Teodor Sofroniev

I’ve always had an interest in the built environment but I wasn’t even aware of fire safety engineering until my time at the University of Edinburgh. There, I started learning how little we truly understand fire dynamics. Once you add the complexity of human behaviour, societal expectations, and the building fabric itself, the result is why fire safety engineering is an area I found challenging and fascinating and why it became a clear career choice for me.

Our understanding of fire behaviour and its interaction with the built environment is constantly developing and changing as research, computational power and building methodologies advance. Relying on past experience alone is not sufficient so we strive to stay at the forefront of new developments in the field and the rapidly changing guidance.

Our fire team is relatively small, however, as we support a global consultancy of 1,000 staff, I have had the opportunity to work with different people, disciplines and locations. There is something new to be learned from every team and project and through this sharing of knowledge and collaboration, I believe the best design solutions are born.