Following our AGM on 16 March the following volunteers have agreed to join your branch committee. The Editor thought is would be a good idea if you knew a little about these new committee members.

Helena has worked in construction dispute resolution for 6 years, initially assisting a practising arbitrator/ad-judicator/expert before becoming practice manager of MCMS Limited, a dispute resolution and surveying practice, in August 2003. MCMS represents parties in arbitration, adjudication and litigation, with members of the practice acting in mediations, arbitrations, adjudications and as experts.

Helena also organises twice-yearly conferences for the Construction Group of Arbrix, as well as assisting with Adjudication Society events and TeCSA assessments. As well as an Associate Member of the CIArb, Helena is a member of The Adjudication Society and The Society of Construction Law, and plans to start an LLB degree course this year. Helena has kindly agreed to take on the vital role of Branch Secretary.

Ian is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. His specific area of expertise is tunnelling. For the last three years Ian has been responsible for the delivery of the tunnels associated with the expansion of Heathrow airport, including the extensions to the Piccadilly Line & Heathrow Express, and the Airside Road Tunnel. For the previous ten years he has been involved in the delivery of underground metro systems, including the Jubilee Line Extension Project and the North East Line, Singapore.

Ian is currently working towards Fellowship through the Institution’s Fellowship Programme and is looking forward to contributing and supporting the Branch’s activities.

Bob Crease

Bob Crease is Executive Director of CTRL(UK) Ltd and Commercial Director for Union Railways (North) Ltd.   These companies are the client organisations for Sections 1 and 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, respectively.   Bob is a Fellow of both the ICE and the CIArb, and is on the ICE's List of Adjudicators.   He has over 32 years' experience in major projects and maintenance in the railway industry, majoring on permanent way engineering.   At the end of his time with British Rail, which started as an Engineering Scholar and culminated as a Divisional Civil Engineer, he worked at BR HQ establishing contracts for the privatised industry.   He then moved into Balfour Beatty when they purchased three of the privatised companies, for one of which Bob was Production Director.   He has been with the CTRL Project since 1998 and has been a member of the CIArb since 1994.

Peter is also a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has over 20 years of experience at all levels of management in contracting on small and medium sized civil engineering and building projects throughout the South East of England. During that time he says he started as a site engineer and worked his way steadily downwards from there. For the last 5 years he has worked as a consultant offering contractual advice, safety advice, and expert witness services to employers, contractors and subcontractors in the construction industry.

Peter recently obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Arbitration and is at present in the final stages (he hopes) of his pupillage to become a Chartered Arbitrator. He is the new Editor of this magazine and only time will tell whether that will be a good or bad thing.