Jon Watkins
Jon graduated from Imperial College London in 2010 with a first class degree in Civil Engineering. Having previously worked in both Consulting Engineering with Atkins, as well as in Contracting with Sir Robert McAlpine, he has particular experience in assessment of existing structures for refurbishment projects. In addition to this, Jon has performed seismic surveys for residential buildings in high risk zones across the Middle-East. He was also seconded to Atkins Qatar as part of the Doha Metro project providing client support to a remote design team. Jon joined Hawkins in 2016 to strengthen our services in Civil & Structural Engineering investigations, but soon developed his skills to undertake fire, explosions and personal injury investigations. He has since investigated over 500 cases including fires, explosions, construction incidents, water ingress, foundation settlement and personal injuries. Jon has led investigations of a domestic, industrial and commercial nature, which have ranged in size from small losses to multi-million pound complex claims. Jon is experienced in the legal process in both Scotland and England & Wales, and the preparation of CPR Part 35 compliant reports. He has experience advising solicitors and Counsel on technical engineering issues and has given expert evidence in the All-Scotland […]
Neville Tranter
Following completion of his degree in Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham, Neville worked as a Graduate Heat Treatment Engineer at Wallwork Heat Treatment. This focused his knowledge of working in hazardous environments. It was from the work undertaken at Wallwork that Neville gained an interest in failure investigations and decided to broaden his knowledge by undertaking a Master of Science degree in Forensic Engineering and Science at Cranfield University. Following his Masters, Neville worked for Intertek Plc, running Rolls-Royce’s out-sourced Metallurgical Laboratory. This gave him exposure to materials science and general engineering of gas turbine engines and failure analysis. Intertek also undertook failure investigations from a wide range of third-parties. Through this work, he conducted over 100 metallurgical and failure investigations including: multi-million pound oil and gas industry losses medical devices and equipment railway rolling-stock and systems consumer products and patent infringement. After Intertek, Neville moved to Goodrich Corporation as a Materials Engineer where he investigated failures, non-conformance and manufacturing issues on hydraulic and electric aerospace actuation systems. Since joining Hawkins, Neville has specialised in the investigation of engineering failures and is currently working as a Principal Associate in our Birmingham office.
Ian Tatner
Having completed his PhD looking into the corrosion fatigue of stainless steel turbine blade materials, Ian’s career began working in the offshore oil and gas pipeline installation industry. Initially he worked on the construction of a pipeline installation barge in Turkey, before working offshore as a Barge Engineer during the installation of a pipeline in the Black Sea. Ian then spent a year working in Houston Texas on other offshore pipeline installation projects. In 2006 Ian moved to London where he worked as a Pipeline Installation Analysis Engineer. While in London Ian was involved in many interesting and innovative projects. He spent time offshore carrying out analysis during pipeline installation and dredging operations in the North Sea. He was also seconded to Baku in Azerbaijan to conduct pipeline installation analysis. Ian joined Hawkins in early 2009, where he trained in the investigation of fires and explosions to add to his engineering experience. Since then he has worked on a broad spread of forensic investigations. These have ranged from fires in domestic properties, restaurants and vehicles to explosions in factories. Since 2014 Ian has been investigating pedestrian fall incidents. These include slips and trips on level surfaces and stair falls. He […]
David Reid Rowland
David graduated with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2002. His MSc thesis involved the refinement of Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry, a laboratory based optical non-destructive testing technique. David began working in Forensic Engineering while he was employed by GBB UK Ltd, where he was involved in road traffic accident investigation and reconstruction. He gained valuable experience in vehicle examination and accident reconstruction. David joined Hawkins’ London office in 2004. He has led and managed the investigation of a large number of fires in domestic, industrial, commercial and health care settings. He has also investigated a wide spectrum of engineering-related failures and personal injury cases, as well as being involved in the reconstruction of traffic accidents. The incidents investigated to date include small domestic losses through to extensive flooding and fire damage cases, as well as catastrophic engineering incidents. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has experience in the preparation of CPR Part 35 compliant reports, Experts’ Joint Statements and appearance in Court as an Expert Witness. From 2011-2019 David was also Regional Manager of our London Office, where he is still based […]
Adrian Ratte
Adrian’s background is diverse, having gained experience with oil and gas exploration in the Canadian Arctic at Schlumberger, manufacturing of gas compression and generator packages in the oilfields of Alberta at Enerflex, and as a contract manufacturer applying prototyping and machining technologies at Alzar Industries in Ontario. He also completed a race car Mechanic training program at the Bridgestone Racing Academy near Toronto. Throughout University he was heavily involved in the Formula SAE team, where the students design and build a race car each year. Eventually culminating in a position as the team leader, his final year thesis project was the design, construction, and testing of a carbon fibre race car chassis. After completing his degree, Adrian joined Sereca Fire Consulting Ltd in Vancouver, BC in 2006 and for 7 years he performed engineering analysis following fires and other failure incidents. During this period he investigated fires, explosions, and other engineering failures in domestic, commercial, and industrial facilities. He has also investigated fires and failures in boats, heavy machinery and vehicles. This position included a focus on the application of Building Regulations, Standards, and Electrical and Gas Codes of Practice to identify defects, evaluate requirements, and analyse compliance. He has […]
