Eugenio Quintieri

Secretary General

European Builders Confederation -  EBC

Eugenio Quintieri is the Secretary General of the European Builders Confederation since June 2017, previously working at the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) as a Senior Policy Advisor. In addition to managing EBC secretariat, Eugenio represents EBC in the European Social dialogue committee, supervises several legislative fields, including the digitalization of the construction sector, and acts as EBC main spokesperson. Representing EBC in SMEunited, Eugenio is also a board member of Small Business Standards, the organisation representing SMEs in the European and international standardisation processes. With a Master degree in European Interdisciplinary studies from the College of Europe, Eugenio speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish.

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Oscar Nieto

Technical Director

Construction Products Europe

Mr Nieto holds a 5-year engineering degree from the Valladolid University in Spain specialized in structures and materials. He joined Construction Products Europe in August 2012 and he is now Technical Director. Mr Nieto has experience of being an expert, a member of secretariats and president of certification and standardisation committees. He has also worked in the development of sustainability and concrete standards by providing his technical knowledge in manufacturing processes and testing. Oscar’s responsibilities include following the implementation of the CPR on behalf of the industry and to guarantee a scientific and consistent technical approach. His recognised expertise regarding LCA, EPD and sustainability assessments also allows him to evaluate the risks and opportunities that arise from European initiatives in relation to these issues. Recently he was involved in the development of tools to facilitate digitalisation of construction products information to be used in BIM.

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Shane Lyons

Commercial Director

Ei Electronics

Shane Lyons is Business Development Manager with Ei Electronics, the Irish manufacturer of residential fire and gas alarms.  Shane works across France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

He is President of GIFSID, the French Residential Fire and Gas Installers and Manufacturers grouping and a committee member of OPRIM, the French CO awareness organisation and CoGDEM Europe, the European branch of the Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring, as well as being a vocal participant in standards committees, Electrical Safety meetings and Carbon Monoxide awareness groups.

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Seàn Kelly

Ireland - European People's Party

Member of the European Parliament

Seán Kelly has been a member of the European Parliament for Ireland South since 2009. He is the current leader of Fine Gael in the European Parliament, and part of the European People's Party (EPP) Group.

Seán sits on the European Parliament's Committees on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), International Trade (INTA) and Human Rights (DROI).

In 2015, Seán led discussions in the ITRE committee as a rapporteur ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement and as a result represented the European Parliament at the upcoming COP21 in December 2015 at which the historic global agreement was reached. He would also go on to represent Parliament at subsequent UNFCCC Climate Conferences in Marrakech (2016) and Katowice (2018).

In 2017, Seán was appointed EPP lead negotiator for the post-2020 Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), and also for the ITRE Committee Opinion on the Effort Sharing Regulation. Both files are crucial elements of the EU 2030 climate and energy framework. Work on the REDII continued in 2018 as Parliament secured the ambitious target of 32% for Renewable Energy by 2030, following intense negotiations with Council.

2018 also saw Seán lead Parliamentary discussions on the new InvestEU Programme, the EU's new €650 billion investment plan that will operate from 2021-2027; negotiations with Council are underway and the programme is expected to open up significant new investment opportunities for Irish businesses.

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Colin Hird

Head of Fire Structure & Environment, Building Standards Division

Scottish Government

Colin joined the Scottish Government in 2001. In his role as Head of the Fire, Structure and Environment within the Building Standards Division, Colin led technical reviews on structural fire precautions, escape, Fire and Rescue Service facilities, automatic fire suppression systems and structural Eurocodes.  Colin represents the Government on various technical committees and steering groups and advises Scottish Ministers on all aspects of design and construction relating to fire, structure and environment. He is currently assisting the Scottish Government in their response to the Grenfell Tower.

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Adam Heath

Product Fire Performance Engineer

Kingspan Insulation

 Adam Heath has been working in the construction sector for last 7 years as part of Kingspan Insulation’s technical department. His current role is centred around standardisation, product testing and certification, with a focus on fire performance for the Kingspan product range. This testing can range from small scale tests for CE marking purposes to large scale fire tests for end use applications.

In addition to product testing, Adam also works closely with the marketing and business development teams at Kingspan, to help demonstrate the suitability of their products for their intended applications.

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René Hagen

Professor fire prevention and Fire safety

Dutch Fire Service Academy (IFV)

 René R. Hagen (1959), after studying civil engineering, graduated as a fire-officer at the National Fire Service Academy. Besides many courses in the field of fire fighting and fire prevention, he studied Dutch law at the Open University and went on to receive a Master of Public Administration at the Netherlands School for Public Administration. He is currently Professor of Fire Safety at the Fire Service Academy of the Institute for Safety. He is also Chair of the advisory board of the National Fire Prevention Week Association and member of the advisory board of the Minister of Internal Affairs, regarding the use of fire safety regulations in practise.

