Simon Hay, DipArch, DipArb, ARB, RIBA, FCIArb, MIFSM, MIMS, AMAE, FireQual

Expert QuestionS & AnswerS

What experience and expertise do you bring to your role as an expert witness?

My experience spans a wide range of sectors, including residential, commercial, office, educational, healthcare, and industrial facilities, as well as specialist cladding and façade design. Having worked in industry as a company architect, I have a practical understanding of how numerous buildings are designed, specified, manufactured, and constructed, including those I have designed and supervised during construction. This experience is particularly valuable when acting as an expert witness.

As an architect serving as a technical expert, how do you evaluate whether a disputed building issue stems from design, detailing, construction, or maintenance?

As a Chartered Architect, I begin by establishing the design intent from the original drawings, specifications, calculations, and statutory approvals, and then compare these with the building as constructed through site inspections, photographs, contractors’ records, and, where necessary, intrusive investigations. This allows me to determine whether the issue arises from design, detailing, construction, maintenance or a combination of factors.

With your experience as an expert witness, what differentiates a forensic engineering expert’s opinion that holds up under scrutiny from one that doesn’t?

Expert opinion withstands cross-examination because it is independent, evidence-based and transparent. The strongest opinions are those that are firmly rooted in the contemporaneous documents, physical inspection, accepted technical principles and the Building Regulations applicable at the time of construction. An expert must be prepared to acknowledge limitations in the evidence, consider alternative explanations, and explain clearly how their conclusions have been reached.

What is the most interesting case you’ve worked on that you can talk about without revealing client details?

One of the most interesting matters I have worked on involved a patent infringement dispute concerning an innovative façade system. My role was to analyse the technical design, compare the patented features with those of the alleged infringing product, and assess how a skilled architect would have interpreted the technology on the relevant date.

What do you wish more people understood about the role of architectural judgement in technical expert witness work?

The application of professional experience, technical knowledge and objective analysis to the available evidence. In expert witness work, the role is to understand how a competent architect would have interpreted the regulations, standards, and accepted practice at the time of construction, and to explain that reasoning clearly and impartially.

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