From New Zealand to Manchester: Exposure to UK Fire Safety Standards

Jensen Hughes is growing rapidly on a global scale, creating new opportunities and dynamic working environments for our experts across different countries. Around the world, we actively collaborate and share knowledge across projects, and our experts are encouraged to explore international projects and relocation opportunities.

Relocating to Manchester

In June 2024, I decided to take part in the secondment program, relocating from New Zealand to Manchester for several reasons. First, I was eager to explore a different part of the world, experience new things and meet new people. I also wanted to take the opportunity to broaden my fire engineering experience in an international context. Moving to Manchester has enabled me to work on projects of varying scales and gain exposure to new professional challenges.

Job Transition 

As a Technical Director specializing in fire engineering, I found the job transition smooth and easy. Once the initial IT setup was completed, I began connecting with my colleagues in Manchester and quickly engaged with clients on projects of varying scales. One of the main factors that made the transition easier than I thought was that New Zealand's fire engineering sector provides extensive experience with performance-based design. These skills were very transferable to UK guidance and resolving complex fire engineering scenarios. 

I hold a Master of Engineering Studies in Fire Engineering from the University of Canterbury. I am a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineering New Zealand and am an International Professional Engineer. Having already achieved chartered status as a fire engineer in New Zealand, I am in the process of transferring my chartership to the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) in the UK. The process is challenging, but with guidance and support from the Jensen Hughes team, I have been able to navigate it and progress the application. 

The encouragement from my colleagues was invaluable in helping me adjust to the new working environment. The team was friendly and supportive, and we held several meetings and discussions to understand the subtle differences in fire safety regulations between New Zealand and the UK.

NZ-UK Fire Safety Differences

Our offices in the UK have an overarching goal to enhance internal communication and collaboration between offices, sharing learned outcomes and expertise on projects. This focus resulted in a greater emphasis on internal communication, and I have played a significant role in facilitating it with the knowledge I gained from New Zealand. I found that it is valuable on a day-to-day basis to complete the task at hand while enhancing communication across teams. 

In addition, one main difference to note between the two working environments is that the project scale is larger in the UK and has much more reliance on following a set of established guidance. Whereas, the fire engineering strategy in New Zealand places more focus on the use of fire and evacuation modeling to justify departures from a limited amount of available guidance. While the base principles of fire engineering remain the same, some key differences result in rather contrasting approaches to building design, such as reliance on defend-in-place solutions in residential buildings. 

This move to Manchester presented a great opportunity to experience a new working environment, expand my skills and learn the UK's fire engineering standards.