Matt is a Chartered Geologist, whose current role is Principal Geo-environmental Engineer at the National House Building Council (NHBC). The NHBC are the UK’s leading provider of warranty and insurance for new homes, and Matt jointly leads the geo-environmental team who undertake land quality reviews on all sites registered with NHBC. The land quality reviews can be anything from a simple review of a greenfield site through to assessment of complex brownfield sites and subsequent remediation design and verification, with the aim to ultimately ensure that the developments comply with NHBC Standards, and – most importantly – that homeowners are protected.
After completing a degree in Geophysical Sciences at University of Southampton, Matt spent 18 months working in seismic data processing in the oil industry. Following this, he completed a Master’s degree in Applied Environmental Geology at University of Wales, Cardiff in 1999 and has since worked in the contaminated land industry. Matt has worked for a range of employers including consultants, land owners, remediation contractors and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (on secondment), gaining experience on a range of brownfield sites including nuclear power stations, RAF airfields and former Royal Ordnance factories.
As Matt’s career has progressed he has increasingly focused on contaminated land risk assessment, undertaking detailed quantitative risk assessments for controlled waters and human health risks from ground gas and vapour intrusion. In 2019 he attained Accredited Risk Assessor status (ASoBRA) for both human health and vapour intrusion with Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment (SoBRA).
Matt joined the IES as it was not only a great fit for the his background and experience in contaminated land investigation and risk assessment but it also gave opportunities to broaden his perspective on issues and roles in the wider environmental sector.
Outside of his current role at NHBC, Matt is active in the wider contaminated land community: he is the current chair of the East Land Quality Forum and is currently actively involved in the work of SoBRA, contributing to the development of new industry guidance on ground gas risk assessment. He has also been a steering group member for the recent CIRIA guidance on retrofitting ground gas protection measures and the Basement Information Centre guidance on ‘Basements: Ground Gases and Structural Waterproofing’.
