Richard Heath
After obtaining a First Class Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of York in 1996, Richard began his career working for the research and development organisation of Nortel Networks, a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, investigating methods for improving the capacity, resilience and flexibility of optical transmission networks. During this time his work generated intellectual property and he co-authored several patents. In 2004, Richard joined Hawkins as a Forensic Investigator working on behalf of insurers, utilities providers, local authorities and private companies. He specialises in the investigation of fires, explosions and electrical engineering losses. He has undertaken many forensic investigations of fires in industrial and commercial premises. In addition he investigates domestic and vehicle/machinery fire losses. He also investigates electrical engineering failures leading to electric shocks, electrocutions, failures of alarm systems and electronic control systems, personal injuries and electrical equipment damage. He has given evidence as an expert witness in Civil and Coroner’s Courts.
Ed Hammersley
After graduating from the University of York in 2002, Ed worked at analytical laboratories in Yorkshire and London, specialising in the field of analytical chemistry. He then moved to Pfizer in Kent, as an analytical research scientist within the pharmaceutical research and development group. During his nine years at Pfizer, Ed specialised in analytical method development and trace analysis for low-level impurities and contaminants in drug substances and products. A wide range of analytical techniques were used, with a particular focus on gas chromatography and liquid chromatography, both coupled with mass spectrometry detection. Some of this work was published in scientific literature and presented at conferences. Ed joined Hawkins in 2021 as a Senior Associate before being promoted to a Principal Associate. He has now conducted more than 850 forensic investigations. Those investigations have included fires, explosions, electrical incidents, contamination assessment, chemical reactions and escapes of water within domestic, industrial and marine environments. He regularly travels overseas to conduct investigations. Several of his high-profile cases have involved material losses of more than £10m, with some exceeding £100m. The marine vessel incidents have involved both engine room and cargo fires, including the TAC Imola, fires onboard large yachts and superyachts, and […]
Camilla Gosling
Camilla has an MSc in Forensic Science, from the University of Strathclyde, which included a research project at LGC Forensics, Culham entitled “A population study of polyurethane foam fragments present in outer clothing and in pockets”. She also has a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Durham. Since joining Hawkins in 2006, Camilla has been involved in researching paint spillage patterns, including the mechanics of falling paint and paint containers, also researching into the burning of different flooring types using cigarettes and a variety of irons. She has been involved in the forensic investigation of domestic and commercial insurance claims including paint and varnish spillages, accidental damages and staged break-ins. She has also been instructed on cases relating to personal injuries and the wear characteristics of car keys. From 2007, Camilla has carried out numerous investigations into fires and explosions. These cases have varied in scale ranging from small domestic incidents to large multi-million pound losses involving domestic properties, vehicles, retail, industrial and agricultural premises. Camilla has prepared expert witness reports for use in litigation and has completed the Bond Solon Courses in investigative interviewing and giving oral evidence in Court. Camilla is a Principal Associate based in […]
Hannah Fletcher
Hannah graduated with a first class degree in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London in 2011. Upon graduation, Hannah joined Laing O’Rourke and worked on both infrastructure and commercial construction projects. She supervised construction works as a Site Engineer at Beckton Sewage Treatment Works Upgrade and then, as a Senior Engineer, planned and managed works on 3 projects: Crossrail- Tottenham Court Road Station, Wood Wharf (Canary Wharf) and Southbank Place. During this time Hannah gained experience in reinforced concrete construction: in-situ, pre-cast, basement raft slabs, jump forms and suspended slabs. She also gained experience in temporary works, lifting operations, excavations and installation of pressure pipelines. In 2016 Hannah moved to New Zealand to work for Fletcher Construction as a Project Manager. She led the delivery of a 40 storey commercial office tower, part of the Commercial Bay project in central Auckland, where she gained experience in steel structures, building envelopes (curtain wall façade and roof systems) and structural fire protection. Hannah joined Hawkins in 2020 and since joining has developed her skills to include the investigation of fires. She has since investigated fires in both domestic and commercial settings, as well as construction incidents, water ingress and storm damage. She is […]
Richard John Fletcher
Richard started his scientific career undertaking two six-month industrial placements during his third year of his Applied Chemistry degree at the University of Portsmouth. The first six months were spent working in the Chemistry Section of the Naval Aircraft Materials Laboratory (NAML) where he undertook a wide range of analytical work as well as being involved in investigating mid-air collisions of MOD aircraft. The second six months were spent working in the fuel additive section of Nalco Exxon Energy Chemicals, based at Fawley Oil refinery. He was responsible for testing and identifying the fuel additives for multi-national petroleum companies and the development of new additives. After completing his degree, Richard continued to study at the University of Portsmouth for his PhD, researching the effect of magnetic fields on the growth of sulphate reducing bacteria. After leaving University Richard worked for a Dorset based electronic and materials development company. He worked on projects to develop both corrosion monitoring equipment for helicopters, as well as crack detection systems for the rail industry. During his time at the company he worked within a team to investigate the cause of a major UK rail incident. In 2006 Richard joined Hawkins and quickly specialised himself […]
Jonathan Emm
