Bob Swayne is a qualified building services consulting engineer with over 50 years of experience in the design, construction and maintenance of building engineering services installations for healthcare, commercial, retail, educational, residential and leisure facilities located both within the UK and the Middle East. Bob is the Managing Director of The Hampden Consultancy, a practice he founded in 1993 utilising the skills and expertise he had gained from the previous 25 years working for engineering consultancies and major contractors, including advising PFI consortia involved on major healthcare, education and defence facilities.
His core discipline is mechanical engineering services, i.e. heating, mechanical ventilation (including specialised ventilation for healthcare premises), air-conditioning & chilled water services, domestic hot & cold water services, building management systems & automatic controls, as well as the specification & application of thermal insulation to pipework systems and the application of fire stopping to mechanical & electrical engineering services. In addition, he has a working knowledge of electrical services and how the various engineering services interact and need to be co-ordinated both with each other and with the building structure.
Bob is also able to deal with matters pertaining to the maintenance of mechanical & electrical engineering services, including facilities management contracts and service agreements.
Bob is also a subscribing member of BSRIA (Building Services Research & Information Association) and as such he sits on several technical committees, helping to both prepare and review technical publications on a number of topics related to mechanical & electrical engineering services, including providing technical input as a result of his expert witness work. He is also a member of the BSRIA Publications Panel, reviewing technical documents prepared by other authors ahead of publication. This extensive experience and depth of knowledge means that Bob is in high demand as an expert witness, using his technical expertise and wide experience to encourage parties to a dispute to seek settlement and agreement in preference to litigation wherever possible.
Since starting The Hampden Consultancy, he has been frequently involved in the dispute resolution process, providing technical opinions and preparing expert reports on matters relating to mechanical & electrical engineering services in claims valued between £10,000 and £21 million.
As part of his duties he has provided advice to clients and their legal representatives in respect to the technical and/or contractual aspects related to mechanical & electrical engineering services, including issues concerning the maintenance of such installations, as well as issues relating to professional negligence by members of design and/or project management teams.
To that end he often acts as an expert adviser in the first instance, preparing reports on issues relating to the failings of installed mechanical & electrical engineering services on behalf of clients and their legal representatives considering possible litigation/adjudication/arbitration proceedings, looking objectively at a dispute from all perspectives and outlining the technical merits or otherwise of the particular claim.
Indeed, in 90-95% of claims on which Bob Swayne has been appointed, these have settled in his clients' favour following the issue of an expert report without the need for the parties to have further recourse to the legal process, be it litigation, mediation, arbitration or adjudication.
Bob can act as a party-appointed expert in accordance with either the Civil Procedure Rules or the Criminal Procedure Rules and as such he has given oral evidence in court, both in the Technology & Construction Court and the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as well as at arbitration and adjudication hearings across the UK, in addition to attending mediation meetings on behalf of clients.
Where required, either as a result of an agreement between the parties in a dispute, or at the direction of a Court in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules, he is also able to act as a Single Joint Expert.
Unfortunately, Bob Swayne does not currently undertake any legal aid work.
Finally, Bob Swayne can also take instructions in matters pertaining to professional negligence claims involving mechanical & electrical engineering services consultancies. Indeed Bob Swayne is a member of the CIBSE Professional Conduct Committee.
