Our Team
Jim McGonigal Technical Advisor
PhD, CEng, MCABE, MRICS, MIFireE
Adam Bittern, Director/Owner
PhD, CEng, MEng, MiFireE, MSFPE
Adam started Astute Fire whilst studying for his PhD in 2010 has applied creative fire-engineered solutions to numerous projects on four different continents over the past 25 years. Earlier in his career, working for the fire service, Adam undertook forensic analysis of real building fires, assessing the effectiveness of fire safety systems, and authoring reports which were used to shape fire safety regulations. Adam was also involved in the writing of tall building procedures for firefighting for the New Zealand Fire Service.
He is the author of numerous refereed papers on fire engineering in tall buildings, highlighting critical elements of a fire safety strategy to identify the current state-of-the-art of fire safety design in tall buildings. and the current state-of-the-art of fire safety design. He has provided Section 38 expert advice on several cases in UK, as well as supporting roles on multiple expert witness cases.
Kenny Hamill, Director/Owner
BSc (Hons), MRICS, MIFireE, MCABE
Kenny is a Director of Astute Fire and has over 20 years' experience as a Fire Engineering Consultant, having worked on a wide range of complex and landmark projects. He has extensive expertise and a particular passion for developing innovative fire engineering solutions for historic buildings and healthcare facilities, having played a key role in the delivery of some of Scotland's largest and most complex hospitals.
Kenny understands the importance of balancing fire safety requirements with the conservation and operational needs of a building to achieve the most appropriate outcome. Recognising that every historic building presents its own unique challenges, he adopts a tailored and proportionate approach to deliver practical solutions that satisfy both regulatory and heritage objectives.
Prior to his career in fire engineering, Kenny worked as a Building Standards Surveyor with several Scottish Local Authorities. This experience provided him with a strong understanding of the Building Control system, fire safety legislation, and regulatory processes, which continues to inform his pragmatic and commercially focused approach to fire engineering consultancy.
Callum MacInnes Director/Owner
BSc (Hons), AIFireE
Callum is a fire engineering consultant with over 18 years of experience delivering projects throughout the UK, Europe, and internationally. Alongside fellow directors, he plays a key role in leading Astute's growth and success, combining strategic business leadership with oversight of project delivery, client relationships, and team development.
Throughout his career, Callum has developed fire strategies for a range of high-profile projects, including Cameron House Hotel, Donaldson's College Redevelopment, Jordanhill Redevelopment, the LG R&D Campus (South Korea), Cloud 9 (Riyadh), and Cadworks Glasgow, where fire engineering solutions enabled innovative design approaches and departures from standard guidance.
He has co-authored papers on passive fire protection in healthcare and has a particular interest in historic buildings, as well as PAS 9980 and Single Building Assessments, developing practical and proportionate fire safety solutions for complex projects.
James is an experienced practicing-chartered building engineer specialising in fire engineering and building regulations. James is one of the in-house team of experts on building and fire regulations. In his previous role, Jim was the Scottish Government’s national regulatory for fire safety of new buildings at the Building Standards Division. James has an in-depth understanding of fire safety legislation and guidance and of the building regulatory system.
He has also provided technical leadership and advice on the regulations and guidance to Scottish Ministers, local authority verifiers, and the design community, as well as working with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the development of national guidance. In addition, he represented the Scottish Government on various British Standard technical committees and was a board member of the RICS (Scotland Building Control Professional Group).
In 2023 Jim took on a new role as Technical Advisor after deciding to take a step back from the day-to-day responsibilities of helping to run the Astute business as he moves towards his retirement.
He will still to be actively involved with Astute’s expert witness and external wall work and continue to remain an important part of Astute, albeit in a much-reduced capacity to suit his move towards retirement..
Fraser McCourt Technical Director
BSc (Hons) AIFireE
Fraser joined Astute Fire May 2021 and is an experienced practicing fire engineer with almost 20 years of industry experience. He brings with him knowledge, skills, and experience working in a wide variety of sectors, including education, rail, industrial, healthcare, commercial projects, hotels, stadiums, airports, and tunnels.
He has also worked for the former Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service in the role of Regulatory Authority. Fraser has experience utilising building codes from both inside and outside the UK involving writing technical notes to support design submissions for code compliant and performance-based design, writing fire safety strategies, undertaking third-party reviews, and PAS 9980/Single Building Assessments.
As Technical Director, Fraser contributes more to the overall running of the business whilst continuing to play a key role for the Glasgow office team in staff management and project delivery.
David Meikle Associate Director
PhD MRICS, MIFireE, MCABE
David began his initial career in building surveying, and moved into local government Building Standards where he worked on a variety of interesting projects with several Local Authorities over the next 30 years. He gained a PhD in 2018 from Glasgow Caledonian University. His thesis is titled ‘The effect of fire on lightweight timber-framed walls containing rigid phenolic insulation’. During this period, David also lectured as an affiliate on Glasgow Caledonian University’s BEng Fire Risk Engineering for 5 years, covering framed building design in relation to fire safety.
In 2018 David left local government and joined Hardies Property and Construction Consultants, working as an Associate within their H&S department before joining Astute Fire in August 2021 to head up Astute Fire’s Dundee office. Drawing on his expertise, some of David’s recent projects have included Fire Safety Compliance Review of hospital premises against HTM-81 including detailed site surveys, defect report and analysis within NHS Trust hospitals (England); and due diligence and fire safety assessments of office developments and student accommodation.
Michael Nicol Senior Fire Engineer
MSc, BEng, AIFireE
Michael has a MSc with distinction in Fire Safety Engineering gained from University of Central Lancaster (UCLan) and has worked as a fire engineering consultant on a variety of projects in the UK, and the Republic of Ireland including historic buildings.
