About us
Enlightened Fire Solutions has its origins in 1995 when director Carol Caldwell set up Caldwell Consulting Limited in Christchurch to provide fire engineering services. In 2002, the name Enlightened Solutions was created due to a re-brand. Since that time Enlightened Fire Solutions has grown to become one of the most trusted and experienced fire engineering companies in the industry.
Carol is a chartered professional engineer, CPEng and fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand with over 30 years of experience working on a wide range of projects. Over that time, Carol has built a small, talented and experienced team from a range of backgrounds who are passionate about what they do and have a wide range of skills.
Today, Enlightened Fire Solutions are leaders in fire engineering who provide services and solutions to a wide range of clients located throughout New Zealand.
Our role is to work with architects, engineers, building owners and developers as well as local authorities and the Fire Service to ensure that buildings are designed and constructed to meet fire safety requirements as well as achieving building goals, objectives and legal responsibilities.
As all we do is fire engineering, we have a strong track record of providing our clients with advanced and innovative solutions that provide flexibility in design as well as safe and compliant buildings. We can react faster, be more agile, meet tight deadlines and most importantly we know what we are talking about. Our large number of repeat clients are testament to this which we believe is the best sign of our quality, service and experience.
This comes from our small team of highly experienced staff who have over 75 years of cumulative experience in the fire engineering industry. We strive to provide the highest level of professional service and expertise for all our clients as well as building meaningful relationships along the way.
Meet the team
Carol Caldwell
Director
Carol is a very experienced fire engineer with over 35 years in the field. Her experience covers alternative solutions, performance-based design and Acceptable Solutions design for a wide variety of buildings; rest homes, bulk retail, atrium offices, heritage, shopping centres, industrial, food processing, bulk storage warehouses. Outside work, Carol and her husband Charley volunteer with GAP, (Greyhounds as Pets) and attempt to keep their two greyhounds; Zeke and Baloo from her giant stash of cooking chocolate.
Megan Valedein
Fire Safety Engineer
Megan is a Fire Safety Engineer with a BE Engineering background and a Masters in Fire Engineering studies from the University of Canterbury. Since joining Enlightened Fire Solutions in 2020, she has been involved with a broad range of projects, from Acceptable Solutions to large C/VM2 and alternative solution designs. She has in-depth knowledge and is comfortable using fire engineering software such as B-RISK, Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS), and Firewind. Outside of the office, she enjoys spending time with family, catching up with friends, going to the gym, and going for one-day tracks.
Dicpal Solanki
Senior Fire Safety Engineer
Dicpal is a Professional Fire Engineer with more than 10 years fire engineering experience around the globe. Dicpal has broad and extensive knowledge of the current NZ regulatory requirements ranging from C/AS, C/VM2, alternative design solutions and several other international fire safety standards such as IBC, NFPA, Qatar/Dubai Civil Defence Code, British Standards. He has profound knowledge to use fire engineering software such as B-Risk, CFAST, Firewind and FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator). Dicpal completed his Master of Science in Fire & Explosion Engineering from University of Leeds in 2010. Dicpal loves spending time with his family and enjoys playing cricket or badminton.
Apeksha Shah
Fire Safety Engineer
Apeksha has 12 years of combined experience working at Auckland Council as a Fire Engineer and former Northshore City Council as a Technical Building Advisor. She has detailed knowledge of the New Zealand Building Code and the Building Act and clear vision of regulatory compliance for Fire Design. She has more than 10 years of overseas experience in structural design and finished her Master of Engineering in Fire Engineering from University of Canterbury in 2012. Apeksha is expert in Yoga and meditation. She spends most of her leisure time in spiritual activity and community services.
Meet Patel
Fire Engineering Technician
Meet has a Mechanical Engineering background with over 4.5 years of experience in the installation of fire alarm systems, compliance schedules, and Fire alarm systems testing. Meet is looking forward to enrolling in Masters of Engineering studies (Major in Fire) at University of Canterbury. He has been working on projects involving acceptable solutions designs. During his free time, Meet likes to indulge in music, movies, and gaming. If you don’t find him listening to music, he might be on a plane traveling to Auckland or Queenstown catching up with his friends.