Director, Fire Risk Management, reporting to Chief Executive. Leading team of 35 engineers, information and communications specialists developing and delivering integrated community fire risk reduction. Responsible for Design Review Unit that reviews all fire engineered building designs in New Zealand and provides advice to building officials. Member senior management team for 10 years, responsible for organisational risk, project review. Team member in development of leading edge New Zealand Building Code released in 2012.
Associate Professor, Centre for Environmental Safety and Risk Engineering. Course Director for post-graduate courses in Performance-Based Building and Fire Codes. Developing and delivering new fire engineering courses for design professional and regulatory officials, as well as short courses around Australia. Sponsored to deliver courses at the University of Science and Technology in China. Supervision of research students. Consultancy on a range of building design projects, including Chi Lin Nunnery in Hong Kong.
Director, reporting to the Main Board of Arup Partnerships International, leading team of 10 engineers responsible for fire safety design of major buildings and infrastructure throughout the world. Key projects include development of fire safety strategies for Kansai International Airport, Chek Lap Kok International Airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Hong Kong MTR Lantau and Airport Railway, Hong Kong KCRC Kowloon Tong Station, Lille TGV Station, Heathrow Express Terminal 5 Feasibility, Gatwick North Terminal, Munich Airport Centre.
The first 10 years of Paula’s fire safety career were spent in fire research at the Fire Research Station in the UK. She worked principally in the fire and explosion hazards of powder handling, particularly those products susceptible to spontaneous combustion. Paula conducted a number of investigations into the causes of fire and explosions in spray drying and other industrial processes. she also worked on modelling of sprinkler response and was seconded for a year to work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the USA
