James launched his fire safety career in 1990 as a test engineer at Warrington Fire Research Centre. After earning a BEng (Hons) in Fire Safety Engineering, he joined Arup Fire in 1996, delivering fire strategies for a wide range of buildings—including the iconic Sage music venue in Gateshead. He has since led major consultancy roles at Arup, Tenos, SAFE fire consultants, Hilson Moran and BB7 before taking up his current role as Director of Fire Engineering at Wintech Group.
James brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role of International President, and he has participated in BSI review panels for BS9999, BS9991 and parts of the BS7974 suite of standards, as well as contributing to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government review group for the clarified version of Approved Document B.
He is an active member and volunteer of the institution, having been a member of the IFE Registrants Group since 2016, where he is responsible for reviewing and interviewing prospective CEng registrants. Ahead of becoming International President, James served on the IFE Board of Trustee Directors since 2019.
As International President (25-26), James helped foster greater relations through his attendance at global events to further fire safety. He attended a conference in Malta to discuss the potential formation of an IFE Mediterranean branch and also led the second International President's Technical Conference in Wolverhampton to share and stimulate discussion as well as support greater fire practices around the world.