Senior Associate with expertise in: Escapes of Water, Oil & Gas, Building Fires, Vehicle, Plant & Machinery Fires, White Goods Appliance Fires, Composites, Glass & Ceramics, Metallurgy, Plastics/Polymers, Mechanical Engineering, Explosions
BEng (Hons) DIS Materials Engineering – Loughborough University
Nationwide and Worldwide
Stephen is a forensic engineer and fire investigator, based in our Leeds office. Since joining Hawkins in 2017, he has specialised in investigating escapes of water and oil, engineering failures (including factory machinery, construction vehicles and engines), fires and explosions. He has led over 400 investigations into domestic, industrial and commercial incidents, which have ranged from small losses, through to multimillion pound claims, as well as personal injuries. Stephen’s work on escape of water cases is strengthened by a City and Guilds Plumbing qualification. He is also listed on the Bond Solon Expert Witness Register.
Stephen gained his degree in Materials Engineering from Loughborough University in 2010. The degree included a year placement at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd, where he gained an insight into heavy industry, manufacturing, continuous improvement and processing.
Upon graduating, Stephen started work at Caterpillar as a Materials Engineer, where he worked for over six years prior to starting at Hawkins. In this role he carried out numerous case studies on incoming material and failure analysis of metallic and non-metallic components, engines and machines. The position also required him to travel Europe as the lead heat treatment supplier auditor for this region. This allowed him to use his metallurgical and process knowledge to troubleshoot issues at suppliers.