John is the co-founder of Joule Group, a boutique Fire Engineering Practice based in Dubai. A Chartered Fire Safety Engineer he holds a BSc Hons in Fire Safety Engineering.

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

He applies his expertise primarily in fire safety design, on-site implementation and handover of Aviation, Assembly and transportation projects across the built environment.

John is a visiting lecturer at Trinity College Dublin on the fundamentals of fire safety science and fire dynamics.

John’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.

Ms. Shamim Rashid-Sumar is Vice President of Development for the Middle East based in JENSEN HUGHES’ Dubai office. Ms. Rashid-Sumar has over 16 years of experience in building and fire code consulting, fire dynamics, timed egress modeling, and performance based design. Since graduating with a B.S. in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland, she has performed fire protection evaluations, prepared fire and life safety strategies and design specifications, fire alarm system design, and other engineering analyses and studies.

As a registered Professional Engineer in the United States, she has worked on a multitude of projects including government facilities, hospitals and medical centers, airport terminals, museums, high-rise buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and many special use facilities.

Shamim was instrumental in establishing and currently serves as President of the UAE International Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). She is also an NFPA 101 International Instructor, a member of the UAE Code Committee, and a member of the SFPE International Committee on Membership and Chapters Relations.

Adrian is a fire service advisor with Dubai CIvil Defence. His primary function is to provide support and advice to the Civil Defence for operational intervention, Fire preventative services and fire investigation.

His role in this position currently involves the responsibility for the approval of fire related equipment, products and systems for DCD listing. This also includes the approval for all Dubai facade and cladding systems.

Before arriving in Dubai Adrian spent 38 years with the Uk fire and rescue Service the last 4 of which as the director of the fire engineering and fire investigation courses at the UK Fire Service College. He was also seconded to the office of the deputy prime minister as the north of England project manager responsible for the implementation of TETRA radio to the UK Fire and Rescue Services.

Adrian is a chartered fire engineer, a forensic fire investigator with the international association of arson investigators, a police officer with Thames Valley Police and also sits on the editorial board with BSI committee FH14 for British standards 9999, 9991 and 7974.

Ms. Lucia Ortega is a Senior Consultant in JENSEN HUGHES’ Dubai office with over 12 years of professional experience in both prescriptive and performance-based fire safety engineering principles. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from Polytechnic University of Valencia, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business from Engineering College of Copenhagen in 2004, she has been developing fire safety strategies for all aspects of the built environment including transport infrastructure, stations, tunnels, tall buildings and industrial facilities within UK, Spain, HK, UAE and Qatar.

Ms. Ortega’s areas of expertise include life safety and code consultation, building and fire code analysis, code conflict resolution, consultation and negotiation with authorities, egress analysis and evacuation modeling, fire load / flammability analysis, fire sprinkler system design and analysis, mathematical fire and smoke modeling, and risk analysis.

Prior to starting her career with JENSEN HUGHES Middle East, Ms. Ortega worked as a Fire Engineer on a multitude of projects. She has served as the Project Manager for Cladding Reviews on various projects in the UAE including TECOM, Al Khazna Data Centers, and Abu Dhabi International Airport (Midfield Terminal Complex).

Bassem Khalil, is a Senior Fire & Life Safety Engineer at U.A.E Abu Dhabi Civil Defence. Mr. Khalil earned a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from the High Institute for Architecture & Business Administration Technology in Cairo, Egypt in the year 2000.

Mr. Khalil has served for over 17 years on several National Fire Code Committees ,including the UAE Fire Safety Code Of Practice , Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council "Urban Street Design Manual" development committees , And as a skilled team leader, trainer, mentor and performance evaluator, In 2013 Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, U.A.E Ministry Of Interior awarded Mr. Khalil the "The Excellence Award & Medal," the highest award bestowed by UAE M.O.I for outstanding contributions to Abu Dhabi Civil Defense department .

Mr Khalil is Nominated & Shortlisted for the 2017 Abu Dhabi Distinguished Government Performance Awards, also he is considered as the world's first Certified, NFPA Life Safety code 101 , And SFPE Arab Speaking instructor .

