The Hazards Forum
The Hf provides a focus for the study of natural and man-made disasters, dissemination of lessons learned and promotion of risk reduction strategies.
- Date
- 17 September 2024
- Time
- 18:00 - 20:00 BST (GMT+1)
- Location
-
The Institution of Civil Engineers One Great George Street Westminster London, SW1P 3AA United Kingdom
This event has now ended
Overview
During this event we will hear reflections and discuss tips from people in organisations being ‘regulated’; those that have had to get to grips with new duties, roles and approaches under the new regulatory regime.
The Building Safety Act was given royal assent in late April 2022, with secondary legislation enacted since. It overhauled existing regulations, with the intent of creating lasting change and made clear how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained and made safe.
The act created three new bodies to provide effective oversight of the new regime: the Building Safety Regulator, the National Regulator of Construction Products and the New Homes Ombudsman.
The changes were intended to ensure that owners will manage their buildings better, and the home-building industry has the clear, proportionate framework it needs to deliver more, and better, high-quality homes.
The legislation identified duty holders such as the principal designer and principal contractor who are required to manage building safety risks, with clear lines of responsibility during the design, construction and completion of all buildings.
Programme
17:30 - 18:00
Arrival and refreshments
18:00 - 18:05
Welcome: Luise Vassie, chair HF Technical Advisory Committee
Introduction from the chair: Richard Roff, Hazards Forum, Engineered Systems Hazards Interest Group
18:05 - 18:25
Andrew Threlfall, chief engineer Costain
18:25 - 18:45
James Holt, university fire safety lead, Loughborough University
18:45 - 19:05
Mark Hansford, Institution of Civil Engineers
19:05 - 19:45
Panel discussion with all speakers
19:45 - 19:50
Concluding remarks and close: Richard Roff, chair, Engineered Systems Hazards Interest Group
20:00
Networking and drinks reception, off-site
Speakers
James Holt
Loughborough University
University Fire Safety Lead
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James Holt
James Holt is the Fire Safety Lead at Loughborough University, a position he has held for over three years. He is responsible for fire policy and strategy, working closely with the Estates and FM team in driving forward fire safety management and compliance for the university. He holds a Master's degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Materials and Radiochemistry, reflecting his keen interest in science.
He began his career teaching chemistry at degree level and more broadly, science from Key Stage 3 to GCSE, demonstrating a passion for education and knowledge sharing. His career took a significant turn when he transitioned into health and safety at Loughborough University. During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, James showcased his leadership and organisational skills by establishing the university's own inhouse testing and tracing process, helping to ensure a safe environment for staff and students to return to.
For the past three and a half years, James has dedicated himself to fire safety, completing his CFPA-E diploma through the Fire Protection Authority. His specialisation in preventative fire safety and fire risk assessing has been instrumental in enhancing the university's safety protocols. Given the period in which James came into the fire safety field, significant changes have taken place, including but not limited to the fire safety act 2021, fire safety regulations 2022, and building safety act 2022, which he is going to give us more insight into and his experience in ensuring his organisation’s compliance with managing an occupied high rise residential building.
Andrew Threlfall
Costain
chief engineer
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Andrew Threlfall
Andrew is Costain’s Group chief engineer, responsible for technical excellence and product quality across Costain’s wide project portfolio, including design delivery, construction compliance, product quality and future planning. Focus areas are safe-by-design, sustainable project delivery and risk management.
Andrew also supports technical skill development, including Costain’s FICE cohort, early careers training schemes and STEM activities. Current upskilling campaigns are aiming to improve right-first-time, building regulations and CDM compliance, low carbon/climate resilience and temporary works delivery.
Mark Hansford
Institution of Civil Engineers
director of engineering knowledge
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Mark Hansford
Mark is the director of Engineering Knowledge at ICE. He is also a civil engineer and Fellow of ICE, and throughout his 20-plus year career he has sought roles that have allowed him to work with others to both promote the profession and provide professional engineers with the information to help them become better engineers.
He has a MEng in Civil Engineering (First class) from the University of Birmingham and spent three years as a practicing engineer with consultant Atkins before joining New Civil Engineer in 2000, a title he edited for five years before joining the ICE in February 2020.
At his previous role with New Civil Engineer, he’s visited and written technical reports on some of the world’s most spectacular structures in including the Burj Khalifa, the Brenner Base Tunnel and Vladivostok’s Russky Island bridge.
He’s also reported from the scene of a host of international engineering disasters including a bridge collapse in northern Portugal, a tunnel fire in Baltimore and tsunami-struck Sri Lanka. And in 2003 he was the first construction reporter into Iraq following the second Gulf War.
