Structural Fire Engineering

For our third seminar of 2024 we will be focussing on fire engineering. This will comprise a series of presentations looking at Structural Fire Engineering Issues.. The seminar will cover a good range of topics relating to research, design and analysis with regards to Fire Engineering and will provide useful CPD for engineers at various stages of their careers from new graduates, those working towards chartered membership and for our more experienced members looking to stay abreast of current best practice.

The seminar will be held at the Ladies Baths, part of the Dovecot Studios, housed in beautifully restored Victorian baths, Dovecot Studios is home to an internationally renowned tapestry studio and is a centre for contemporary art, craft, and design..

Programme - please note we will start promptly at 11.45am.

11.00 Registration & tea/coffee on arrival.

11.45 Welcome – IStructE SRG Chair

11.50 Structural Engineering for Fire: Origins and Objectives- Prof Luke Bisby and Dr

Angus Law – University of Edinburgh

· Defining ‘Fire resistance’

· Origins and motivations of relevant building regulations and guidance

· Ensuring an appropriate level of fire resistance for your project

· Highlighting areas of caution and concern

12.25 Q & A

12.35 Structural Fire Protection Strategy – Project Experience and Case Studies

Eu Jin Teh and Mikko Salminen – Jensen Hughes

· Structural Fire Protection Strategy – Experience in Scotland

· Benefits of using SFE in different kinds of projects

· Case studies of steel and concrete structures

· Case studies of structural details

· Case studies of timber structures

13.15 Q & A

13.30 Break:

14.20 Dr Susan Deeny and Yavor Panev – ARUP

·Fire severity assessments & development of design fires for analysis

·Structural analysis

·Integration with fire strategy

·Roles and responsibilities between architect, fire engineer and structural engineer

14.55 Q & A

15.10 The Scottish Building Standards Hub – supporting transformation and quality

in building standards - Alan McAulay

· Overview of aims of the SBSH

· Current priorities and areas of development

· Focus on SBSH and fire engineering

· Current and emerging fire engineering considerations for designers and verifiers

15.45 Q & A

16.00 Finish

We are delighted to welcome the following speakers who excel in their professional fields:

Professor Luke Bisby FRSE FREng

Prof. Bisby (Luke), PhD, FREng, FRSE, FIFireE, FIStructE, is a professor within the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. He obtained his M.Sc. (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) in Structural Engineering at Queen’s University, Canada. Prof. Bisby holds a Personal Chair of Fire and Structures, is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s Fire Safety Journal, and is specialized in the fire behaviour of materials and structures.

Wider than this specialization, he also participates in and leads research projects on fire science and engineering education, building fire standards, design, and interdisciplinary responses to fire risk and safety. He embraces socio-technical perspectives with respect to fire safety and structural engineering, leading to impacts both in the scholarly domain as well as in practice/policymaking/regulation/education.

Dr Angus Law (University of Edinburgh)

Dr Angus Law is a Lecturer in Fire Safety Engineering; he has previous held positions as a Lecturer at the Univeristy of Queensland (Australia), and as an Engineer at Ove Arup and Partners (UK).

Angus' interests are around developing design methods for use in industry, and ensuring that pratitioners have the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to impliment fire engineering designs safely and effectively. Angus is currently invovled in reserach projects relating to cladding fires, engineered timber buidlings, and societal aspects of regulation.

Eu Jin Teh (Jensen Hughes)

Eu Jin is the Managing Director for Jensen Hughes Fire Engineering team in Scotland and is a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). He is responsible for a large number of high profile public/private sector projects over the last 17 years across Scotland and parts of the UK. This includes St James Quarter in Edinburgh, India Building conversion in Edinburgh, New Barclays Campus in Glasgow and Candleriggs Development in Glasgow. Eu Jin was involved in a research project on behalf of the Scottish Building Standards Division into the approvals system for external wall system designs and is currently a member of the Scottish IFE Council.

Mikko Salminen (Jensen Hughes)

Mikko has Ph.D. in Structural Fire Engineering. He has over 15 years of experience in performance-based structural fire safety analysis of steel, timber, and concrete structures to achieve optimal, fire-safe structural solutions ranging from detail analysis to evaluation of entire structural systems. Mikko shares his findings through
contributions to industry conferences, as well as academic papers and lectures. He also influences SFE design guidelines for his country of origin, Finland.

Mikko leverages performance-based solutions to meet project goals. He often justifies exposed structures, eliminating the need for excessive protection materials and delivering major cost savings that would not be possible with a prescriptive
method. His portfolio of work includes major commercial, industrial, and residential projects in Finland and in the US, including a 14-story mass timber high-rise - the tallest timber building in Finland.

Dr Susan Deeny– ARUP

Susan provides expert advice, analysis and design on fire safety engineering for the built environment; specialising in the development and delivery of industrially focused research and innovation to enable the fire safety development of new technologies. Susan has extensive experience in the provision of expert witness services; applying fire safety engineering expertise to help clients resolve complex construction issues.
In 2018 she received the Karen Burt Memorial Award for best newly chartered female engineer from the Women's Engineering Society. She holds a Doctorate Degree (PhD) focused on the performance of concrete structures under realistic fire conditions from the University of Edinburgh.

Yavor Panev – ARUP

Originally from Bulgaria, Yavor started his studies in the University of Edinburgh in 2011 as an undergraduate in Structural Engineering with Architecture. He transferred to the Structural and Fire Safety Engineering degree programme in his fourth year of studies, after securing a summer research internship within BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering.

Yavor has received several awards and prizes for his work in fire engineering including the Ove Arup Foundation Prize in Fire Engineering. He joined Arup's Fire Engineering Team in Edinburgh in 2016

Alan McAulay – Building Standards Hub

Alan McAulay MRICS BSc(HONS), Scottish Building Standards Hub Director

Alan is a Director of the Scottish Building Standards Hub (SBSH) which is hosted by Fife Council. The role of the SBSH is to support Local Authority verifiers and wider industry stakeholders to strengthen the building standards system in Scotland. Alan is a chartered building surveyor with 35 years’ experience within the building standards system in Scotland having previously worked for Glasgow City Council and South Lanarkshire Council. He has also participated on numerous Scottish Government working groups covering a range of topics, including a number on fire safety.

All welcome • Registration required • 4 hours CPD

Host or Publisher IStructE - Scottish Regional Group