Altaf Afridi, Deputy Vice President Marketing, Middle East and Africa and head of the Architectural Specifications team, based in United Arab Emirates, a Civil Engineer having 15 years of extensive experience in Architectural hardware and openings industry of his total 20 years of experience. Specialist of fire rated doors, first certified FDAI (Fire Door Assembly Inspector) outside US, certified Project Management Professional (PMP), LEED AP and Life Safety code (NFPA 101) specialist related to architectural openings in buildings.

While working with architects Mr. Afridi has learnt NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, NFPA 80 Standard for fire doors from them while providing related solutions and thus gained a good data base of lessons learnt, he is going to share some with us today. He has been doing presentations on Life Safety code at architect offices in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Egypt. He has been assisting architects providing solutions at the design stage for doors, Architectural, movable walls, glass fittings and other access solutions.

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.

Robert leads RICS’ Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team, who oversee 2,000 members in the UAE and almost 4,000 in the region, working in land, property and construction.

A key component of Rob’s role is to work alongside governments, regulators, financial institutions and major influencers across the region to improve regulation and drive progression and evolution of professional standards as the MENA markets continue to grow and mature.

Robert has more than 20 years of experience in the Middle East working at senior management and international board level as well as an independent business consultant.

My responsibilities include implementing the CH2M HILL HSEQ management system, aswell as developing and implementing regional policies and procedures across all our offices and projects in the region.

Ensuring that our strategic services enable clients and our staff to manage and mitigate HSE&Q risks more effectively, both at a strategic and operational level.

Identifying major opportunities to realise cost savings and efficiencies by aligning HSEQ management with the mainstream business planning process.

I also assist delivery of our projects by supporting our site based HSEQ Managers.

Prior to obtaining the above Regional HSEQ Manager role in Dec 2009, I was Deputy Regional HSEQ Manager (MENA) at CH2M HILL.

My function as Deputy HSEQ Manager involved suppourting the business deliver it HSEQ commitments both internally and externally.

From May 2009 - December 2009 I was seconded into the clients H&S Management Team at Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) as Health & Safety Manager.

Ben Legg has over 24 years of experience in successfully developing and implementing programs across health, safety, sustainability and quality disciplines. He has international experience in both construction and support services industries and has worked across a diverse range of operations including healthcare, education, commercial, residential, infrastructure and industrial within both private and public sectors. Ben has held a number of SH&E leadership roles in the UK and the Middle East covering international geographies.

Prior to joining AECOM, Ben was the International SHEQ Director for Mace, overseeing the development of international strategy for SHEQ across all Mace International businesses.

Ben is leading the drive to put SH&E at the heart of everything that we do and maintain AECOM’s reputation in the industry for leadership in these disciplines.

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.

Abdul Rahim Sabouni, CEO of Span Management Consulting, is a professional engineer, with diverse management background and proven achievements encompassing all facets of engineering project management, design, construction, contracts, claims, and quality assurance.

During his professional career which spans more than 35 years, in the US, Canada, and the Middle East, he had been actively involved in the civil engineering construction industry, and contributed to numerous projects in several countries with some major projects in the UAE including the prestigious projects of Sheikh Zayed mosque, and the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Assumed several senior engineering posts in the Abu Dhabi, including the "Building's Design Expert" of the public works department, and the "Advisor of Technical Affairs and Construction Projects" of Abu Dhabi municipality.

On the academic side, Dr. Sabouni is a Professor of Structural Engineering, Acting President and CEO of the Emirates College of Technology, and twice past University President in the UAE.

Dr. Sabouni is Registered Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada; Fellow & President of the ASCE-UAE Section, Fellow & Founding President of the ACI-UAE Chapter, Fellow & Chartered Construction Manager CIOB in the UK; and Director of the International Federation of High Rise Structures IFHS- UAE. Dr. Sabouni is the First Recipient of the George Winter Award, Cornell University, USA.

