Gretchen Xie

Graduate Engineer

Gretchen joined Design Fire Consultants in September 2022 and is based in our Manchester office. She has a background of Building Surveying and holds an MSc in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering from The University of Edinburgh.

Her master’s thesis was inspired by a shortcoming of the current fire resistance regime which only quantifies the performance of an element surviving the heating phase of a fire rather than a full burnout. Gretchen’s thesis focused on burnout fire resistance of reinforced concrete columns in a more realistic context with cooling phase of the fire considered, in which she developed a transient 2D heat transfer model and identified the key design parameters that have impacts on burnout resistance through sensitivity analysis.

Before studying and working in the fire engineering industry, Gretchen worked in the architectural and construction industry on a number of commercial, residential and rail projects, which is where she developed her interest in fire safety engineering.

Qualifications: BSc, MSc