I came to England for seven months in January 1997 to persue a professional sporting career. After four years I became eligible to apply for residence which enabled me to seek employment outside of the sporting arena. The period since has been in a heavily regulated industry on the Sellafield Site.

I have spent 16 years on a CAT 1 Nuclear facility in multiple roles ranging from an Operator to Lab Technician and then moving into management roles within the facility’s QC lab and ultimately moving into a senior role as the Plant Wide Systems Shift manager. This role occupied the last eight years of my Sellafield Limited career which held absolute accountability for safe nuclear plant operations. This particular role provided challenges on a daily basis from ensuring operational production activities, maintenance compliance, repurposing areas of the facility and transitioning areas into Post Operation Clean Out (POCO), all within the bounds of a safety case.

After leaving Sellafield Limited, I have spent the last 5 years consulting in project space on the Sellafield site delivering scope on multiple projects within Project Transition, Pre-Operations and Designers O&M. Whilst working within this space as a subcontractor I built a very good working relationship with likeminded individuals who were constantly looking at ways to improve and to make Project Transition and Pre-Operations more effective and efficient. These are individuals I now work alongside as directors of CDS.

I started my engineering career in the paper manufacturing industry, serving my apprenticeship and taking up a role as a maintenance engineer at the Kimberly Clark Barrow Mill. Working in this fast-paced manufacturing environment taught me many lessons on complex problem solving issues and the importance of scheduled maintenance.

I joined the nuclear industry 12 years ago, mainly working in Major Projects and the Pre-Operations function. Over the last 12 years I have delivered all aspects of the Pre-Operations scope. This ranges from complex RCM reviews and facilitation to production of Configuration Implementation Management Plans. I have led the Pre-Operations on multiple projects over the last 8 years in the role of Pre-Operations manager delivering direct to the receiving organisation and playing a key role in the transition of projects into operations.

Alongside my projects role I have also led large teams delivering operational, engineering and maintenance support to established operating units. This ranges from asset integration, system maintainability & operability to plant modification proposals.

Paul is a Mechanical Engineer with over 20 years of experience working in the nuclear industry with roles in Operations, Training, Mechanical Design and more recently Pre-Operations. For the last 7 years Paul has been supporting major projects on a nuclear site preparing for the transitioning from projects to operations. During this time Paul has developed a specific set of tools and skills to aid and assist this often-troublesome crossover.

With a background in nuclear operations, training and design, it is easy for Paul to identify and absorb Operational requirements throughout the design phase in order to assist the project design team and also help the client understand the O&M solutions and changes required in the business following project handover. Having this understanding in the early phases of a project is essential in understanding the associated costs, time and resource requirements.

Outside of work Paul also co-owns and runs a small brewery business where he has self-designed and brewed several craft ales with his daughter Sofia. Although he doesn’t get much time in the brewing hall these days, he can often be seen in the Brewery Tap house providing ‘quality control’ on the products.