Michael Belsham – Director / Principal Fire Engineer
Michael is a Chartered Professional Fire Engineer with over 25 years’ experience in Fire Safety Engineering. I have a Masters of Fire Engineering degree from the University of Canterbury and have been a Chartered Engineer since 2005.
Michael has worked on projects throughout NZ, Australia and UK in a range of engineering consultancy and public sector roles before starting my own consultancy business in 2020.
He has extensive knowledge in international building codes, fire engineering design methods and construction systems over a broad spectrum of industry sectors. My experience extends to fire risk assessment, construction monitoring and regulatory systems.
He is driven to provide high quality fire safety designs and advice that support the building industry. My role involves research of new technologies and materials to provide best practise fire design advice for projects. I strive to deliver fire engineering solutions that provide an appropriate level of safety whilst being practical and fit for purpose.
Lifting the Industry
Michael uses his extensive expereince in the fire safety industry to raise the bar of fire safety. He has presented at multiple conferences inlcuding FireNZ, Fire Australia, BOINZ, Association of Building Compliance, ADNZ Summit, BSI Annual Fire Safety Conference, International Scientific Conference on Woods & Fire Safety (Slovakia).
Michael is regular guest lecturer for the Future Skills Diploma of Building Survey (Level 6) and is facilitor for NZDE Fire Engineering (Level 6) through Open Polytechnic.
Michael is honoured to be invited to the following industry focus groups:
- SFPE Building Code Review – Residential Safety
- Engineering NZ Fire Safety Guide on Electric Vehicles
- Standards New Zealand PAS 4509 Fire Fighting Water Supply
- Future Skills NZDE Fire Engineering Permanent Advisory Committe (PEAC)
- VEENZ NZDE Fire Strand Focus Group
This work enables Michael to give back to the industry to lift the standard of fire safety in New Zealand
Projects
Michael has provided fire engineering design for some of Wellington’s most iconic buildings including Midland Tower, HSBC Tower, Embassy Theatre, Old Bank Arcade and Wellington Airport.
Michael was the Principal Fire Engineer in Glasgow, Scotland leading several large projects including National School Redevelopment Programme (PPP), shopping centre extensions, high rise office towers and universities. He was key fire designer for several award winning projects including PJ Live in Aberdeen.
Michael also assisted with major construction projects in Europe, Africa and Middle East including Zaha Hadid’s award winning Bee’ah Headquarters in United Arab Emirates.
Review Michael’s articles on LinkedIn