Scott is a leading construction and infrastructure lawyer with over 30 years' experience and has been in the GCC for more than 3 years. He was previously a partner in one of the leading construction law firms in Australia.

He adopts a practical and accessible approach to helping you with your legal problems. Scott advises on the best way to structure and document a project, incorporating the latest legal developments and practices and providing practical, effective advice from request for tenders through to project completion. He also helps on managing, resolving or prosecuting disputes.

He is able to bring his experience and knowledge to the table to assist you to achieve the best outcomes.

Charles has 15 years experience in the construction industry during which he has worked on challenging global projects. Working for contractors and consultants he realized communication of spatial information between stakeholders is crucial to successful project delivery. Effective communication means all players understand and contribute to the design at the right time. Immersive technology provides that interface, connecting people with digital models in construction projects. Charles helps AECOM Middle East develop immersive content for regional projects using a variety of technologies including virtualization, augmentation and virtual reality. Deployment platforms include VR headsets, smart devices, touch screens, web and projection with head tracking for holographic interaction.

Ian is currently Marsh’s Middle East Engineering Manager for Property, Power & Energy and leads teams based in Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and India. He has worked for Marsh in Dubai for almost 10 years in the field of Risk Engineering, working with clients in the MENA region and also Globally. Ian graduated in 1988 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and he is a chartered engineer and has twenty years of industry experience prior to joining Marsh. Within Industry, Ian worked for companies such as ICI, Air Products and Aker Kvaerner and key operational roles included being the Site Manager for a Petrochemicals facility in the North East of England. With Aker Kvaerner, Ian was a Senior Project Manager with his focus being on delivering maintenance and project services to a major client. Prior to joining Marsh in 2008, Ian had worked for two years as an independent consultant in China, providing expertise across projects and maintenance.

Ian is currently Marsh’s Middle East Engineering Manager for Property, Power & Energy and leads teams based in Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and India. He has worked for Marsh in Dubai for almost 10 years in the field of Risk Engineering, working with clients in the MENA region and also Globally. Ian graduated in 1988 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and he is a chartered engineer and has twenty years of industry experience prior to joining Marsh. Within Industry, Ian worked for companies such as ICI, Air Products and Aker Kvaerner and key operational roles included being the Site Manager for a Petrochemicals facility in the North East of England. With Aker Kvaerner, Ian was a Senior Project Manager with his focus being on delivering maintenance and project services to a major client. Prior to joining Marsh in 2008, Ian had worked for two years as an independent consultant in China, providing expertise across projects and maintenance.

Senior engineer and chartered building surveyor at Cavendish Maxwell, Craig has been advising clients on how to develop and maintain their buildings for over 19 years. Craig initially studied architecture and building technology, developing a sound knowledge of design, drawings and details, contract administration and construction engineering technology. He then went on to complete a building surveying degree and gained additional engineering and project management qualifications while working in practice and was awarded the university medal for BSc honours student and the RICS dissertation prize. Following this, Craig developed further expertise in the management of large scale estate developments and refurbishments and renovations of historic properties, including leading detailed measured and condition surveys and site quality control. He has designed and built several different purpose groups of buildings internationally. Craig has been in the UAE since 2013 and has built up an international client base, through an ethos of dedication, attention to detail and an unrelenting pursuit of high quality technical work. With his team, he has lead a large variety of engineering, project management, technical audits, life cycle and building surveying instructions, including residential and commercial towers, shopping malls, hotels, villa developments and several multimillion value project audits. The Project and Building Consultancy team now have an unparalleled track record in providing technical audits of property management structures, buildings and master communities for Developers and Owner’s Associations all over the Gulf. Craig is a member of the UAE Society of Engineers and has worked with various government departments and initiatives to enhance the quality and longevity of the UAE building stock.

