About

Simon co-founded OFR Consultants (formerly Olson Fire & Risk) in the UK in 2016 to offer clients - incuding Google, The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Urban Splash, the Rugby Football Union, and a range of domestic and global contractors - independent, expert advice.

Previously Simon was with AECOM (from January 2012) as their Director of Fire Engineering, and prior, Simon led the growth and development of the Fire Engineering team for WSP for 10 years. His considerable energy, technical expertise and strategic business development has been fundamental to establishing teams as credible providers of fire engineering services on a global scale.

Simon is an experienced, professional engineer with a grounding in the practicalities of on-site delivery coupled with 20 years of experience in the delivering of specialist design consultancy services. Very much more than a fire engineering consultant,…

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Simon Lay

CTBUH Designated Expert

CTBUH Roles

Expert Peer Review Committee, Member (2014 – Present)

Working Group: Fire Performance of Façades (2017 – Present)

Annual Conference, Presenter (New York 2005; Chicago 2006; Dubai 2008; Mumbai 2010; Shanghai 2014; China 2016; Australia 2017; Middle East 2018)

Working Group: Fire & Safety, Co-Chair (2011 – 2014)

Annual Conference, Session Chair (Kuala Lumpur 2003)

Videos

26 July 2017

CTBUH Expands UK Presence with Debate on Urban Housing in Manchester

On July 26. 2017 the CTBUH held its first Manchester event in coordination with the CTBUH UK Chapter, marking the occasion with a debate on...

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Research

30 October 2017

Connecting the City: People, Density & Infrastructure

CTBUH 2017 Conference Speakers

The future of humanity on this planet relies on the collective benefits of urban density; reducing both land consumption and the energy needed to construct...

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Research

17 October 2016

Remodel, Recycle or Rebuild? - Addressing the Fire Safety Challenges of Repurposing Skyscrapers

Simon Lay, Olsson Fire & Risk

Some of our established world cities are already facing the challenge of older tall building stock that is no longer relevant to the most commercially...

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20 October 2018

Record Numbers Convene at 2018 Leaders Meeting

CTBUH Leaders convened on Day 1 of the 2018 Middle East Conference for updates on the year's developments and to plan for 2019.

18 October 2018

Fire Performance of Façades Working Group Meets During Conference

The Fire Performance of Façades Working Group formed a breakout session during the CTBUH 2018 Middle East Conference, clarifying the focus of the group's mission.

13 September 2018

2017 Research Seed Funding Results Released

The results are now available for the CTBUH 2017 Research Seed Funding program, sponsored by Sun Hung Kai Properties, which centered around façade fires and machine learning.

29 November 2017

Future Forty Emerging Technology Hackathon

The Manchester Committee of the CTBUH United Kingdom Chapter held the event "Future Forty Emerging Technology Hackathon: Creating a Community in Tall Buildings."

29 November 2017

Future 40 Emerging Technology Hackathon

Please join CTBUH United Kingdom and Hilson Moran for the third in a series of “Emerging Technology Hackathons."

29 October 2017

CTBUH Leaders Connect at 2017 Conference

The Annual Leaders Meeting was held the day before the start of the CTBUH 2017 Australia Conference, bringing together the Council’s leaders.

26 July 2017

CTBUH Expands UK Presence with Debate on Urban Housing in Manchester

On July 26. 2017 the CTBUH held its first Manchester event in coordination with the CTBUH UK Chapter, marking the occasion with a debate on...

18 May 2017

What's the Biggest Threat to a Skyscraper? (Highlights)

Chicago, United States of America. Hosted in collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the second event in the Building Tall lecture series featured presentations by...

18 May 2017

What's the Biggest Threat to a Skyscraper?

Chicago, United States of America. Hosted in collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the second event in the Building Tall lecture series featured presentations by...

16 September 2014

Solutions for Fire & Life Safety at Extreme Heights

The world currently only has two “megatall” buildings. However, more are planned and some potential schemes will push beyond “megatall” to “hyper-tall”. As construction technology...

16 September 2014

2014 Shanghai International Conference - Technical Workshop 05 - Q & A

2014 Shanghai International Conference Technical Workshop 04 Questions & Answers session with speakers Ervin Cui, Aon FPE; Simon Lay, AECOM; Fang Li, RJA Group; Alfredo...

16 September 2014

Interview: Simon Lay

Simon Lay of AECOM is interviewed by Chris Bentley during the 2014 CTBUH Shanghai Conference at the Jin Mao Tower.

05 February 2010

Don’t Be Scared of Performance Based Design

A fear of fire is natural, and fire & life safety design is a fundamental constraint on the design of tall buildings. This presentation discusses...

05 March 2008

Alternative Evacuation Design Solutions for High Rise Buildings

Simon Lay, WSP Group, presented the practicalities of modern high rise evacuation design at the CTBUH 8th World Congress in Dubai. There have been many...

30 October 2017

Connecting the City: People, Density & Infrastructure

CTBUH 2017 Conference Speakers

The future of humanity on this planet relies on the collective benefits of urban density; reducing both land consumption and the energy needed to construct...

17 October 2016

Remodel, Recycle or Rebuild? - Addressing the Fire Safety Challenges of Repurposing Skyscrapers

Simon Lay, Olsson Fire & Risk

Some of our established world cities are already facing the challenge of older tall building stock that is no longer relevant to the most commercially...

28 April 2016

Debating Tall: Do Cladding Fire Codes & Tests Need Changing?

Phil Barry, CWB Fire Safety Consultants Ltd; Simon Lay, Olsson Fire & Risk UK

A series of high-profile fires in tall buildings in the Middle East has raised concerns about standards for fire protection in exterior cladding on these...

16 September 2014

Solutions for Fire & Life Safety at Extreme Heights

Simon Lay, AECOM

The world currently only has two “megatall” buildings. However, more are planned and some potential schemes will push beyond “megatall” to “hyper-tall”. As construction technology...

19 September 2012

Pressurization Systems Don’t Work & Present a Risk to Life Safety: Discuss!

Simon Lay, AECOM

This paper considers why some fire safety professionals have become critical of a reliance on pressurization as the dominant form of smoke control in high...

01 July 2011

How World Trade Center Affected Tall Building Life Safety Design

Carl Baldassarra & Jon Evenson, Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc.; Simon Lay, WSP UK

Building Design and Emergency Management = Carl Baldassarra and Jon Evenson Fire Engineering - Simon Lay

03 March 2008

Alternative Evacuation Design Solutions for High-Rise Buildings

Simon Lay, WSP

There have been many proposals for novel and innovative evacuation solutions for high-rise buildings.This paper investigates in detail the role to be played by elevators...

10 October 2004

Fire Engineering the Tallest Building in the Historic City of Manchester, UK

Dean Kevin McGrail & Simon Francis Lay, WSP Fire Engineering; W.K. Chow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

This paper addresses the fire engineered design of the means of escape provisions from the residential areas of the New Landmark Beetham Tower in the...