Please introduce yourself.
I am Irene de Lezcano. I work as a Principal Fire Engineer at Trigon Fire Safety in London. I am a Chartered Engineer registered with the IFE, with 8 years’ experience in the fire safety industry and a Master with Honours in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering from the University of Edinburgh.
Tell us about your career to date.
I have mainly worked as a fire safety consultant. At Trigon, I also assist with Expert Witness cases. As a fire safety consultant, I have worked on a great variety of projects; mainly at the design stage but also post-occupation, undertaking retrospective fire safety strategies. I was the responsible project manager for a large university in London for 2+ years, supporting their fire safety arrangements and managerial procedures across their estate.
Please describe your role within your current workplace.
I work mainly as a fire safety consultant, responsible for leading and managing projects, typically during the design stage or post occupation. I am supported on projects by junior staff, which I manage and mentor. My role involves reviewing their work, assisting them with technical issues and leading challenging meetings.
I am also involved in Expert Witness work, which typically involves reviewing design, construction and survey information for already built buildings. I assess whether these complied with the functional requirements of the Building Regulations at the time of design and construction, as well as attend meetings with lawyers and other stakeholders. If they do not comply, I also review whether the existing arrangements are safe and/or whether, in my opinion, remediation works are necessary.
Can you describe a typical working day?
A typical working day may start at home or in the office. At home, I carry out concentration tasks, writing reports, focusing on technical issues and corresponding with the design teams. In the office, I undertake collaborative work, meeting with the team, my mentee and project meetings. Managing a large portfolio of projects, there is no typical working day, and every day holds a new challenge.
Are there any particular challenges or unusual aspects to your role?
Being a consultant involves working on a large amount of diverse projects simultaneously. As such, keeping on top of the workload which varies greatly and without warning is quite challenging. However, I find that working within a strong team, and other colleagues being able and willing to help greatly assists to overcome this challenge.
What do you find most enjoyable about your job?
I greatly enjoy being faced with difficult technical issues which require me to research for a solution and come up with a bespoke solution. Due to the intrinsic nature of the construction industry, every project, no matter how small, comes with their own challenges that will need a bespoke solution which I love discovering.Is there a great professional achievement that you would like to tell us about?
One of my recent professional achievements was to present at the SFPE23 European Conference & Expo in Berlin on the ‘Changing role of a fire engineer in the UK’. This was a personal challenge of mine as I am not particularly fond of public speaking and managing to speak to a group of 300 people as one of the keynote speakers was a particularly proud moment.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
My mum and one of my cousins are engineers so I had a defined idea of what engineering was early on and have always associated it with solving problems. I was a curious and easily bored child so being challenged professionally has always been a great driver. Furthermore, engineering skills are global and it is easy to work in different countries across the world; travelling has always been a great motivator for me!
What contributed to your decision to become professionally registered?
Becoming registered as a Chartered Engineer is something that I have spent my whole career working towards since it is hugely recognised throughout the industry; and for me, signified achieving a huge milestone in my professional career. There has also been an increasing understanding within the industry of the importance of demonstrating your competency. This made me push myself to submit my application as soon as I was able to.How do you benefit from being a registrant with the IFE?
Being registered as a Chartered Engineer comes with an instant recognition of your professional level. This is incredibly helpful when bidding for projects and introducing yourself to new design teams since it allows others to understand that you have a certain level of knowledge, skills and experience in your field and will behave in accordance with the appropriate rules of conduct. At Trigon, you also are expected to be registered as a Chartered Engineer in order to progress further than a Senior Fire engineer. Thus, being chartered also enabled me to progress in my career.Are you involved with the IFE in any other capacity?
I am part of the reviewers for EngTech applications. This involves reviewing the applications submitted for candidates for EngTech registration and considering whether these sufficiently demonstrate meeting the requirements of UK-SPEC. I typically get asked to review one or two applications per month.
Would you recommend joining the IFE to others?
I would. It is evident that there is a drive in the industry for strategic fire safety advice to be undertaken by suitably qualified and competent fire safety engineers. One of the key routes of validating our competency is through registration via the IFE. Therefore, I strongly encourage everyone to do so.
Is there any advice you would pass on to someone considering professional registration / IFE membership?
I would suggest that it is important to have dedicated time blocked in order to write your application and recommend asking your employer for this time since professional registration will help you and your company to demonstrate your competencies.