Terry has over 35 years of extensive experience in the construction industry, handling tasks including; earthworks, airport- paving & high speed rail, BRT systems airport infrastructure, drainage, tunnels, bridges, asphalt & concrete mainline paving, expressways, terminals, Commodity Rail Lines and Oil & Gas Refinery Works. He holds a Masters in Global Business Management Systems from the University of Phoenix. Terry is an expert in Corporate Restructuring, having completed a recent assignment to turn around the storied Saudi Giant, MMG. In his current role he is the Program CEO, he is responsible for creating the contract processes for the new and exciting ROTARY WING PROGRAM for Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command’s new $1+ billion dollar Apache, Black Hawk & Chinook Helicopter Infrastructure Program.

Eng. Ali A Mokhtar has 35 years of experience in Fire Safety engineering management and Fire & Rescue Services for Oil and Petrochemical facilities in major petroleum companies such as Saudi Aramco, SAMAREC and Petromin. He is experienced in managing all varieties of risks including oil producing facilities on-shore & off-shore, refining, gas plants, terminals, airstrips and communities. Eng Ali has also led extensive courses & workshop in management and specialized courses in Fire Safety Engineering, Risk Management, and Fire & Rescue services.

Wael Allan is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE). He has a Master’s (MSc) in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Swansea in the UK. He has also received executive education from Harvard, Wharton Business School, and INSEAD. Allan’s track record of successful project implementations globally demonstrates his functional expertise in achieving strong results spanning both operations and business development. He specializes in project delivery, project & programme management, risk management, quality and documentation as well as engineering, construction management and commissioning. Prior to his current appointment, Allan was Group CEO of Drake&Scull in 2016 and 2017. Wael arrived in the Gulf in 2009 with Hyder Consulting, delivering profitable growth for five consecutive years. A notable project was Burj Khalifa, where Hyder Consulting was architect of record and construction supervision consultant. Promoted to Group COO in 2013, Allan assumed responsibility for group operations, with staff across 13 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australasia. Other senior management roles include CEO for Arcadis Middle East, and Executive Vice President of Skanska USA Buildings, the third-largest contractor with global revenues of more than $17 billion. During this period, Allan was also President and CEO of subsidiary Skanska Pharmaceutical Group. In 2017, the magazine Arabian Business ranked Wael Allan the 40th most influential Arab in the world.

Simone Vernacchia has more than 10 years of Digital, CyberSecurity and Infrastructure experience in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, UK, US, Russia and Central Asia. He has spent more than 7 years in the Middle East and North Africa region, creating, establishing, growing and leading the CyberSecurity and Digital Infrastructure consulting, implementation and outsourcing business for Accenture before joining PwC in the same region. In the course of his career, he has been advising governments and major critical infrastructure operators and managed major implementation activities. Before the start of his corporate career, Simone was an entrepreneur in the CyberSecurity services field, in which he was creating and growing a CyberSecurity services firm with transnational operations.

Jaime Paucar graduated from The City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and holds a graduate certificate in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. As a registered professional engineer in the United States with over 18 years of professional experience in the fire protection engineering industry, Mr. Paucar has applied his diverse design experience to several notable projects on a national and international level.

Mr. Paucar is an Associate Manager and Project Director for the Dubai Office of JENSEN HUGHES. Mr. Paucar focuses his work in building design, where he assists design teams in developing fire protection strategies that are consistent with international standards and intended to satisfy authority requirements.

As a Project Director, Mr. Paucar is responsible for developing and monitoring project budgets, coaching and supervising project teams, assisting with the coordination of staff workload, and managing client relationships. In addition to providing fire protection and life safety consultations to architects, contractors, regulatory authorities and engineers, Mr. Paucar has knowledge of the UAE Fire Code, GCC Fire Code, IBC, and NFPA standards with an emphasis on fire protection and life safety intent. He also has a high level of management proficiency including the ability to identify process improvement, track budgets, and sell business to repeat clients.

Gregory M. Michaels serves as a Fire Protection Engineer in the Building Systems Branch of the Engineering Division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Middle East District (MED), located in Winchester, Virginia. He is a member of the Engineering Division, one of three major divisions within the District responsible for accomplishing projects that meet customer requirements.