His projects span a variety of sectors which has also gained him experience producing performance-based fire engineering solutions; external wall assessments including the Single Building Assessment (Pilot Study – Scotland) with the Scottish Government; PAS 9980 assessments; fire and smoke modelling and fire risk assessments.
Michael has developed a broad range of experience in historic building conversions.
Luke Cadman Principal Design Associate
ARB, BA (Hons), PG Dip.Arch
Luke is the main point of contact for PAS 9980 assessments for Astute Fire. In his previous role, Luke was a senior architect with extensive experience of developing and delivering complex projects from inception to completion across a broad range of sectors including workplace, retail and residential, within the UK and abroad. Luke graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Architectural Studies in 2009 including a semester studying at the Technische Universität Berlin.
He has worked on several high-profile projects nationwide, managing and realising projects using Building Information Modelling for over a decade. Bringing Luke’s expertise into the business enhances and strengthens Astute’s team in responding to the increasing technical review of designs, external wall reviews and construction phase site monitoring.
With a distinguished background in architecture, Ross brings a unique and valuable perspective to fire engineering and FRAEW assessments. In his career as an Associate Architect, Ross accumulated extensive experience across a broad range of sectors, including commercial offices, education, leisure, and residential developments. Prior to joining the team, Ross founded and ran his own architectural practice, specialising in commercial office design.
Ross holds a BSc (Hons) in Architectural Studies and an MSc in Urban Design, both from the University of Strathclyde, and applies this depth of design knowledge to deliver thorough and considered fire risk appraisal of external walls. This hands-on understanding of how buildings are conceived, designed, and constructed gives Ross a distinctive edge when carrying out FRAEW assessments — combining technical fire engineering rigour with real-world architectural insight.
Ross Ellis-Stewart, Design Associate
ARB, MSc, BSc (Hons)
John Thompson Associate
BSc, BEng, Pg Dip, MIRCS, MCABE
Scott Gillies, Fire Engineer
BEng (Hons), AIFireE
Scott graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a BEng Honours Degree in Fire Risk Engineering and joined Astute Fire in September 2025.
Scott brings over 4 years experience within the fire engineering industry and has experience in projects across the UK in a variety of sectors including residential, office, schools, distilleries, football stadiums and warehouses. Scott has extensive knowledge in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and evacuation modelling, both of which he has applied to a range of projects.
John has over 20 years of industry experience working within Building Standards and the private sector, providing single building assessments, EWS1 surveys, expert witness services, fire strategy reports, and inspection of cladding and fire stopping installations for quality assurance purposes.
Through his expert witness work, John provides independent technical advice and reports relating to building defects, fire safety and regulatory compliance. His combination of practical construction knowledge and regulatory expertise enables him to deliver clear, evidence-based opinions to support legal proceedings, dispute resolution, and professional negligence investigations.
Being a RICS member and assessor, John provides guidance and support to others who are pursuing membership. He has recently been assisting RICS with the development of their suite of fire training materials for members while also completing the RICS Expert Witness Certificate training course. This further strengthens his ability to provide impartial expert opinion and professional support in technically complex building safety matters.
Adam Henderson, Design Associate
BArch, DipArch
After graduating with a Diploma of Architecture from the Glasgow School of Art in 2020, Adam worked in architectural practice before joining Astute. In his previous role, he was heavily involved in projects through design, planning, building warrant and construction stages.
Adam brings with him the technical design skills and construction knowledge , along with an eagerness to learn the intricacies of Fire Engineering, which contribute to his undertakings with PAS 9980/ Single Building Assessments and external wall reviews.
Craig McMahon, Senior Fire Engineer
MSc, MEng, AiFireE
Craig has a MSc in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering from the University of Edinburgh and has been working with Astute Fire since 2020. His primary area of interest is the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling, which he has applied to a diverse range of building projects.
Craig applies his fire engineering expertise to fire strategy reports for a variety of sectors; inspections for external wall assessments under PAS9980 methodology; and timber frame assessments. He also undertakes technical research and has developed an assessment tool from the PAS 9980 methodology to establish and qualify a risk rating for properties.
Euan Meikle, Fire Engineer
MSc, BEng, AIFireE
In June 2025, Euan graduated with Distinction from the Master of Science (MSc) course in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Central Lancashire. He completed the course on a part-time basis whilst working at Astute Fire. Euan’s MSc dissertation explored the phenomenon of fire-induced spalling in concrete. As part of this research, he proposed a new probabilistic methodology for predicting the explosive vulnerability of specimens from specialised mixes.
Over the years with Astute Fire, Euan has gained a strong knowledge base in a variety of areas including design work, due diligence, and external wall risk assessments to PAS 9980. He has also attained considerable experience in fire safety compliance reviews of several large NHS (England) hospitals whilst working alongside experienced senior engineers. The projects have involved desktop reviews, intrusive site surveys, and technical analysis.
Caitlin Crossan, Finance Manager
BA (Hons)
With a BA (Hons) in Business & Management from the University of the West of Scotland, Caitlin brings 10 years of business and accounts experience to her role managing the day-to-day finances, credit control, and invoicing for Astute.
Caitlin is the main point of contact for clients in relation to invoicing, and finance to ensure the efficient running of the business.
Audrey Meikle, Business Manager
MRes, BA (Hons)
Audrey joined Astute in 2021 and brings with her over 25 years of experience in both public and private sectors successfully developing business relationships and managing projects, latterly working as a freelance business consultant for clients within the built environment.
Audrey manages all the business processes and procedures to ensure compliance. She has also built upon her fire engineering knowledge, initially gained whilst working at Glasgow Caledonian University, to head up / be the main point of contact for the Timber Frame Risk Assessment side of the business.
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