Meet the Team

Malcolm Hayes is a director and manager of the Machynlleth office. He graduated in 1982 with a degree in Electronic & Communication Engineering from the Polytechnic of North London. He has worked in the field of acoustical engineering since graduation rising through Hann Tucker Associates, becoming an Associate in 1990, before forming Hayes McKenzie with Andy in May 1991.

He was been a member of the DTI Working Group which produced ETSU-R-97: "The Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms" and is chair of the Institute of Acoustics working group on wind turbine noise which produced the 2013 best practice guidance on the application of ETSU-R-97.

Andy McKenzie has an honours degree in Engineering Acoustics and Vibration and a PhD resulting from on research on hearing aid design for use in noisy environments, both from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), at the University of Southampton.

He has worked in acoustics since graduation in 1981, forming Hayes McKenzie with Malcolm in 1991. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics; an invited member of the UK Environmental Law Association Noise Working Group; is on the editorial board of the journal "Acoustics in Practice" and has recently published a book with Professor Francis McManus on "Noise and Noise Law". From 1st January 2024 he is stepping back from active work at Hayes McKenzie but will be supporting the team on an 'on-call' basis until the end of the year.

Rob Shepherd is a director and manager of the Salisbury office. He graduated from the University of Southampton in 2005 with a Master of Engineering degree in Acoustical Engineering. Rob has worked in acoustics for over 20 years and has acted as an expert witness for a number of successfulh wind farm applications. He is a member of the Institute of Acoustics.

Rob is responsible for handling all aspects of project management including preparing quotations, carrying out noise modelling, data analysis, assessment, and reporting. As well as managing his own portfolio of projects, Rob carries out technical reviews of other consultants' analysis and reports, to ensure that all work is carried out to our high standards.

Seth Roberts is a principal consultant at the Salisbury office with responsibility for IT and workload management. He has a BEng (Hons) degree in Acoustical Engineering from the University of Southampton. He joined us in 2009 after working for Sustainable Acoustics where he gained experience in environmental noise assessment for the support of planning applications; and design-stage building acoustics projects.

Seth is registered with the Association of Noise Consultants for sound insulation testing, and is responsible for undertaking pre-completion sound insulation tests and preparing reports for remedial, or design-stage, building acoustics projects. Seth has also held an active role on the Institute of Acoustics Publications Committee since 2008.

Robin Woodward is a principal consultant, now based at our Machynlleth office. He joined the company in 2010 after graduating from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton, with a BSc Hons in Acoustical Engineering and Music.

Since joining us, Robin has had a driving influence on improving quality and consistency within the company, culminating in his key role in gaining Hayes McKenzie an accreditation from UKAS for their wind turbine testing activities, for which he is the quality manager. He also serves on the British Standards and IEC committees responsible for the UK input to and maintenance of IEC 61400-11, and the development of IEC 61400-11-2, where he heads up the expert groups on AM and Tonality, and the Institute of Acoustics' Meetings Committee, where he is responsible for drafting guidance for virtual meetings.

Tom Levet is Hayes McKenzie's Principal Researcher, based at our Machynlleth office. He graduated from the University of Salford in 2005 with a BSc in Audio Technology. This was followed by an MSc by Research degree, also from Salford, awarded in 2009. The MSc degree was undertaken in conjunction with wind turbine manufacturer GE Wind Energy and involved research and measurement campaigns related to the sound power level measurements of wind turbines.

He joined us in 2007 and was a major contributor to the Institute of Acoustics Amplitude Modulation Working Group who developed a globally accepted metric for the quantification of amplitude-modulated noise from wind turbines.

Conor Tickner is a senior consultant in our Salisbury office and joined us in 2023 from multi-national environmental consultants AECOM, where he worked since 2014, after graduating from the Institute of Sound & Vibration Research at the University of Southampton with a BEng in Acoustical Engineering.

He is a corporate member of the Institute of Acoustics (IoA), is working towards gaining Chartered Engineer status, and serves on the IoA Southern Branch committee. He has come into Hayes McKenzie at a relatively senior level and will be taking on responsibility for managing projects, liaising with clients, carrying out analysis and reporting. We are absolutely delighted to welcome him to our team.

Ed is an assistant consultant and graduated from the ISVR (Institute of Sound & Vibration Research) at Southampton University with a BSc degree in Acoustics with Music. He splits his time between managing our extensive range of noise measurement equipment and other devices and consultancy work.

Sam joined Hayes McKenzie at our Machynlleth Office in May 2022 to take on looking after our noise and meteorological monitoring equipment based there and to help with site visits where his input has already proved invaluable. Sam’s upbringing was hugely influenced by the renewable energy industry as both parents worked at The Centre For Alternative Technology, not that far from our Machynlleth office, and Sam worked for there for 17 years too. Sam has also worked as a wind turbine technician and for 26 years as a music producer and DJ which involved soundscaping, noise monitoring and coming up with acoustics solutions for venues and festivals all over the UK.

Joel joined Hayes McKenzie at our Salisbury Office in October 2024 and looks after our noise and meteorological monitoring equipment and helps with site visits. He holds a BSc degree in Live and Studio Sound, from Southampton Solent University, and is able to combine his passion for acoustics with hands-on practical technical applications.

Joel is also our heath and safety manager, and brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles as project manager and health and safety manager for large scale sound stage construction projects.

Ian Flindell is an independent acoustics consultant, researcher and lecturer from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton University where he spent most of the last 40 years. He is widely known across Europe as an expert in subjective acoustics specialising in the assessment and management of environmental noise, particularly around major airports. He has been a leading contributor to the development of standards, regulations and methods of assessment through BSI, UK government, the European Commission, and the World Health Organisation.

Ian and Andy have been working together since 1981 both at ISVR, and latterly at Hayes McKenzie. We are delighted to officially welcome him to our team as an external associate consultant.