Qualifications

Ph.D. (Fire), ME (Fire), BE Civil (Hons)
NER, CPEng
RPEQ, NSW Registered Certifier (Fire Safety)

Bio

James has been consulting in New Zealand since 2007 and Australia since 2013. With a wealth of experience in all project sectors across New South Wales, Queensland, ACT and Western Australia, James is an industry leader in specialist timber fire engineering and design for manufacture and assembly.

James has a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering, a Masters of Fire Engineering and a Ph.D. in Fire Engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. His research was dedicated to the structural fire analysis of heavy timber assemblies for multi-storey building applications. He has co-authored numerous design guidelines on the fire design of heavy timber assemblies such as LVL, glulam and CLT systems. James has sat on the committee revising fire design for timber standards in Australia and New Zealand, and provided advice to numerous standards and practice committees worldwide.

Prior to founding Carbon Fire Engineering, James was a Technical Director at Holmes and the Queensland State Manager. James is a recognised market leader in structural fire engineering, and in addition to his considerable level of expertise with timber structures he has significant experience in the analysis of steel and concrete structures within the construction industry across all building sectors.

James has significant experience delivering iconic and complex projects with specialist structural fire engineering expertise. He takes a holistic approach to both fire safety strategies and first principles design, ensuring the preservation of design intent while achieving a practical degree of performance. James proactively engages with clients and other industry stakeholders to investigate performance based engineered solutions on projects and to pursue new opportunities within the construction process throughout all states. He follows a holistic approach to building design, developing strategies which consider and utilise the specific aspects of each project, such that the maximum value can be added to a project without introducing unnecessary complexity.