ICE Strategy Session: Building safeguards

Mark Hansford

With a background in both civil engineering and journalism, Mark Hansford has spent more than 25 years as a specialist in disseminating infrastructure knowledge.

After leaving the University of Birmingham with an MEng in 1997, he began his career as an engineer with AtkinsRéalis, where he conducted water supply and distribution analyses, including an asset condition study covering the 100 largest urban water schemes in Ghana.

In 2000, Hansford joined New Civil Engineer magazine, where he progressed through a series of roles. As editor from 2014 to 2020, he led its relaunch as a monthly title publishing daily digital news.

An ICE Fellow, Hansford then served the institution for nearly six years as its director of engineering knowledge. He now works with several organisations seeking to share knowledge, stimulate discussion and enable action to improve the performance of the UK infrastructure sector.

Brendan van Rooyen

Brendan is responsible for ensuring the credibility of ICE’s Specialist Professional Registers and their future development. He has worked extensively with governments and regulators to provide specialist registration for safety critical roles including reservoirs and higher risk buildings and has been involved in the industry response working groups set up after the Grenfell tragedy since 2019.

Chris O'Regan

Starting out as an apprentice technician, Chris O’Regan has spent nearly 40 years in structural engineering. He has worked on the design and construction of projects ranging from an art gallery refurbishment to the delivery of the second Wembley Stadium.

In his current role, he is Frankham Group’s lead structural engineer for the operation, inspection, maintenance and modification of higher-risk buildings in England.

A technical author who has written more than 60 guidance notes, he has shared his expertise across the construction industry on behalf of organisations including the Engineering Council, the Health and Safety Executive and the British Standards Institution.

O’Regan holds fellowships with both the ICE and the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE). These were awarded in recognition of his knowledge-sharing work and his authorship of the second edition of Structural Use of Glass in Buildings (IStructE, 2014).

Chair of the ICE-IStructE committee that oversees assessments for the higher-risk buildings register, O’Regan co-developed the Engineering Council’s UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment Contextualised for Higher-Risk Buildings.

He received the IStructE’s Lewis Kent Award in 2021 for services to structural engineering.