Hi Nelson, to set the scene, can you take us through a normal day in your role please?
It will most certainly start off with a good cup of coffee. Once down, I set about managing our building service team in delivering turnkey services to our clients from design, installation, manufacturing and commissioning. As the in-house Chartered Engineer, I can add a level of project assurance to all of our installations so my involvement covers various ventilation strategies, particularly smoke control systems for different buildings at every stage of a project. Most of the day, will likely be preoccupied overseeing design works, including reviewing reports or computer aided designs (CFD modelling), to ensure we deliver packages that will not only make buildings safe for its occupants, but ensuring the systems offered are viable solutions. Occasionally I’ll need to join committee meetings, one of which for example includes being a committee member reviewing BS 9991 for all matters involving smoke control.
What are you most proud of in your time with the business?
In general terms probably the professional qualifications I’ve achieved and trade associations I’ve been involved with. Working in ventilation for over 20 years, I’m now a Chartered Engineer, a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and an affiliate member of the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE). With these qualifications I’ve been privileged to offer my expertise at both British and European standards committees as well as trade associations such as the Smoke Control Association (SCA).
The achievement that stands out from recent memory, was heading up the development of a new Smoke Control Association (SCA) design guide for CFD modelling use in designing smoke control systems. CFD modelling has become the predominate design tool of smoke control systems in recent years forming a gap in the industry to provide a best practice guide. The guide, which was published this year, took just over three years to complete, but it was a proud moment for me personally when it finally got published.
How do you see the business evolving in the next 10 years?
Digitisation is the buzz word at the moment, and we can see this spilling into various industries and smoke ventilation is no exception. The scale by which the ‘internet of things’ is growing means there is a definite move towards incorporating components used on life safety systems into scope. I believe this will greatly enhance reliability of smoke control systems including aiding various aspects of maintenance of installed systems, as they should be. I think as an industry, following the new fire safety bill, more needs to be done in ensuring life safety systems are routinely maintained. Application of cloud-based internet technology offers an exciting new approach to achieving this.