He spent 30 years in the fire service in The Hague and Amsterdam. In 2000, he joined the Institute for Safety, where he filled various positions until his appointment as Professor of Fire Safety. He worked on the studies relating to the fireworks disaster in the Dutch town of Enschede, the pub fire in Volendam and the fire in the detention centre at Schiphol-Oost.

He has also participated in many working parties and committees in the field of fire prevention, enforcement and building regulations. He lectures and develops curricula in these disciplines and gives lectures in this field at home and abroad. He regularly publishes books and articles on his specialisation, fire prevention. He initiated the introduction of outcome control with fire safety, the application of home sprinkler systems and the production of incombustible TV sets in Europe.

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Theresa Griffin

S & D Party

Member of the European Parliament

Theresa Griffin joined the European Parliament in May 2014, representing the North-West England as top candidate.

Theresa is a full member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and is Chair of the European Parliamentary Labour Party. She is currently the President of EUFORES and has been tackling energy poverty and campaigning for a ‘just transition’ to a carbon neutral Energy Union since joining the Parliament. Mrs Griffin has since gone on to win the Energy MEP of the Year in 2017, testament to her dedication in this field.

From fuel poverty, regional funding, health research and the promotion of the digital single market, her commitment to equality is shown throughout her work in the European Parliament. She is also actively involved in the Parliament’s Intergroups on LGBTI, Trade Unions and Children’s Rights, to name a few.

Born to Irish immigrant parents, she grew up in Coventry and has a First-Class BA Honours and a Master’s Degree from Lancaster University.

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Merlyn Forrer

Fire Fighter and Fire Safety Engineer at Design Fire Consultants

Mr Forrer joined Design Fire Consultants in May 2019 after serving as an operational Station Manager with Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (GMFRS) with 19 years’ service. Between 2012 and 2017, Merlyn moved into fire safety responsible for Manchester borough, providing fire safety and enforcing the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for one of the largest and most complex metropolitan boroughs in the UK. Between 2017 and 2019, Merlyn has been working for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) on the response, updating guidance and national codes following the Grenfell fire tragedy.

He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) with a Master’s degree in Fire Engineering (distinction), is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers, FIFireE. His research for both his Bachelors and Masters dissertations focussed on the fire performance of externally thermally insulated cladding systems and the use of organic polymer foams which he continues to research.

Through his project work, involvement on committees, interaction with peers, regulators and building control authorities, Merlyn has detailed knowledge and experience of fire safety engineering, legislation and guidance document interpretation, application and enforcement. This includes fire spread on the external walls of buildings with a detailed understanding of the intent of regulations and guidance.

Merlyn is regular speaker at conferences and seminars on fire safety and regulations.  Merlyn has also authored papers on external fire spread, development of regulations and Firefighter safety.

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Talal Fateh

Efectis UK and Ireland
General Manager

Dr. Talal Fateh has been working in fire sciences since 2008. He received his MSc in 2007 and PhD in Combustion Engineering in 2011 from the Department of Combustion of the University of Poitiers.
He is currently working at Efectis, as General Manager of the company. Efectis is one of the most important fire testing and fire safety engineering companies in Europe with approx. 250 people.
Talal is a fire expert involved in various missions, including laboratory development, teaching, standardization and regulation, fire toxicity and modelling fire behaviour of materials. In the field of fire safety, he is the author of several scientific publications.

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References and presentation of Mr Fateh

Study of fire behaviour of facade mock‐ups equipped with aluminium composite material‐based claddings, using intermediate‐scale test method, 2018, E. Guillaume, T. Fateh, R. Schillinger, R. Chiva, S. Ukleja

Numerical simulation of the fire behaviour of façade equipped with aluminium composite material‐based claddings—Model validation at intermediate scale, 2019,  V. Dréan, B. Girardin, E. Guillaume, T. Fateh

Numerical simulation of the fire behaviour of facade equipped with aluminium composite material‐based claddings‐Model validation at large scale, 2019, V. Dréan, B. Girardin, E. Guillaume, T. Fateh

Reconstruction of Grenfell Tower fire. Part 1: Lessons from observations and determination of work hypotheses, 2019, E. Guillaume, V. Dréan, B. Girardin, F. Benameur, T. Fateh

Reconstruction of Grenfell Tower fire. Part 2: A numerical investigation of the fire propagation and behaviour from the initial apartment to the façade, 2019, E. Guillaume, V. Dréan, B. Girardin, M. Koohkan, T. Fateh

Reconstruction of Grenfell Tower fire. Part 3—Numerical simulation of the Grenfell Tower disaster: Contribution to the understanding of the fire propagation and behaviour during the vertical fire spread, 2019, E. Guillaume, V. Dréan, B. Girardin, F. Benameur, M. Koohkan, T. Fateh