been a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at Bradford University and regularly guest lectures on high-tech structural engineering at many others.

Among his many talks and other writings, he is perhaps best known for his Institution of Structural Engineers technical guide, 'Computational Engineering: an introduction to computing for structural engineers' which covers everything from parametric design to quantum computing via finite element analysis and artificial intelligence.

Peter is a Chartered Engineer, a member of the British Computer Society, and a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers. He was the recipient of the Lewis Kent award for services to structural engineering by the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2021.

Tony is a Structural Engineer with over 25 years of experience in design, research and investigation of Concrete Structures. Tony is a Principal Structural Engineer at MPA The Concrete Centre responsible for leading work on the Fire Performance of Concrete Structures in addition to more general concrete code development and implementation activities.

Tony previously worked for Arup where he led several significant construction projects and also worked within Arup’s research and development department. In addition to supporting project teams delivering iconic projects across the world, Tony also provided expert technical advice to external clients on various failures.

Tony is the UK Head of Delegation on the European Concrete Code Committee which is responsible for the maintenance and revision of Eurocode 2. He is also a member of the European working group looking at robustness requirements across all the material Eurocodes.

He has published widely and contributed to a number of IStructE publications, including their design manual to EC2, the “Standard method of detailing reinforced concrete”, and the “Working Engineers guide to robustness”. Tony chaired the advisory group formed to produce the BRE guidance “Concrete Structures in Fire”.

Chris is the legal advisor to CROSS as well as an experienced litigator in the Technology and Construction Court and the Commercial Court and has conducted international arbitrations under the LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICC and ADCCAC Rules. Chris regularly commences and defends adjudications and has also conducted mediations for clients.

Chris' practice focuses on contentious construction and projects. He has acted on domestic and international projects and has a thorough working knowledge of FIDIC, JCT, NEC, IChemE, MF/1 and bespoke contracts. Chris' clients include contractors, employers, developers, funders, joint venture partnerships, and consultants.

Recent examples of Chris' experience include:

• Conducting an arbitration concerning a project in the Russian Federation, in which he obtained an anti-suit injunction in the Commercial Court in support of that arbitration;

• Advising a client in relation to various disputes concerning the construction of a particle accelerator;

• Advising in relation to over 40 projects with fire safety and/or cladding issues;

• Advising on various disputes connected to a portfolio of water treatment plant projects in the UK;

• Resolving a series of disputes connected to the construction of a nuclear power station; and

• Conducting an arbitration concerning a large mixed use development in Kazakhstan.

David is the Senior Technical Director of COWI UK and is responsible for the technical leadership of the group. He is directly responsible for many of the company's projects and controls the technical development on projects and with the engineering staff. He is on the Design Joint Venture Board for several major infrastructure projects including HS2. He leads the group’s work on special structures, having worked on projects such as Project Boomer, the UK’s tallest structure.

He is extensively involved in the codification of design loading for structures, with particular emphasis on dynamic effects. He has also acted as an expert witness on a wide range of structures and carries out due diligence studies for major international banks.

David’s project portfolio has taken him across the globe, and he has developed in-depth knowledge of bridges and cable supported structures, seismic retrofitting of concrete structures and complex structural analysis, including dynamic response. He has been an auditor for Transport Scotland on Forth Road Bridge and other key structures.

David is also a Fellow of the Wind Engineering Society. He is actively involved in the Royal Academy of Engineering and on the Examinations Panel for the Institution of Structural Engineers.

Allan Mann has been a practising structural engineer for more than 50 years working in the UK and around the world. His experience ranges from nuclear engineering to theme park rides and has included a number of projects focussed on ‘construction’.

In recent years he has investigated a number of failures and acted as an expert witness. Notable career projects include the Sellafield Nuclear Plant; the Pepsi Max ride at Blackpool; the Royal Opera House (construction); NIREX underground waste disposal facility; Devonport dockyards (and submarines); Wembley Stadium (construction) and the London Eye (followed by several other large wheels).

For the whole of his career Allan has been active within the Institution of Structural Engineers and in 2011 was awarded its Gold Medal. Allan has been involved with CROSS since its launch in 2005 and with SCOSS for many years before that.

Steven is Principal Technical Specialist - Engineering at National House-Building Council (NHBC) and has over 30 years’ experience as a civil/structural design engineer having designed buildings and infrastructural works.

When Steven left private consultancy, he worked as a Local Authority engineer before joining NHBC to do warranty assessment and Approved Inspector work. Latterly, Steven's time is spent on improving the quality of homes being built through Standards work. Steven serves on a number of British Standards committees for building materials and Eurocodes.

