I have 30 years’ experience in providing fire safety advice to designers, developers, contractors and building operators, initially as a Chartered Building Control Surveyor and for the last 20 years as a Fire Engineer. I am a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS), a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (FIFireE) and a Chartered Building Engineer (C.Build E MCABE). I am Director of at FDS Consult and lead a team of experienced fire engineers providing fire engineering advice across all the key sectors of the construction industry from concept through to design, construction, commissioning, handover and use of a building. We specialise and are experts in residential fire engineering. As part of the FDS Group we are in the unique position of also being able to offer a turnkey approach to the design, specification, installation and maintenance of smoke ventilation systems for residential buildings and car parks. Through my previous role as a Fire Consultant at Department of Health and as a Fire Engineer I am also an expert in the fire safety design of healthcare buildings including large acute hospitals, mental health in-patient hospitals and diagnostic and treatment centres. I have acted as an expert witness for several Trusts in the identification and resolution of latent defects in compartmentation and fire stopping. I have also led the development of fire safety solutions for a large variety of projects in a wide spectrum of sectors including offices, retail, education, leisure, rail and airports. The rare blend of experience I have acquired through my career as a Chartered Building Control Surveyor and a Fire Engineer gives me a clear insight into what is necessary to develop and project manage successful fire safety engineered solutions for the full life cycle of a building.