Speakers include

Neil’s career commenced as a firefighter, he progressed to become Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Neil was lead officer for fire protection for the Chief Fire Officers Association from 2007 to 2013. He was President of the Institution of Fire Engineers in 2013 and became CEO the following year.

He is now working with CROSS, leading the expansion into the fire sector.

Andrew is a Partner at PRP and leads the PRPs’ Development Consultancy. He has much experience of residential development including existing building remediation, retrofit and reuse. Andrew acts as an expert technical advisor to building owners with regards to considering compliance, future standards, risks and the wellbeing of residents. His current work includes adaptive reuse, refurbishment and retrofit projects where innovative approaches are being used to ensure efficiencies with regards to costs, time and environmental performance. He undertakes technical and analytical impact policy work for MHCLG and the Welsh Government including various parts of the Building Regulations, Building Safety regimes, second stairs and building safety proportionate risk evaluation projects. 

Ted started his career in the steelwork industry and also has experience in the precast concrete and timber frame industries. He has also worked at a senior level in civil and structural consultancy.

Starting with portal frame design during its early adoption, Ted contributed to the boundary wall fire collapse analysis. Moving into consultancy to get a better all-round understanding of structural and civil engineering, Ted became a practice partner in 1990.

Ted returned to the steelwork industry in 1994, as a Technical and Commercial Director, and worked on a number of high profile projects including Chek Lap Kok airport, numerous stadiums and Portcullis House.

Moving into the precast concrete industry in 2000, Ted was the Commercial Director for a national precast concrete manufacturer involved in a number of tunnelling and stadium projects.

Ted set up his own consultancy in 2004, building on his earlier consultancy experience - particularly in historic structures and timber frame construction. He formally retired in 2017 but retains a small number of consultancy roles and is a part-time lecturer at the Liverpool School of Architecture. Ted has been a Structural Consultant with CROSS since 2023.

Nia is a non-contentious construction lawyer advising both public and private sector clients on complex projects predominantly in the Built Environment sector.

She advises on multifaceted construction transactions, with particular emphasis on development and regeneration schemes, industrial and logistics projects, tenant and corporate occupier fit-outs, facilities management, real estate finance and heat networks. She also has extensive experience in alliancing forms of contract and has advised widely in the nuclear and fusion sectors.

Geoff is highly respected and experienced with over 40 years of experience in the Building Regulations field within the construction industry. Geoff is a class 3 H Inspector and can deal with the most complex of projects. Geoff also writes the Building Regulations Column every month in The Architects’ Journal.