As a section leader, Troy is responsible for managing public health (hydraulics) and fire protection engineers in our London office.
He has design experience as a fire protection engineer on various projects, including high rise, commercial, health, government, educational, retail, hotel, aged care and residential, where his responsibilities have included design and documentation, contract administration, commissioning and project coordination.
Troy has developed his industry skills and expertise with a focus on automatic fire sprinkler systems, wet and dry mains, fire hydrants, fire hose reels, detection and alarm systems, voice alarm systems, emergency voice communication systems and many unique hazard systems including gas suppression and water mist.
Here, Troy shares some stories about his journey to becoming a fire protection engineer, and reflects on Millennium Bridge House, his career project highlight.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
Honestly, I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career, I didn’t like school much and I knew I wanted to leave as early as possible. At 16 I started an apprenticeship doing drafting and I picked up engineering from there.
Why fire protection engineering?
When I chose to make the jump from drafting to engineering, the company I worked for only offered hydraulic and fire protection engineering, and I found fire protection more exciting and engaging. Fire protection engineering is also very grounded in codes and standards which made it easier for me to learn, not having a formal engineering qualification or background.
What’s your career highlight project?
I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on many fantastic projects, but a recent highlight is Millennium Bridge House. This was a major refurbishment project of a heritage listed building on the Thames River in London.
Because the building is heritage listed, space for building services plant was limited. The NDY mechanical design had proposed very large water tanks for thermal storage, so as an innovation we proposed to use those tanks as a backup for the sprinkler water supply and reduce the amount of water storage needed for the fire sprinkler system. This was a technical noncompliance in the British Standards, so a lot of work went in to getting approvals from the relevant parties and demonstrating the proposal was fit for purpose, including any fail safes.
What innovative new approaches are you seeing when it comes to fire protection engineering?
New approaches are being taken for relatively new risks in the built environment like lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicle and e-bike charging or mass timber construction. These fire protection innovations range from sprinkler/water mist (or alternative suppression systems) being proposed as a compensatory measure, to local applications of proprietary products like off-gas detection to reduce the risk of thermal runaway from lithium-ion batteries.
I’m also a member of the Fire Industry Association special interest group for the Internet of Things where we discuss upcoming technologies, how these will be integrated into smart buildings, and the associated security risks.
If you’ve worked across regions, countries, and/or Tetra Tech operating units, can you tell us about the key similarities and differences you’ve encountered when it comes to fire protection engineering and your projects?
I’ve worked as a fire protection engineer in both Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) for about 6 years each. Fire protection systems fundamentally operate in a similar way and aim to achieve the same result, but there are a lot of differences in the Australian and British standards and how the fire brigade will approach a fire. As an example, we use a lot more dry rising mains in the UK because there’s more freezing risk than in Australia. Dry mains versus wet mains or hydrants means fire brigades need to respond differently to a fire event.
What is the difference between fire protection engineering and fire engineering, and how do they work together?
In the UK, buildings will generally have a fire strategy report which is a document specifically tailored to the building. It reviews all aspects of the building’s fire safety features including construction, compartmentation strategy, means of escape and other fire safety features or measures. The fire strategy is written by the fire engineer and will make reference to any fire protection systems needed. Fire engineers also undertake risk assessments of existing buildings to ensure it complies with the fire strategy report and the relevant standards.
A fire protection engineer applies the relevant codes and standards and their experience to design the required fire protection systems to meet the requirements of the fire strategy report.
Both parties need to work closely together to ensure that the fire strategy being proposed is feasible, and that proposed fire protection systems are suitable for the overall development.