MED is responsible for providing engineering, construction, and related reach-back services in the Middle East, Central Asia, and other areas as required. Its work includes designing and constructing facilities for use by U.S. forces, performing engineering activities for other U.S. government and foreign agencies, and providing operations and maintenance services for various customers. In addition, the District provides project management, engineering, contracting and support services to USACE districts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In his position, Mr. Michaels is responsible for ensuring that fire protection engineering plans and specifications are developed to meet project goals. His duties include overseas site visits, design charrettes, managing AE firm design contracts, design hydraulics, and specification development on projects currently in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Qatar and Afghanistan. His most recent assignments include fire protection engineering design for a combined Desalinization/Power Plant in Saudi Arabia, the rebuilding of electric power plants in Iraq, and nuclear waste environmental clean-up projects for the Department of Energy.

Mr. Michaels also serves as one of four engineers assigned to the Technical Center of Expertise for Fire Protection Engineering of U.S. Air Force Aircraft Hangars worldwide. He has served as a civilian with the District since May 2010.

Mr. Michaels began his engineering career as a civil engineering intern and Engineer in Training for the City of Toledo, Ohio. He then worked for the Flammability and Toxicity Group at the Center for Fire Research, National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce, while earning his degree in Fire Protection Engineering. Thereafter, Mr. Michaels worked at various private companies for several years investigating fires and designing and testing fire protection systems for high rise buildings, commercial manufacturing facilities, retail malls and zossil and nuclear power plants.

Mr. Michaels had 12 years experience as an instructor developing fire protection engineering training programs for engineers and property managers for the commercial insurance industry before arriving at MED. He has previously served as Adjunct Professor teaching risk management courses for the Fire Science Department of the University of New Haven in Connecticut for two years. Mr. Michaels was lead fire protection engineer for the Library of Congress with the Library Buildings and Grounds Division of the Architect of the Capitol. While at the Library of Congress he has attained certification as a Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR). His responsibilities included COTR for the inspection, testing, and maintenance contract of all fire protection and safety systems, as well as oversight of all fire protection design and installation work.

Mr. Michaels holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in civil engineering from University of Toledo and the second in fire protection engineering from University of Maryland and is a registered professional fire protection engineer in Connecticut. Mr. Michaels is a member of Tau Beta Pi Beta Chapter and Salamander Engineering Honor Societies. U.S.

Mike Ward joined Coopers Fire as director of sales in early 2008. Through the extensive and comprehensive development of Coopers Fire learning and growth strategy, Mike has become a strong figure and voice in the education of key stakeholders in smoke and fire curtain products, markets and specifications. Mike sits on several standards committees and is involved with the continues drive to improve both smoke and fire curtain product and installation conformities around the world and delivers learning to several UK and global organizations:
- NFPA
- Civil Defense Authority
- IFE (Institute of Fire Engineers)
- RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects)
- ASFP (Association of Specialist Fire Protection)
- CABE (Chartered Association of Building Engineers)
- Fire and Rescue Services

Saeed Jaber Al Ghamdi is a Fire and Rescue Specialist and was a Fire & Rescue Specialist and Technical Advisor to the Saudi Aramco Fire Department and the Head Industrial Security Training Superintendent Supervising the offering and delivery of Industrial Security Training to more than 6000 employees responsible for creation of training curriculums and the delivery of training courses in the fields of Fire, Safety & Emergency Response Management. He was the Senior Industrial Trainer for fire, rescue and confined space training to 1400 Saudi Aramco Fire Department employees.

He was the Fire Chief responsible for the management and training of more than 100 firefighters/ officers on day-day basis while providing emergency response coverage to two of the most important facilities in Saudi Aramco including a major community and a refinery.

Prior to that, he was the Fire Squadron Commander responsible for the day-day management and training of 230+ air force firefighters/ officers occupying 4 fire stations providing fire and rescue coverage to aircraft, munitions stores, radar sites, and community.

Saeed holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Sciences from King Faisal Air Academy and more than 40 diplomas and certificates from prestigious fire training centers and academies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. These include, the US Air force Technical Training Wing at Chanute AFB, Illinois, Lowery AFB Technical Training Center, the International Training Center (Washington Hall) in Lancashire UK and Morton, Gloucestershire, UK.

