Following his graduation with a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering, Steve began his career working with composite materials. He initially worked in the motorsports sector as a Project Engineer, building chassis, bodywork, and other composite components for both motorsport and luxury sports cars. He subsequently moved into the aerospace sector, where he developed new primary structural composite materials and assisted manufacturers with automated processes for producing composite aircraft components.

Sebastian began his engineering career as a non-destructive testing (NDT) Inspector at Bodycote, specialising in liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) and high-pressure testing of wear and corrosion-resistant coatings for subsea actuator components within the oil and gas sector. He subsequently gained valuable industrial experience at Tata Steel, where he investigated product performance and mitigated equipment failure in high-temperature environments, including coke oven and zinc galvanising operations.

Dave spent almost 20 years serving as a Police Constable with Humberside Police. After four years, he successfully transferred to the Roads Policing Unit, where remained until leaving the force in 2016. This wide-ranging role involved dealing with offenders and casualties, hazardous materials incidents, vehicle examinations, escorts, operational surveillance and contributing to major national policing operations. Frequently deployed to incidents with limited information, Dave was responsible for managing large and complex scenes, coordinating with partner agencies, witnesses and other involved parties, ensuring incidents were handled correctly to support successful investigations.

Dave sought a change in career and relocated to rural Northumberland, where he ran a local business. Wishing to give back to the community that welcomed him, he joined Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service as a retained firefighter. Once again responding to unpredictable and challenging incidents, Dave applied his operational skills across a wide range of emergency situations.  

In July 2020, he successfully applied for specialist training in Fire Investigation. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this training was delivered in house, allowing Dave to merge his extensive investigative background from policing with his growing technical knowledge of fire behaviour. He quickly developed strong competencies and became an on-call Fire Investigator, attending complex fire scenes across Northumberland. These investigations included domestic, agricultural, industrial, vehicle and wildland fires, some involving fatalities. 

In 2023, Dave  joined Cleveland Fire Brigade as a full time Fire Investigation Technical Manager. In this role, he led the fire investigation team, coordinated continuing professional development, and developed policies and procedures aligned with national guidance from the Forensic Science Regulator. He also worked closely with Cleveland Police on complex and high-profile fire investigations. Dave has been involved in more than 150 fire investigations and has provided expert testimony in Magistrates’, Crown and Coroners’ Courts on multiple occasions.

Dave joined Hawkins in March 2026 and is an Associate based in our Leeds office. 

Michael graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2011 with a Master’s degree in Civil and Structural Engineering, specialising in advanced structural engineering. He began his career with WS Atkins Overseas, working within the infrastructure and master-planning team on large-scale projects across the Middle East.

He later returned to Northern Ireland to join Doran Consulting in Belfast as part of their civil engineering team. During this time, Michael developed a strong foundation in civil engineering scheme design and gained practical experience in contract administration under NEC3 contracts, working closely with clients, contractors, and multidisciplinary teams.

In 2015, Michael joined Albert Fry Associates in Belfast as a Structural Engineer. Over the next decade, he progressed to become a Chartered Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a senior member of staff, holding the position of Associate Structural Engineer. Michael became deeply embedded in the local design consultancy sector. He gained extensive experience across the residential, institutional, industrial, and commercial sectors, contributing to both client-led and contractor-led design teams within the public and private sectors.

Michael has significant design and detailing experience across all major structural materials, including steel, reinforced concrete, masonry, and timber. His project portfolio ranges from small-scale frame erections and domestic extensions  to major developments, including campus projects valued in excess of £350 million.

He has served as primary design engineer on a number of high-profile and award-winning education projects, including South West College Enniskillen and Ardnashee School and College, taking responsibility for technical delivery, coordination, and design quality throughout the project life cycle.

Michael joined Hawkins in January 2026 as an Associate based in our Belfast office.

Connor began his career in the industry in 2013. Over the following seven years, he studied part-time, on day release, to obtain his BEng (Hons) in Civil and Transportation Engineering, as well as achieving IEng status with the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers (FIHE), a Member of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (MCIHT) and a member of The Association for Road Risk Management (MARRM).

He has experience working as a highways asset management engineer, as part of a small team delivering a multi-year contract valued at over £100m. In this role, he focused on  ensuring stakeholder safety and quality of life while maximising the performance achieved from every tax pound used to maintain the highway network.  

Connor has also worked to protect local authority interests by ensuring that highway projects constructed throughout Staffordshire, delivered as part of a multi-billion-pound national rail scheme, were built to the appropriate standards for future adoption and maintenance by the authority. 

After more than 12 years in the industry, Connor joined Hawkins in December 2025, and will be working predominantly on Highways schemes. 

Simon is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He received his MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 2004. 

He began his engineering career at Cosworth Racing, followed by Jaguar Land Rover working as a mechanical development engineer on petrol and diesel engine development programmes. Following this, Simon moved to Rolls-Royce where he was able to pursue his interest in engineering thermodynamics by becoming a gas turbine performance engineer. This included working on gas turbines projects for both Naval and Defence Aerospace applications.

In 2015, Simon joined Siemens Energy working on gas turbine engines within the energy sector. He was acknowledged as a ‘key expert’ in gas turbine performance and was then promoted to Head of Performance for aero-derivative gas turbines.  Simon became a key figure in the area of decarbonisation, where he was the lead inventor of a patent that was filed relating to the operation of gas turbine engines running on hydrogen.

In 2022, Simon decided to look for a new challenge and joined Hawkins as a Forensic Investigator.  He has since worked on a wide variety of fires, escapes of water and engineering investigations, including many within his particular specialisms relating to the automotive and power generation sectors.

Ewan is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with over 30 years’ experience across the construction and infrastructure sectors. Ewan specialises in quantum analysis, delay, and disruption in major and complex disputes.  

His career spans equity directorship roles through to independent expert appointments, and he is a RICS Registered Expert Witness, with experience providing expert opinion under adversarial questioning by counsel in pre-hearing proceedings.

In addition to commercial and technical expertise, Ewan has a Master’s level Diploma in Forensic Delay Analysis and an Advanced Diploma in System Dynamics (Vensim).  This advanced capability enables him to model and demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships in disruption claims using System Dynamics, providing a transparent and scientifically supported quantification of productivity loss and inefficiency.

Ewan’s integrated approach, combining quantum expertise, forensic delay methodologies, and dynamic disruption modelling, allows him to deliver robust and defensible expert evidence in litigation and arbitration proceedings.  He supports clients and legal teams in the resolution of complex disputes by providing analytical clarity, evidential rigour, and sound professional judgement.

Ewan joined Hawkins in January 2026 and is a Principal Associate based in our Edinburgh office. 

Harry is a Chartered Civil Engineer, specialising in geotechnics, and holds an integrated Master’s degree in Civil and Structural Engineering from the University of Leeds. He has focused on geotechnical design for multi-disciplinary infrastructure projects.