Andy has over 25 years of experience in the field of Building and Construction, ranging from structural testing within the nuclear industry to fire testing. Having established the Dubai Cladding Technology Centre and Laboratory, and operated it for 10 years, he has particular knowledge of heavy structures testing and weathertightness testing of cladding, curtain walling and building envelope systems.

He has carried out many consultancy projects as a third-party specialist in the field of building envelope technology.

Andy has a long-standing association with the CIOB. He is currently the Chairman of the Dubai and Northern Emirates Center and he is also an experienced candidate mentor.

He continues to provide input into the UAE code and is a regular speaker at industry technical seminars such as this one.

Peter Van Gorp has been working as a Fire Engineer for more than 23 years, of which 13 years have been spent in the Middle East. He handled building fire and life safety projects ranging from schools, hotels, hospitals to large shopping malls to multi occupancy high rise and industrial developments, from initial concept to assistance during construction. Van Gorp has also been involved in the fire safety system design and engineering fire safety system construction supervision and site management and in assistance and witnessing of testing and commissioning of fire and life safety systems. He also has extensive experience in fire risk assessments ranging from qualitative fire risk assessments of refinery and chemical processes to quantitative fire risk assessments of installations. In his role, he has conducted numerous risk assessments involving gas installations and involving the storage and handling of hazardous materials. Van Gorp holds a Masters in Applied Engineering Electro-Mechanics from H.I.K Belgium.

Claire is a Principal Consultant in the Security Risk Management Department at WSP in the Middle East. She combines her academic background, varied industry experience and strong communication skills to deliver comprehensive security, risk & resilience advice to clients. Claire specialises in Security Risk Management, Security Strategy & Resiliency Planning.

Claire is experienced across a number of key sectors including major sporting events, the built environment (predominantly mixed use developments), the hospitality industry (leisure & tourism) and transportation infrastructure (rail).

She has worked with both government and private sector organisations across the UK, Europe, MENA and Asia-Pac regions. She has a passion for coordinating, managing and executing successful security solutions for clients, that are bespoke to their requirements.

Claire has a BA in Law & Criminology, as well as a MSc in Security Sector Management from Cranfield University at the UK Defence Academy.

Cristina Perez Domper has a Masters of Science in Structural Engineering. She gained her experience in the fire industry as a Fire Engineer for AFITI in Madrid, Spain. She is now the Regional Operations Manager for Intertek in Dubai, UAE. She specialises in product testing and certification in building & construction.

Sreenivas Narayanan (“Sreeni”) is Façade Specification & Compliance Officer at Siderise Insulation Limited, in charge of the Middle East and India regions.

Sreeni has over a decade’s experience in sales, business development and new market development, majority of which has been in the field of passive fire protection and working with façade related products. He has been in the Middle East since 2007 and has a keen understanding of the region, its requirements and regulations. He has worked extensively with contractors, architects and developers in Middle East, India and Australia, assisting and advising them on matters relating to applicable code compliance and completion of projects. On behalf of Siderise, Sreeni has been instrumental in ensuring successful completion of a number of large-scale system tests relating to external façade assemblies.

Sreeni is a regular participant at various façade and fire-safety conferences and frequently delivers CPD presentations on the subject to industry associates.

Stephen is a Senior Fire Engineer with Warringtonfire Qatar. He has recently completed a secondment to the Doha Metro Green Line Underground project, where he was responsible for the provision of fire engineering advice to the main construction contractor. This included ensuring that all fire and life safety related systems and equipment within the six underground stations, ten underground ancillary structures and connecting underground train tunnel network were designed, installed, inspected and tested in accordance with current relevant national and international fire safety standards in readiness for Qatar Civil Defence Directorate inspection and certification. At the completion of this secondment all of the Green Line Underground facilities had been issued with fire certificates by the authority having jurisdiction. He has recently commenced a similar role with the Doha Education City Tram project.

Prior to this he was a Fire Engineer with one of Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers. His role was to identify the standards of fire and life safety prevailing within all of the company’s facilities and identify the work required within these facilities to ensure compliance with current relevant national and international fire safety standards. The total cost of the fire and life safety upgrade work required exceeded US $13million. At the completion of this work a total of over 130 gas plant and non-gas plant related facilities, including a 57 storey headquarters building, four large schools and a medical centre, had been issued with fire certificates by the authorities having jurisdiction.

Stephen served for over 33 years within the fire and rescue service within the United Kingdom. In his 11 years as Chief Fire Officer of Tayside Fire and Rescue he transformed the service from a traditional, reactive emergency response service to a proactive, high performing and continuously improving prevention-focussed community safety service. He has extensive experience in operational emergency planning and emergency response management. He was the fire and rescue service lead in the planning and execution of all safety related matters for the G8 World Leaders Summit in Scotland in 2005, with responsibility for ensuring the safety of all delegates attending, including Her Majesty the Queen, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the President of the United States and the other high profile world leaders. Following this he was invited by the United Nations to Beijing in 2007 to address senior members of the Beijing Public Security Bureau on the abilities of the fire and rescue service in Scotland to prepare for and respond to major emergency incidents. This address formed part of a United Nations training mission to Beijing to assist the Chinese authorities prepare for the Olympic Games in 2008.

He is an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal (QFSM) for exemplary service. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Science Degree (BSc) in Fire Safety, Technology and Management. He is a Member of the City and Guilds of London Institute (MCGI) and a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (FIFireE).

Peter is a Fire Safety Engineer with over 30 years experience in the Sector. As the Business Development Manager at Warringtonfire, Peter co-ordinates the business development of the Middle East Fire Engineering Consultancy activities in addition to supporting the development of fire strategies, building assurance inspections and fire systems analysis for projects.

