ATICS' senior consultant, Dr CJD George, is a highly qualified and experienced timber surveyor. He has an MSc (with distinction) in Timber Structures and Engineering and a PhD in Fungal Enzymic Degradation of Timber from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, and is a Certified Timber Infestation Surveyor (with credit). In addition to over thirty-five years work as a surveyor, he also has considerable practical knowledge as a result of working for several years as an operative on site.
Dr George has lectured extensively to professional and academic bodies. He maintains regular contact with researchers in the field of timber infestation. He was the timber conservation lecturer on courses for building professionals given by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) for some ten years in the nineties, in which he focused on the control of fungal decay and insect attack with minimum damage to the building, and has served on many committees of the British Wood Preserving and Damp-Proofing Association (now the PCA), where he has been involved in liaison with government departments, such as the HSE, which resulted in various Codes of Practice for the safe use of non-agricultural pesticides.
Qualifications of Our Consultant
He is Managing Director of All Timber Infestation and Consultancy Services Ltd (ATICS), a timber infestation and structural consultancy company formed in 1978.
In addition to the basic CSRT [with credit], he has the following qualifications:-
- an honours degree in Biochemistry (MA Trinity College, Dublin University);
- a doctorate in 'Fungal Enzymic Degradation of Timber' (PhD from the Timber Technology Section, Botany Department, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London);
- a Diploma of Imperial College;
- an MSc (with distinction) in Timber Engineering (from the Timber Structures and Technology Section, Civil Engineering Department, Imperial College of science and Technology, London);
- he is an Associate of the Institute of Wood Science (AIWSc)
He was employed by a well-known company from 1975 to 1977 as a Timber Infestation Surveyor, when he surveyed in excess of one thousand buildings and gained practical experience of fungal decay in buildings. Following this, he completed two years as a manual worker to gain an understanding of the techniques involved in timber treatment in the control of dry rot.
As a consultant to ATICS, he has advised in a large number of cases and pioneered new treatment techniques for the control of dry rot. Broadly speaking, these techniques involve less timber removal of apparently sound timber adjacent to decayed timber and a greater emphasis on design and isolation of replacement timbers than is currently recommended by what are considered to be the established authorities.
He has also developed a method of saving tessellated tiles on floors infested with dry rot.
At various dates since 1984 he has lectured on control of fungal decay at the Institute of Wood Science meetings at the Timber Research and Development Association, at the Imperial College, to the final year surveying students at South Bank University and elsewhere.
He has lectured for about 10 years in timber structures and pests on the repair courses for professionals given by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) in the mid 1980's.
He maintains close contact with the researchers in the field, particularly at the Building Research Establishment, Garston (DOE) and at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.
As our company representative, he has served on the Technical, Publicity, Membership, Training, Environmental, Convention, General Purposes Committees and the Council and has been a Vice President of what was then the BWP[D]A is now the Institute of British Wood Preserving and Damp-Proofing [IBWPD]. He has been Chairman of the Training Committee, Remedial Treatment Committee. When the Trade Association of the BWPDA was formed in 1997, he was Chairman of the Associates Committee. He served as the Hon.Treasurer of both the charity and BWPD [Trade] Association from 1996 to 2001.
As a matter of routine he is asked to prepare expert opinions in litigation involving dry rot.