John Woycheese is a fire protection engineer in the Fire Protection Department of Saudi Aramco, where he has been working for more than four years as an owner's representative and Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) on projects ranging from a stadium to a refinery. He is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the company for issues related to fire pumps, smoke management systems, and fire suppression systems. He participated in a task force to assess code compliance for numerous residential, commercial, academic, and medical buildings in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

He serves, by invitation, on the international National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Middle East/North Africa Advisory Committee and is a member of Technical Committees for NFPA 11 (foam) and NFPA 30 (flammable and combustible liquids). His is a member of the NFPA 30 Correlating Committee. He was a Director on the International Board of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), and has served on three SFPE Chapter Boards. He has published in numerous international journals and symposia, and has presented at or moderated dozens of conferences, world-wide.

He has been a senior fire protection engineer at Hughes Associates, Inc. (now JensenHughes), where he designed and reviewed fire protection systems, conducted due-diligence site evaluations, and modeled releases of various hazardous materials. He was a professor at the Center for Fire Safety Studies (now the Department of Fire Protection Engineering) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he taught graduate courses on fire detection and suppression. He has a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and is a registered professional engineer in California.

Sumir Pattoo is working as senior fire protection engineer at Saudi Aramco. He is a licensed professional engineer from PEO, Professional Engineers Ontario, Canada, and possesses more than 30 years of experience, which include management of fire protection programs, design and review of fire protection systems for projects, conductance of fire protection studies, performing code analysis, development and delivery of training programs, and fire code development process. During his 15 years at Saudi Aramco, he has worked as SME, and provided technical support and consultation in the area of fire protection engineering for refineries, processing plants, tank farms, IT facilities, offshore facilities, high rise buildings, schools, stadiums, research labs, residential camps, aircraft hangers, and bulk plants; additionally, he has proudly played significant role in mentorship and development of tens of young fire protection engineers and technicians.

His previous employers include “SNC Lavalin” the largest Canadian engineering group, and TYCO International Ltd. ( now known as Johnson Controls International plc), where he was working as Group Leader for engineering and design dept. He has been speaker both at national and international level in numerous fire protection engineering conferences world-wide while covering topics on industrial fire risk assessment, foam Skids and its complexities, water mist systems, performance based design, means of egress & code requirements, water spray Systems, sprinkler systems, fire protection for offshore facilities, and fire protection and life safety features for high rise buildings. He also delivered seminar on fire pumps. He has been pioneer and instrumental in establishment of SFPE, Saudi Arabian Chapter, and has served its board in several capacities for more than 10 years. He was active in SFPE Chapter in Canada. He is member in the board for Saudi Aramco Engineering Standard, SAES-S-040. He is BOE reviewer for Saudi Aramco Engineering Standards and committee member for approving the credentials of Registered Professional Engineers for Saudi Aramco projects.

Afschin Soleimani is the Director and Head of Fire Engineering and Specialisms at Ramboll in the Middle East. Afschin has more than 20 years' experience in the fire engineering field, of which 13 years have been spent in the Middle East. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in the application of various International Standards and Code Afschin has been significantly involved in developing fire strategies engineered approaches, review of existing buildings and in fire investigations. Prior to moving to the Middle East, Afschin was employed as a Fire Engineer at a private firm in Vancouver and as a Fire Investigator and Fire Inspector at the North Vancouver Fire and Resaue Department. He has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Masters of Fire Protection Engineering from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.

Jonathan’s passion is to stimulate the client and the design team to consider a wide range of health and safety issues early in a project’s life. Issues that would affect the construction, the operation, the maintenance and the eventual demolition of the facility; from both health and safety perspectives. Crucially the thinking needs to be done before a facility is even tendered for construction.

Jonathan graduated in Civil Engineering in 1978 and worked for an oil & gas contractor before moving to Pakistan to work for a community development charity in a low technology environment for nine years.