Peter is also a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and is currently President of the IFE GCC UAE Branch which has been registered in Dubai through the Dubai Association Centre. His considerable experience in Fire Safety Engineering and Rail Infrastructure Projects includes working as Senior Fire Safety Engineer for Network Rail, as Fire Safety Officer for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service and as a consultant in both large multi-disciplinary and small independent practices. Peter is actively engaged within the international fire safety community, being a Committee Member of the Railway Industry Fire Association (RIFA), and former finance director of the International Aviation Fire Protection Association (IAFPA).

Oliver van den Broek is a Security Consultant & Director at BaRC Solutions (SIRA). He is an experienced Security Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the security industry. Skilled in Security Risk Assessments; Security Strategies, Schemes & Masterplanning; Counter-Terrorism Protective Security; Electronic Security Systems; Physical Security; Security Operations & Procedures. SIRA registered.

Andrew is an internationally experienced and recognised Major Event Sport Safety and Security Specialist with a career spanning over 27 years with multi-disciplinary sport security, risk management and law enforcement experience. Andrew has managed and directed the Safety and Security operations for a large number of International Sporting Organisations across the globe.

Andrew plays a key role in advising major sporting organisations (globally) on safety and security strategy, planning, readiness, testing and assurance as well as the operational effectiveness of the security during the event. Andrew has reviewed and audited major sporting events and stadiums around the world to identify improvements and alignment to best practices and current standards.

As Director of Security Operations, Andrew leads the ICSS Safety & Security Operations team in their work with major sport events, governments and international federations in their security planning, testing, auditing, training and execution.

The ICSS is an international, non-profit organization that works with National Sporting Bodies, International Federations, governments, cities, leagues, clubs, venue operators, major event organizers and other stakeholders to safeguard all aspects of sport.

David is the Middle East Director of Joule Group, a boutique Fire Engineering Practice based in Dubai and the UK. A Principal Fire Safety Engineer he holds an MSc in Fire Protection Engineering.

David has gained a wide range of experience in fire engineering in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

He applies his expertise primarily in fire safety design, on-site implementation and handover of Commercial, Residential, Public Landmarks, Aviation, and Transportation projects across the built environment.

David is part of the founding committee for the GCC UAE Branch of the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE).

David’s passion is for advancing the field of fire engineering in its application into the design and operation of the built environment. He represents Joule Group and the industry in promoting this message on fire safety at targeted fire safety seminars and conferences.

Hani Awni Al Hawamdeh is the Chief Technical Officer at Arab Engineering Bureau and brings 29 years of diverse work experience in Architectural, Structural and Electro-Mechanical projects. With his effective forward planning Hani successfully lead and managed design and execution of some major projects at AEB. Most notably he managed the project for Qatar 2022 World Cup – Al Thumama stadium – and is currently in charge for delivering several TODs (Transient Oriented Developments) for the new Qatar Rail project. Hani hold a number of industry relevant certifications such as USGBC LEED accreditation, GSAS certification, PMP and is a member of PMI institute USA, and ASHRAE Oryx Chapter in Qatar, being the former president of the latter and Vice chair of the current advisory committee. Hani holds BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Mu’tah University in Jordan and MBA in Finance from University of Leicester in UK.

Aaron forms part of the senior leadership team based in Design Confidence's Dubai office. He is directly involved with Technical Direction and Delivery of Fire Engineering and Performance-Based Design for large-scale projects. With extensive experience in fire strategy all scales of project. Aaron specializes in the Fire Safety Engineering of large complex buildings. Aarons experience spans throughout the GCC region, Russia, India, Africa, Pakistan, and Europe. Most notably, Aaron has developed fire strategies for Football Stadiums, Malls, Super High-rise towers, Theme Parks, Power Stations, and Transportation Infrastructure. He has also numerous scientific publications in the field of fire science and has guest lectured in Fire Safety Engineering and at universities internationally. Aaron is passionate about fire safety design and improving understanding and application of fire safety science in engineering.

Abhishek Chhabra has an engineering degree and a post graduate in finance. He has been advocating the need for testing, inspections and certifications for improved safety and quality in various industries for most of the last 16 years. Along with helping certification bodies expand their horizon of business in the last decade, he has also been writing articles and presenting at various forums about mandatory and voluntary quality and safety compliances. He is responsible for the company’s Fire Compliance Busines and Thomas Bell-Wright, a Dubai-based, multi-accredited, privately held firm providing independent Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) services. The company was established in the region in 1995 to help the construction industry achieve quality and safety compliance.

Deepthi holds an MBA specialised in information Systems and Security and an engineering degree in Electronics and Communication.

During her nine years of experience in Enterprise Security and Resilience, Deepthi has been involved in driving organisations implement Information Security, Business Continuity and IT service management systems.

She is passionate about Smart Cities and has been part of various projects that involves defining smart strategy and security for smart cities. She holds various certifications like CISSP, CISA, CISM, ITILv3 Foundation, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor.

Dr Lamont has worked in the fire protection industry for 15+ years in the UK, US and Middle East. She is a chartered engineer and professional member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). Her Doctorate research looked at the response of steel frame structures in real fires. Since joining Arup she has worked on a diverse range of projects from large assembly buildings, hospitals, schools, shopping malls and offices to masterplans and transport hubs. Her role on many projects is to guide the developer/owner through fire safety design, testing and commissioning to occupation and fire safety management of the completed building. She is currently the global technical skills leader for Arup based in the Middle East. She works closely with her clients and the local authorities in the Gulf to maintain a high level of fire safety in new and existing buildings. Susan is currently working on delivery of Abu Dhabi International Airport Midfield Terminal Building amongst other local and international projects.