History • Code of Ethics • Consitution • 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.
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.
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;
The following link leads to the SFPE NZ Chapter Constitution this was published on the 3rd November 1998.
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
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.
Carol Caldwell
FEngNZ (Fire), CPEng, IntPE
Immediate Past President
Having recently 2021 to 2023 served as President of the SFPE NZ Chapter, I am now serving as Past President for two years. I am pleased to be able to continue to support the Chapter, we have a great team! It is important to participate, and it makes a difference. Participation can range from attending events, organising one event to presenting at FIRENZ or serving on the executive committee – it all counts to further fire engineering in NZ. There are a number of new fire challenges to resolve and always more appearing. I have over 40 years experience in fire engineering, 30 years of that in NZ. Working career includes work in the USA at government research facilities, and in NZ in consulting. I have a Bachelor’s degree in fire engineering from University of Maryland, Master’s degree in Safety, from USC and CPEng in NZ and PE in USA.
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
I am a new member of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Fire Engineering Unit, starting in 2024. I previously 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 been part of the recently created New Zealand Fire Testing Technical Group, representing the interests of the fire labs in New Zealand. I have also been involved in national and international standards and guidance development. My key objectives as member of the SFPE NZ chapter executive committee are to increase engagement with the wider membership, 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
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.