Tom Peat
Tom graduated with a MEng in Aero-Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in 2013. This degree incorporated numerous independent and group assignments, as well as an international research project at the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain. Upon completion of his degree, Tom began work as a Supplier Quality Engineer with Jaguar Land Rover, located in Gaydon. This role included the review of suppliers’ manufacturing facilities to ensure correct process controls were in place to maintain part quality and protect the delivery schedule. One of his main projects involved the investigation of defective aluminium plates that were susceptible to splitting during the pressing process. The outcome of this investigation identified the primary cause of the failure and resulted in the implementation of new process controls to reduce the frequency of defective parts. This role cultivated an interest in materials science which led to the undertaking of a PhD in Advanced Surface Engineering within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. The PhD project involved the development of an innovative surface engineering process to manufacture highly erosion-resistant composite surfaces containing ceramic and oxide reinforcing particles. The findings of this research were published in leading peer-reviewed academic […]
Paul Moody
Paul completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham in 1990. During this time, he was sponsored by British Steel and gained work experience at Swinden Labs in Rotherham. Paul later completed his Doctorate at the University of Birmingham, researching the fracture properties of welded structural steels in relation to the oxygen content of weld metals. The work was sponsored by ESAB, headquartered in Waltham Cross in London. After completing his studies in 1995, Paul began his career at the Defence Research Agency as a Research Scientist, working on welding of high strength naval steels and investigations of failed components. Following this, Paul worked as a Metallurgist at a number of firms including Bodycote Materials Testing Ltd, Ingenco Ltd (formerly Scottish Power Technology), and Doosan Babcock Ltd. Paul’s experience includes facilitating contract materials testing for the offshore oil and gas services industry, performing remanent life assessment on boilers for power plants and petrochemical sites, investigating failed components, and providing support on materials related issues. Since joining Hawkins in 2017, Paul has worked on cases involving escapes of water, personal injuries, petrochemical sites and boilers for power generation. Paul’s boiler and petrochemical site investigations have taken place in […]
James Kingham
James graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2005 with a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, having completed an industrial placement year working in cryogenics for The Hymatic Engineering Company (now part of Honeywell Aerospace’s Defence & Space business group). After graduating, James returned to Honeywell Aerospace as a development engineer, working on Joule-Thomson coolers and Stirling Cycle Cryocoolers primarily for missile and satellite applications. This included customer driven development projects as well as R&D and investigative projects. In 2010, James took on the role of New Product Development Manager with ITT (later Xylem) Flow Control, overseeing the development of pneumatic and hydraulic valve actuation controls and actuators for use in severe service environments, including the oil & gas and rail industries. James was then promoted to Centre of Excellence Engineering Lead – Valves (Technical Manager) in 2013, becoming the senior technical contact at the Wolverhampton site overseeing product development, project management and product certification activities within the business. James is a Chartered Engineer and as such is a full member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. James also holds a Level 5 diploma in Management & Leadership and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.
Eleanor Jay
Eleanor graduated with a 1st Class Masters Degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London. As part of Eleanor’s first degree, she was employed at Industrial Research Limited in New Zealand (now Callaghan Innovation). Here, she developed specialised ceramic filters for the use in hydrogen cells, assisting in the purification of hydrogen. Following this, her PhD work involved researching ceramic materials for nuclear fuel storage applications (requiring high temperature and pressure resistance). During this time, she worked closely with several nuclear establishments across the globe with whom she collaborated. Eleanor also spent time at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, where she investigated ceramic systems for a variety of energy applications such as fuel cells, including lithium-ion batteries. After completing her PhD, Eleanor was seconded to the Government Office for Science and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to be part of the Nuclear Energy Research and Development Review Board, chaired by the then Chief Scientist, Sir John Beddington. The work was commissioned after the House of Lords published a critical report on the future of nuclear energy in the UK. She assessed the UK’s nuclear energy landscape, which involved close communication with stakeholders across the nuclear industry […]
Paul Hughes
Paul left Newcastle University in 2007 with a Masters Degree in Civil and Structural Engineering. As part of his course of study he spent a year at the National University of Singapore on a graduate exchange programme. He joined Royal Haskoning, Maritime Division, working from the design office on a wide variety of projects including ports, shipyards, dry docks, terminals and other maritime structures. During this time he was also seconded to BAM Nuttall, working on the London Olympic site overseeing the construction of bridges and retaining walls. In 2011, Paul joined 2H Offshore and over the next five years worked from London, Paris, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur on the design and management of specialist offshore projects. He expanded his engineering knowledge into subsea systems, specialising in the design, structural analysis and integrity management of riser and conductor systems. This included the design and construction of minimal facilities platforms and subsea structures for hybrid risers. Paul joined Hawkins in 2016 in order to further expand the civil engineering capability of the company.