About SFPE NZ

History • Code of Ethics • Constitution • Executives • Committee

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

Constitution

The following link leads to the SFPE NZ Chapter Constitution this was published on the 3rd November 1998.

Executive Committee

Hamish Denize

BE, ME, CPEng

President

I have always enjoyed contributing to the engineering profession and giving back to an industry that has provided me with so many opportunities. Over more than 25 years in fire engineering, I have been fortunate to work alongside talented people, tackle complex challenges, and help shape better outcomes for our built environment and communities. My involvement with SFPE New Zealand has been a particularly rewarding part of that journey. Having previously served as a regional representative, Executive Committee member and Vice President, I am now honoured to serve as President of the SFPE NZ Chapter. I value the role SFPE plays in bringing together practitioners from across the industry to share knowledge, challenge ideas and advance the practice of fire engineering. Beyond SFPE, I remain actively involved with Engineering New Zealand through Chartered Professional Engineer assessments and a range of professional activities that support the development of engineers and the profession. I continue to enjoy mentoring, sharing knowledge, and helping others navigate their own professional journeys. I believe strongly in maintaining high professional standards while fostering an inclusive and supportive engineering community. As our profession continues to evolve, I look forward to working with members and industry partners, so the chapter is well positioned for the future.

Martin Feeney

CPEng DistFEngNZ FSFPE

Secretary

Martin is a Fellow of the SFPE and a Distinguished 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

Megan has been involved as an SFPE NZ Treasurer since November 2022. After completing her second master's degree in fire engineering from UC in 2020, she has been engaged in a broad range of projects, from Acceptable Solution to large C/VM2 and Alternative Solution designs. Megan is passionate about fire safety because she cares about people and the environment and likes to be able to make a meaningful contribution to society.

Greg North

CPEng, IntPE (NZ), CMEngNZ

Immediate Past President

Greg is a Chartered Fire Engineer with over 25 years experience in fire safety and has been a member of the SFPE (NZ) Executive Committee for a number of years. Greg is an active member of the fire industry, regularly presenting on fire safety design and construction matters, and engaging in a number of special interest initiatives. He is a CPEng practise area assessor for Engineering NZ and in 2018 and 2022, Greg won the SFPE (NZ) President's Award for contributions to the New Zealand fire engineering industry Greg is a fire engineering Technical Director at Beca, based in Dunedin, and has previously worked as a fire engineer in England and Sweden.

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.

Darin Millar

I have been serving on the SFPE Executive Committee since October 2022. I have 20 years’ experience as a fire engineer, which includes practicing as a fire engineer in New Zealand, Australia, UK and Spain. I am focussed on improving the profile of our industry alongside other organisations such as IFE and FPANZ. With that in mind I have been involved in the New Zealand fire engineering profession in the background, working towards improving the profile of fire engineering by lecturing at the University of Canterbury ME Fire undergraduate course and also the ME Fire postgraduate case studies course. I am currently the Chair of the University of Canterbury Fire Advisory Panel. I was a contributor to the SFPE NZ Construction Monitoring Guide.

Patrik Krall

I am a fire and structural engineer with a strong international background, holding a Bachelors degree in Fire Safety of Structures and a Master’s in Integral Safety of Structures from the Czech Technical University in Prague. In addition, I carried out further research in Structural Engineering at the University of Auckland, focusing on timber structures, which further deepened my technical expertise. My career spans Europe and New Zealand, giving me a unique perspective on applying both European and local standards. In Prague, I worked extensively on structural fire design and safety assessments under European codes, before moving to New Zealand to continue this work with Norman Disney & Young. My strengths lie in advanced numerical modelling (FDS, CFAST, FEM) combined with practical structural engineering, and I have been recognized internationally with the Boris Stock Award from NIST for contributions to FDS development. On the Executive Committee, I would promote evidence-based fire engineering — integrating international standards and statistical approaches to regulation, ensuring decisions are transparent, cost-effective, and technically robust. I am also committed to strengthening regional engagement by supporting regular technical chats and knowledge-sharing opportunities for fire engineers across New Zealand.

Committee Liaison

Kevin Frank

I work in the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Fire Engineering Unit, starting in 2024. I have been co-opted onto the SFPE NZ Executive Committee as a Fire and Emergency liaison, having previously been an executive committee member 2024-2025. I worked at BRANZ as a fire research engineer from 2016 to 2023. I hold a Fire Engineering PhD from the University of Canterbury and I have been a volunteer firefighter in Canada and New Zealand since 2007. I have also been involved in national and international standards and guidance development. My key objective in my role as Fire and Emergency liaison is to build the relationship between the SFPE and Fire and Emergency. I also contribute to regional event planning and execution in Wellington.