Mark is an experienced Building Control Officer with a particular interest and specialism in structural engineering and fire. He has been involved in assessing some of the largest and most complex schemes in the country, including a number of very tall commercial towers.  This involvement has spread from early design, through approvals, inspections from foundations to occupation, and some interesting factory inspections in Europe and China. He manages a group of multidisciplinary building control professionals, ensuring the safety, accessibility and energy efficiency of buildings withing the City of London.

He is vice chair of the IStructE safety health and wellbeing panel, and a member of the business practice and regulatory control committee. Since the Hackitt report, Mark has been much involved in advice to government on the future of building control, including being a member of Raising The Bar WG6 and the Future of Building Control Working Group.

He has been involved writing a number of publications, including the IStructE ‘Design recommendations for multi-storey and underground car parks’.

John has been with COWI (formerly Flint & Neill) since 1990. He specialises in the design and assessment of tall guyed masts, lattice towers and other wind sensitive structures. John is actively involved in the development of the British Standards and Eurocodes that apply to this work.

He is convener of the evolution working group for EN1993-3-1 and EN1993-3-2 and chairman of the UK mirror committee. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Birmingham where he holds the honorary chair in structural dynamics in the School of Civil Engineering.

John joined Stantec in 2018 (formerly Peter Brett Associates (PBA) where he was a Partner). Before PBA he worked for 10 years in the UK including a year in the bridge group and overseas for Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners.

At PBA he expanded the Practice’s portfolio into residential mixed use, with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary service provision in urban regeneration and education. He worked with the late Peter Brett, Practice founder, to develop new forms of structural steelwork, culminating in joint authorship of a manual for design published by the Steel Construction Institute (SCI). Involvement with the SCI since has included a period as non-executive director. John has since worked on major projects such as Paddington Walk in London, Sun Microsystems in Farnborough, the redevelopment of Southampton airport and Slough Trading Estate and a framework commission with Oxford University mainly involving laboratory buildings.

His current focus is on commercial office refurbishment and forensic/expert witness work.  He has been instructed as an expert witness by both prosecution and defence teams in cases involving allegations of professional negligence and fatalities. These cases handled through the Technology and Construction Court, International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bucharest, and the Dubai International Arbitration Centre. have involved a range of structural materials and collapses.

After spending a number of years working at London practices, Price & Myers and SD Structures, Victoria is now part of the building structures team at Curtins, based in Glasgow.  

She continues to work on a large range of projects including the deep retrofit of pre-1919 residential buildings, new educational buildings, and the refurbishment and extension of city centre commercial buildings.  

As part of her role at Curtins, she also undertakes certification of design (building structures) under the SER scheme.  In 2020, Victoria received a commendation in the Young Structural Engineering Professional Award.

Mike has over 30 years’ experience. He specialises in construction / structural safety, CDM and health & safety risk and regulatory issues.  He set up MPW R&R to provide consulting, forensic and expert witness services in those areas. 

Mike has expertise in construction health and safety and the CDM Regulations. He has published widely, led the independent evaluations of CDM 1994 and CDM 2007, and reviewed the use of CDM 2007 in the construction of London 2012. Mike has been instructed as an expert witness by both prosecution and defence teams in cases involving allegations of gross negligence manslaughter and breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the CDM Regulations (1994, 2007 and 2015) during construction projects. These cases have involved a range of collapses and hazardous situations on construction projects.

Mike has related expertise in the safety and service life of concrete structures. He has published widely, and developed asset management guidance in UK, Europe and Hong Kong.

He is also a member of the Temporary Works Forum, the Institution of Structural Engineers Health and Safety Panel, the Hazards Forum and the Society for Construction Law.

Steve is a Fellow Chartered Engineer of both the IStructE and ICE, with over 35 years design, construction and assurance experience, as consultant, contractor and client. A specialist in structural engineering and temporary works assurance, he has a passion and enthusiasm for delivering innovative and sustainable fully engineered solutions, integrating permanent works and temporary works, offering value for money and achieving client objectives in terms of cost, time and quality.

Steve is experienced in major infrastructure as well as building project design and delivery, with programme values of between £1M to £750M. He is currently the Principal Discipline Expert for Capital Delivery within Network Rails Technical Authority; responsible for technical governance. He actively promotes the open & honest dissemination of lessons learnt and good practice across the rail sector and wider industry, for the benefit of all.

He actively promotes Health and Safety by Design activities with the NR supply chain and works with the HSE, Temporary Works Forum, Structural Safety and others. He is a Supervising Civil Engineer for ICE and Mentor for the IStructE, helping to mentor and train the next generation of Civil and Structural Engineers.