23 March 2023 | QEII Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London

Author Archive

Geoffrey Brown

Posted by Jake Noakes

Geoffrey Brown is an Assistant Director in the Office for Product Safety and Standards Construction Products Team.   Geoffrey’s career in regulation began in 1999 when he left the Probation Service to join the Health and Safety Executive as a trainee HM Inspector.  He went on to hold management roles in operational delivery and policy development before joining OPSS in 2018 as Head of Product Enforcement.  He transferred to his current role in February 2021.

Andrew Gibson

Posted by Jake Noakes

Andrew is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with over 30 years operational, engineering and leadership experience working for large oil and gas exploration, energy and chemicals manufacturing companies including Monsanto, BP, Chevron, and Centrica.

His most recent roles include Head of Health, Safety Environment and Quality, Head of Production and Head of Asset Performance for a large offshore gas storage and terminal operator. Andrew has extensive experience of designing and using process safety management systems in hazardous environments, incident investigation and safety leadership. He is also a visiting academic at the University of Hull.

Mark Lawton

Posted by Jake Noakes

Most of Mark’s career was spent in the Health and Safety Executive where he worked for 35 years undertaking a wide range of enforcement, policy, and managerial roles.

Initially as a field inspector, Mark regulated many different industrial sectors including general manufacturing, health services, construction, and chemicals.

He then moved into policy roles working on legislative and non-legislative topics such as development of new regulations and guidance in various industries.

His last six years was spent managing a team delivering policy and strategy for interventions and stakeholder engagement in the onshore chemicals major hazard sector. i.e. chemical manufacture and storage, refineries, LPG installations etc.

A significant element of this work was engaging with industry to develop an initiative to improve senior leadership on major hazards. This included managing the development of a leadership inspection initiative and working with industry on guidance.

Robert Biggs

Posted by Jake Noakes

Robert started work with Bison Concrete Ltd in 1971 and worked as a design engineer on a wide range of precast concrete developments. He spent seven years in the Greater London Council’s District Surveyors’ service, which culminated with his appointment as District Surveyor for Hackney (Head of Building Control). Robert was one of the last two statutory District Surveyors appointed under the London Building Acts. Following the demise of the GLC, Robert entered local government service, becoming Head of Engineering, Director of Regulatory Services and subsequently Director of Environmental Services, all at Hackney LBC.

Returning to the private sector in 2001, Robert’s set up his own business and is now Managing Director of Robert Biggs Associates Ltd. His company specialises in building engineering and management consultancy and has particular expertise in building regulations, carrying out plan checking (including structural checking) and site inspection services on a wide range of building types. In addition to this the company assists organisations with their business plans, human resource and health and safety policies and with quality assurance accreditations.

Robert is a former Trustee of the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust (a Trust set up to refurbish and manage the old Town Hall). He is a former Board Director and Chairman of the National Considerate Constructor Scheme and continues to take an active part in Scheme affairs. He is currently Chair of Trustees of the CABE Benevolent Fund.

Robert is a professional interviewer for the CABE (including CEng), assists the CICAIR in AI Appeals and audits and is a member of the CICAIR Appeals (deputy Chair) and Monitoring and Re-approvals (Chair) Committees. He is a member of the Construction Industry Products Environmental Manual editorial panel and is a contributor to Lexis Nexis Knight’s Guide to Building Control Law and Regulations.

Chris Griffin McTiernan

Posted by Jake Noakes

Chris was appointed the Deputy Chief Inspector for the Building Safety Regulator in January 2023 and is also a Deputy Director in the Health and Safety Executive. He has responsibility for leading the creation, stand-up and operational delivery of the Building Safety Regulator, and reports to the Chief Inspector of Buildings.

Prior to appointment, Chris has a wealth of leadership experiences across UK government departments. Chris led the HSE’s Construction Engineering Specialist Team in delivering technical expertise to support complex criminal investigations as well as expert witness testimony at court to support prosecutions of offences against the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Before this, Chris led several teams of government objectives in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Home Office and previously served with the Royal Air Force.

Vince Coyle

Posted by Jake Noakes

Vince has worked for Barratt Developments PLC since 2006 and is the Group Construction and Safety, Health and Environmental Director. He has responsibility for all aspects of Construction management across the Group including Health and Safety, Build Quality and Compliance, Environmental Management, Fire Safety, and Waste Management. Vince has worked in the construction industry for over 30 years and prior to joining Barratt worked in both the Construction and Civil Engineering sectors.

Steve Marr

Posted by Jake Noakes

Steve has over thirty years of experience in the construction distribution sector and has been with SIG plc for the past seventeen years. As SIG UK Compliance Director Steve set up the UK Product Compliance Team in 2021. Prior to this, Steve held numerous senior & operational board positions within SIG including UK Procurement Director, SIGD Procurement Director, Category Director, UK Operations Director & various UK & Regional Director roles for specialist arms of the business, including SIG International & UK B2C E-Commerce businesses.

Steve previously developed the assured product compliance process for SIG in 2011 – a cornerstone of the company’s UK approach to managing construction product accuracy, information & regulatory compliance. His relevant professional experience is expected to provide invaluable expertise as CPI progresses to start its first wave of assessment on construction product information management systems.

Ben Cooper

Posted by Jake Noakes

A professional leader with a strong technical background. Accumulated a wide array of fire engineering skills over his career and is driven to build a business reputation for providing the highest possible level of service of a fire engineer. Focussed on practical, buildable solutions and identifying issues early on that could otherwise result in designs that cannot feasibly be adopted on site. A firm believer that fire engineers should remain involved with projects through to completion and directly assist in the coordination and implementation of the fire strategy into the designs of others rather than disappearing after producing the fire strategy performance specification.

Dominic Fryer

Posted by Jake Noakes

Dominic joined Danescroft in 2005, became a shareholder alongside company founder and Palmer Capital in 2010 and was promoted to Chief Executive in 2019. Following a restructure towards the end of 2022 Dominic heads up the board alongside James Trelfa and Fiera Real Estate. Danescroft is a property company focused primarily on sourcing sites for promotion and onward development throughout the south of England.

Since 2012, Dominic has had the great pleasure of being a Visiting Fellow at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University. He is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor and an accomplished professional with 30 years’ experience in property, construction and development. As a principal and shareholder in Danescroft Dominic is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the development management process from inception, planning, design development, construction management and delivery.

Melanie Robinson

Posted by Jake Noakes

Mel has worked for Barratt as Group Fire Safety Engineer since 2021 and has lead on the BSF Charter, working with the multi-disciplinary teams, to align our procedures and standards to the new Gateway process.  Mel started her career in Building Control, supervising work in both private and public sectors and overseeing residential and commercial developments, going on to specialise and pursue further study in Fire Engineering and obtained membership of the Institute of Fire Engineers. Mel represents Barratt working as ‘Early Adopters’ alongside industry colleagues, to embed the new requirements and invoke the Building a Safer Future principles.