An experienced fire engineering practice specialising in complex fire engineering solutions, expert adviser and expert witness instructions. 

Steve Cooper has been involved in the fire engineering profession since leaving the fire and rescue service in 1996.  In that time, he has been involved in the development of fire safety strategies and fire engineering solutions for a wide range of buildings in the UK and overseas. He has worked with architects and design teams on some very large and iconic projects, including large and novel building designs in healthcare, public assembly, retail, leisure and government buildings.  

Steve represented the United Kingdom on two European Union-funded research projects on, firstly, the impact of fire engineering across EU Member States and, later, on the benefits of fire engineering in the protection of EU cultural heritage buildings.  He presented the results of these research programmes at a number of international lectures and forums. 

As a Director/Partner of a number of fire engineering and multi-disciplinary engineering consultants, Steve has been responsible for the technical oversight and project delivery on many complex projects and, in that role, have advised clients on how compliance with their national building fire safety laws can be achieved. 

Since 2016, Steve has been very heavily involved in building defects investigations, often involving external walling and cladding systems, and has been instructed as an expert witness in a large number of cases. He has been instructed as an expert on claims involving many high-rise residential buildings, timber-framed buildings, Cross-Laminated Timber buildings and buildings of modular construction, involving private and social housing, student residential accommodation, hotels, hostels and very tall office buildings. He has also been instructed as an expert on cases involving defective fire safety and fire protection systems, including automatic sprinkler systems. A number of these instructions involve buildings that have appeared in the national press, often following catastrophic fires.

Steve is past-Chair of the IFE Individual Route Panel of the Engineering Registrants Group; past-Chair of the IFE Competency and Ethics SIG; past-Chair of the IFE Ethics Committee and author of the IFE Code of Professional Conduct and Ethical Principles.  He is a member of the Steering Committee for BSI PAS 9980, Fire risk assessment of the external walls of existing buildings and the MHCLG Advisory Group for 11-18 metres High Residential Building Risk & Mitigation Measures.