The purpose of New Zealand Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers is to:

To advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering and its allied fields, to maintain a high ethical standard among its members, to develop fire protection engineering guidelines and standards and to foster fire protection engineering education.

In accomplishing this purpose, the Society engages in activities that are educational, scientific, charitable or promote the practice of fire protection engineering. Please see our news and events pages or follow us on twitter to find out more.

The New Zealand chapter of the SFPE is the fire engineering Technical Group of Engineering New Zealand and a Chapter of the international Society of Fire Protection Engineers with headquarters located in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Engineering New Zealand works with Technical Interest Groups, to provide targeted information about specific engineering fields, or areas of interest to Members.

History

The NZ Chapter of SFPE was formed in 1994. The formation was largely in response to the introduction of a set of performance based legislation covering environmental protection, construction, and worker safety, mandating the performance requirements but also allowing more or less prescriptive solutions. Under the NZ Building Act “Acceptable Solutions” deemed to comply with the legislation. “Alternate Solutions” that use specific fire engineering are normally used where they offer significant project cost savings over a design complying with the acceptable solutions. This legislative change created new fire engineering opportunities for professional engineers, which has resulted in an increase in the numbers of practitioners and an increase in the membership of SFPE in New Zealand.

The NZ Chapter of SFPE operates within the ethical and constitutional frameworks of both parent organisations.

Code of Ethics

The New Zealand Chapter of the SFPE is bound by both the code of ethics of the SFPE parent organisation and that of Engineering New Zealand for which it is the Technical Interest Group for matters of Fire Engineering. These ethical objectives align well and are set out in full in the links below;

ENZ Code of Ethical Conduct

Executive Committee

Greg North

President

Greg has been a member of the SFPE (NZ) Executive Committee for a number of years. He was elected Vice President in 2021 and became President in 2023. He is a CPEng practise area assessor for Engineering NZ. In 2018 and 2022 he won the SFPE (NZ) President's Award for contributions to the New Zealand fire engineering industry. This award recognised Greg’s work developing fire engineering guides (including being a major contributor to the SPFE construction monitoring guide), industry involvement on Passive Fire guidance and development (including being an active member of the FPANZ special interest group on this topic), and leading the delivery of SPFE (NZ) fire safety webinars to fire engineers and the wider industry. Greg is a Senior Associate Fire Engineer at Beca, based in Dunedin, and has previously worked as a fire engineer in England and Sweden.

Martin Feeney

CPEng FEngNZ FSFPE

Secretary

Martin is a Fellow of the SFPE and a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand for his contribution to the advancement of engineering practice. His contribution to development of the field of fire engineering, and particularly his leadership in developing guidelines setting out good practice have been of particular value. He has shared his knowledge willingly for the benefit of others through his extended service to the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, which included time as both President and Secretary.

Megan Valedein

BE, MEngSt (Fire)

Treasurer

Carol Caldwell

FEngNZ (Fire), CPEng, IntPE

Immediate Past President

Committee

Devin Glennie

I am a Chartered Professional Fire Engineer currently working as the Principal Advisor Building Code at MBIE. In this role, I provide technical guidance for the development of the Building Code and oversee the consultation and publication of new acceptable solutions and verification methods across the Code. My background includes experience as a consulting fire engineer in New Zealand and Canada as well as a fire protection specialist for Canadian nuclear facilities. I also spent two years as a fire research assistant at the National Fire Lab in Ottawa, Canada, where I conducted large-scale fire tests measuring heat fluxes from externally venting flames. I've been a member of SFPE internationally for the past 14 years and have been an advocate for fire safety and creating improvements in the regulatory system. I've shared my knowledge by authoring and co-authoring papers, articles, and presentations on subjects like fire modelling, external fire spread, cladding fire tests, and other challenges in New Zealand's building regulatory system. Additionally, I have also provided guest lectures and mentorship for the UC fire engineering design course. With my first hand knowledge and involvement in the building regulatory system, I am well-placed to help the SFPE advance the interests of the society in both regulatory and non-regulatory opportunities.

Hamish Denize

I have the time and energy to meaningfully contribute on the SFPE Executive. I take pleasure in sharing knowledge and making contributions to our industry. In my 20+year career I have been a vocal supporter of the engineering fraternity and take opportunities to influence our profession where I can. For example, I have been an ENZ Branch Committee Member, SFPE Bay of Plenty regional rep. and am proud Canterbury EnSoc graduate. I present regularly at conferences, most recently at FireNZ and the upcoming SESOC November conference. My credentials which support my candidacy include being an active CPEng fire engineering assessor and for many years was part of ENZ’s Competency Assessment Board which exposed me to literally thousands of CPEng applicants. I am also part of the national fire team at Beca and have held senior management and governance roles. Above all, I believe in upholding professional standards, with inclusivity and ethics being key tenets of who I am and what I will champion to the SFPE membership. This is particularly important with MBIE’s engineering licensing reforms coming up. I will be a strong voice and spokesperson for the SFPE community, will be able to reinforce the current committee and would appreciate consideration of your vote.

Kevin Frank

Kevin Frank has worked at BRANZ as a fire research engineer since 2016. He obtained his Fire Engineering PhD from the University of Canterbury in 2013 and has been a volunteer firefighter in Canada and New Zealand since 2007. Kevin has been part of the newly created New Zealand Fire Testing Technical Group, representing the interests of the fire labs in New Zealand. Kevin has also been involved in national and international standards and guidance development. If elected, Kevin’s goals will be to build knowledge, awareness and community connections within the research, fire testing and operational firefighting areas, and to work to bring new talent into fire engineering in New Zealand.

Darin Millar