Jonathan’s engineering career began at Morganite Thermal Ceramics. Here he ran projects to develop a non-destructive testing technique for their foundry ceramic products, as well as a new product with very high thermal shock resistance. Jonathan joined BAE SYSTEMS in 2000 as an engineer in the Advanced Technology Centre, Stealth Materials Group. He ran development and application engineering projects there, mostly using elastomeric and composite materials as radar absorbent or transparent media. These were applied to military aircraft, ships and vehicles. This work enabled him to develop strong project management skills and in his last year he led a team of engineers and scientists in developing a sprayable, radar absorbent coating for aircrafts. In 2003 Jonathan joined Cytec Engineered Materials, where he ran qualification testing programmes for aerospace composite materials and provided technical advice and assistance to customers, particularly in relation to processing issues. His customers included Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, with whom he worked to incorporate advanced, recently developed materials into their aircraft structures. Jonathan joined Hawkins in January 2007, where he trained in the investigation of fires and explosions to add to his engineering expertise. Jonathan has now been involved with a broad range of forensic engineering […]
Marie Hayward
Marie is a Chartered Engineer with a varied portfolio of automation design, implementation and testing experience across multiple industrial sectors. She graduated from the University of Leeds in 2003 with a Masters Degree in Mechatronics, a discipline focused on engineering principles for electromechanical devices. This enabled her to launch her career with a role configuring and testing robotic assay platforms for pharmaceutical high throughput screening. From there she progressed into a project engineer role for Siemens Industrial Automation, designing high power drive systems for heavy industries such as power stations and steel plants in the UK and overseas. Whilst at Siemens Marie broadened her expertise in automation to include electrical and network design for Distributed Control Systems, serving clients such as food & beverage manufacturers and utilities providers. In pursuit of more hands-on engineering work Marie transferred her industrial knowledge to the University of Manchester, where she provided technical leadership for the Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant facility. This involved full ownership of automation projects from concept to installation and troubleshooting. Marie’s next role used her expertise to support UK businesses and academics in the advancement of robotics innovation and adoption. She became a trusted advisor to key stakeholders in the […]
Ahmad El Ghor
Ahmad is an Associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineering (A.M. ASCE). After graduating from Beirut Arab University (BAU) in 2014, Ahmad started his civil engineering career as a Research Assistant at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He then pursued further studies at AUB and got his Master’s degree in 2017, followed by a PhD in 2021. Ahmad’s research focused on the behaviour of steel and steel-concrete composite structures when subjected to fire. His research had both computational and experimental aspects, as well as focused on improving the design standards for structural resistance to fire loads. During both his Master’s and PhD degrees, he collaborated with experts in the field of Structural Fire Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). Working with UT-Austin, Ahmad implemented two extensive, experimental elevated temperature testing programs at the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory. As part of his PhD, Ahmad also investigated the time-dependent and post-fire behaviour of welds in steel connections when subjected to fire, as well as took part in other structural fire related research. This mainly focused on the performance of shear-tab connections with composite beams in fire, and both the time-dependent and post-fire behaviour of bolts and […]
Chris Dennis
In 2003, after completing his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, Chris began work as a Design and Project Engineer at a small start-up engineering company. During this time he helped develop a revolutionary form of liquid disinfection equipment that utilised microwave-powered ultraviolet lamps. Due to the small size of the company, Chris was heavily involved in virtually all aspects of the projects, including liaising closely with suppliers and customers that were based both in the UK and overseas. In May 2007, the company was acquired by Severn Trent Services, allowing Chris to gain valuable experience working in a large multi-national engineering company. During this period, Chris continued to work on the ongoing development and testing of the different variants of the core technology. The work involved regular travel abroad, including helping to plan and run large scale field trials in the USA. After almost 7 years working on the same overall project, Chris decided he needed a new challenge, and so in 2010 he joined Hawkins as a Fire and Explosion Investigator. Since then, he has investigated several hundred incidents, ranging in scale from minor domestic fires, to multi-million pound losses involving industrial premises, commercial […]
Tom Dale
Since graduating in 2013 with a first-class bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Warwick, Tom has pursued a career in fire safety and risk management. His first position was as a Safety Engineer at DNV, completing quantitative risk assessments, estimating the likelihood and consequence of potential fire and explosion events within onshore, offshore and floating assets in the Oil & Gas industry. Results from these assessments allowed clients to evaluate the fire and explosion risk arising from their sites, to support design decisions ensuring compliance with legislative requirements. Whilst at DNV, Tom also acted as an environmental auditor for the Safety Health and Environmental (SHE) audit team. Tom completed several site investigation, land remediation and gasholder demolition projects in the UK to support managing onsite hazards. This also provided Tom with experience in conducting health and safety investigations of lost time injury incidents, which can occur at construction sites. Tom began a part-time Masters in Fire and Explosion Engineering at the University of Leeds, balancing work and studies for three years, before graduating with a Distinction in 2017. His dissertation involved research into ‘boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions’ (BLEVE), specifically involving liquified propane gas (LPG) aiming to further […]