Year joined the IFE: 2009
Year of gaining IFE Membership and Registration: AIFireE – 2009; MIFireE – 2020; CEng - 2020
Job Title: Technical Director
Company: Jensen Hughes
Please describe your current role:
I am a Technical Director and head of the Jensen Hughes Glasgow office, where I manage a team of seven fire engineers in between the Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. I am responsible for the day-to-day running of the Glasgow office, which includes endorsing and providing input for company policies, regular discussions with directors of other offices, setting resources and budgets for projects and teams, making key decisions on recruitment for Scottish offices, and making sure that the engineers under my supervision are maintaining technical excellence at their work. Outside the office, my role requires me to regularly engage with architects, project managers, property developers, local authorities and construction industry institutions to promote fire engineering and to win work for Jensen Hughes by strengthening business relationships. I also look for opportunities to develop the business and win work by championing safe building design with sustainability in mind.
Please provide a brief outline of your career:
I joined Jeremy Gardner Associates (which has been part of Jensen Hughes since 2018) as a Design Engineer in 2006 after graduating with an MEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering. Whilst I was based in Edinburgh, I was promoted to Senior Engineer in 2008, to Principal Engineer in 2011 and to Associate in 2013. In 2015, I set up a new office for Jeremy Gardner Associates in Glasgow and became a Technical Director.
Have you worked on any high-profile projects?
My role and experience regularly provide me with the opportunity to work with large scale projects in education, retail, residential, whisky/industrial, hotel and commercial sectors. The largest high-profile project is the £1 billion Edinburgh St James project which has been going on for over 10 years and is nearing its final stages of completion. This project is a highly mixed-use development with a combination of hotel, retail, residential, car park, cinema and historic buildings under a single development within a tight UNESCO heritage site. Fire engineering has been a key part of the design.
How did you gain IFE membership and become registered?
After two years in the job as a fire engineer, I became an Associate Member. IFE membership gave me the platform to learn current thinking of the fire safety industry in addition to my work experience. I also had great support from several of my Chartered Engineer colleagues, who gave me opportunities to grow and learn during the early stages of my career. During the Chartership application, I took on an IFE mentor, who provided guidance for the preparation and refining of my Professional Review Report.
How has IFE membership and professional registration benefitted your career?
Being a Member grade of the IFE and registered as a CEng has provided me with project opportunities which I wouldn’t have had before. It also increases my credibility in training other fire engineers and allows me to ease the workload of my other Chartered Engineer colleagues.
What attracted you to gain CEng registration?
I wanted to gain professional recognition for my skills, knowledge and expertise in the field of Fire Engineering. Over the last few years, the emphasis of being a chartered engineer has become more important in the fire safety industry. Being a Chartered Engineer gives the assurance to whoever I interact with that I am professional, trustworthy and have the drive to succeed and do the right thing within the engineering profession.
What are your future goals?
My goal is to grow my team in Glasgow and Edinburgh and inspire my junior colleagues to develop themselves as good fire engineers and becoming Chartered Engineers themselves.
What is your employer’s attitude towards registration?
Jensen Hughes have been extremely supportive of any engineers working towards professional membership/registration. Engineers are being given the opportunity to work on their professional development. As a world-leading fire safety, security and risk-based engineering company, Jensen Hughes have many leading fire scientists and professional engineers registered under various professional bodies such as IFE/SFPE/NFPA/IBC across the world. This allows me to ask questions, access various recorded CPD seminars, and develop as an engineer. Internal grants and support are also provided to anyone within the company who wishes to pursue any research work to further develop their career.
How does your employer benefit from you being professionally registered as a CEng?
It demonstrates that my employer cares about the growth and development of the fire engineers that it employs. I am proud to say that Jensen Hughes is a great employer. Being Chartered also allows my employer to bid for more projects that can only be carried out by Chartered Engineers. My employer will have a more competitive advantage when competing for work with other practices which do not have Chartered Engineers on their team.