On returning to the UK he worked for consultants and contractors before branching out into health and safety by design in 1996 and gaining an MSc in Risk Management and Safety Technology in 2003.

In the UK he worked on numerous construction projects including London Gateway Port and was responsible for health and safety by design for the London 2012 Olympics for three years. Moving to Oman in 2009 he worked first for a contractor and then with Samara Training Services since 2013 as an HSE consultant and trainer.

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.

As a Director - Middle East with AcuTech Consulting - a global leader offering a full range of management and technical consulting services for improving risk, safety, and security performance - John continues to provide solutions to a diverse range of corporate, governmental and non-governmental clients worldwide. These are undertaken on a variety of levels, for example: from development of strategic plans and risk assessments through to operational plans and solutions for facility operators.

In addition, John facilitates training and mentoring on a range of topics from enterprise risk management, crisis management and business continuity and security risk management. Following a diverse career in Australia undertaking security operations, consultancy and maximum security corrections, he has been based in the Middle East region since 2005. John considers himself fortunate to be regularly deployed on a variety of security, risk and crisis management consultancy projects across the Middle East region and into Africa, Asia and Europe. His most recent consultancy projects include deployments across Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, Iraq and Libya with previous projects including working with a consortium expanding the Suez Canal, developing industrial security policy and procedures for a regional national oil company, reviewing an international security company’s manned guarding operations as well as mentoring nationals on security management.

In addition, John has achieved Board certification as a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) in security management with ASIS International who several years ago appointed him as an Assistant Regional Vice President responsible for providing encouragement, support and mentoring of the UAE and Oman activities as well as serving on their Middle East Advisory Council providing further support to regional chapter activities.

John is a firm believer in leading by example to provide realistic and tangible solutions that make a positive change on client's operations and people's lives.

Steven is an Urban Planner and Landscape Architect practicing in Dubai as Head of Masterplanning for AECOM in the Middle East. Over the past 25 years, he has explored the intersection of urban planning and landscape architecture with a particular focus on the fast developing regions of the world. He has practiced in Dubai, Singapore and Melbourne.

Steven earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Planning and a Postgradutate Diploma in Heritage Conservation from Victoria University in Melbourne. Finding himself dissatisfied with traditional approaches to urban planning Steven then completed a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree at Lincoln University in New Zealand. He has also undertaken Doctoral research at the University of Western Australia that sought to relate landscape urbanism to Asian Megacities.

Through teaching positions at the American University of Sharjah and at Singapore Polytechnic he has sought to combine academia and praxis. He has authored numerous papers including essays in the books “UAE and the Gulf: Architecture and Urbanism Now” by AD and “Gulf Cities as Interfaces” by Cambridge University Press. He has also spoken at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Cambridge University on the peculiar conditions of Gulf Urbanism.

Iain Simpson has over 32 years experience in the design, delivery and management of significant and complex security projects and has a detailed knowledge of the application of holistic security advice covering risk, planning, review, design and management. Many of these projects have involved the development of highly technical security solutions. Simpson has held a number of key management positions, including the position of Principal of Umow Lai and Associates an Australian based company, managing their specialist Security and Communications division. He specializes in providing Specialist Design and Planning Advice to ensure the upfront planning, resultant design and ongoing operation of any security application is in accordance with the Client’s technical, financial and management requirements and expectations. This also includes advice relating to not only the electronic security requirement but also in relation to the physical hardening and operation of the facility and the application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles in the important planning phase of a project. Simplson is experienced in other aspects of technology, including wireless and Radio Frequency (RF) systems and audiovisual systems. He has written a number of security articles titled “Securing Heritage Buildings” for Security Solutions, a National security magazine publication in Australia and “A Beginners Guide to Alarm Systems- Parts 1 & 2”.

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 technical skills leader of the fire engineering team for Arup 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. In addition to leading the development of the fire risk assessment tool for existing buildings with combustible facades, the topic of her presentation, Susan is currently working on delivery of Abu Dhabi International Airport Midfield Terminal Building and Dubai Creek Harbour Retail District.