Buro Happold

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Buro Happold
BuroHappoldLogo.gif
Type Partnership
Founded 1976
Headquarters Bath, Somerset
Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Key people Rod MacDonald, Chairman,
Gavin Thompson, Managing Director
Padraic Kelly, International Director
Sir Edmund Happold, Founder
Industry Construction management, engineering consulting and business services
Revenue GB£45.4 million (2004)
Employees 1460
Website www.burohappold.com

Contents

View of the Great Court
View of the Great Court

Buro Happold is a professional services firm providing engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of buildings, infrastructure and the environment. It was founded in 1976, by Sir Edmund Happold in Bath in the southwest of England when he left Ove Arup and Partners to take up a post at Bath University as Professor of Architecture and Engineering Design. Originally working mainly on projects in the Middle East, the firm now operates worldwide and in almost all areas of engineering for the built environment, with offices in seven countries.

Ted Happold worked at Arup before founding Buro Happold, where he worked on projects such as the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre. Ted Happold was a leader in the field of lightweight and tensile structures and Buro Happold has as a result undertaken a large number of tensile and other lightweight structures since its founding, including the Millennium Dome. Ted Happold died in 1996, but his influence on the firm is enduring. Ted Happold was a Quaker, and his deep sense of humanity and principles can still be found in much of the work undertaken by the firm.

The Venezuela Pavilion at Expo2000
The Venezuela Pavilion at Expo2000

Buro Happold was founded on the 1 May 1976, with its first office on Gay Street in Bath, United Kingdom. The firm started with seven partners:

  • Edmund Happold
  • Peter Buckthorp
  • Michael Dickson
  • Terry Ealey

Initially Buro Happold offered only structural engineering consultancy, with a particular strength in lightweight structures, but in 1977 it added geotechnical engineering and in 1978 building services engineering. Over the years the firm has added a large range of different services, including FEDRA, a leading fire engineering consultancy. The firm also developed a variety of specialist services to support design and construction, including in-house software for modelling fire and fabric and cable structures.

The King's Office, Council of Ministers and Majlis Al Shura (KOCOMMAS), Central Government Complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was the firm's first major design project in 1976.

In 1983 Buro Happold opened an office in Riyadh, and has since opened offices around the UK and internationally:

From its foundation Buro Happold worked on a number of different projects with Frei Otto, a leading expert on lightweight structures and gridshells, such as the Japan Pavillion for Expo 2000 in Hanover. The firm has also historically had close ties with Bath University.[citation needed]

By 1993 Buro Happold had 130 employees and 8 partners. In 1998 this had grown to 300 employees and 12 partners, while in 2000 with over 500 employees the partnership was increased to 23. In 2006 the partnership stood at 25 with over 1400 employees and 14 offices.

Due to this growth and the addition of so many different services the company was restructured in 2003 to consist of multi-disciplinary teams of engineers each with structural, mechanical and electrical engineers supported by specialist consulting groups.

In 2005 Buro Happold launched Happold Consulting, a management and overseas development consultancy with expertise in the construction sector.

Partners:

  • Neil Billett
  • Steve Brown
  • Andrew Comer
  • Mike Cook
  • Phil Dalglish
  • Mick Green
  • Alan Harbinson
  • David Herd
  • David Hull
  • Padraic Kelly
  • Ian Leaper
  • Rod Macdonald
  • Rod Manson
  • Tony McLaughlin
  • Peter Moseley
  • Nick Nelson
  • Eddie Pugh
  • Paul Rogers
  • Craig Schwitter
  • Neil Squibbs
  • Simon Wainwright
  • Gavin Thompson
  • Paul Westbury
  • David Wookey
  • Jerry Young

Emirates Stadium Roof
Emirates Stadium Roof

Buro Happold's early projects ranged from designing giant fabric umbrellas for Pink Floydconcerts to the Munich Aviary and the Mannheim Multihalle, both with Frei Otto.[1]

More recent projects in the United Kingdom include:

Another recent project which attracted press interest was a the Westborough School cardboard classroom in Westcliff.

Internationally Buro Happold's buildings include:

The Genzyme Headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Buro Happold is best known for building engineering, but it also undertakes a large proportion of its work in civil, geotechnical and environmental engineering, and an increasing amount of overseas development work. Buro Happold is a member of the Consortium for the Eradication of Poverty, which also includes Arup, Scott Wilson and RedR-IHE

Buro Happold is part of the consortium (EDAW) appointed to design the Olympic Park for the London 2012 Olympics. The team which built the Emirates Stadium, made up of McAlpine, HOK Sport + Venue + Event and Buro Happold is also the preferred bidder for the new Olympic Stadium.[2]

Tuwaiq Palace
Tuwaiq Palace

Buro Happold's projects have won two RIBA Stirling Prizees for: the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground in 1999 and the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham in 2001. Additionally the Evelina Children's Hospital won the public vote for the Stirling Prize in 2006.

Buro Happold won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Tuwaiq Palacein Riyadh in 1998.[3] Happold also won the Queen's Award for Enterprise twice, for export achievement and again for sustainable development. In 1999 Buro Happold is also the the recipient of the MacRobert Award for their design of the Millennium Dome.

Buro Happold was only the second firm in the world to achieve worldwide Investors in People accreditation.

The Happold Trust was founded in 1995 by Ted Happold and the other founding partners in order to promote education, research and training in the fields of engineering, industry, design, technology and architecture. The Happold Trust is a patron of Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR-IHE)[4] and a co-sponsor of the planned Dyson Academy in Bath.[5]


  1. ^ Pink Floyd Animals Concert Tour 1977. Stufish. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
  2. ^ Olympic Delivery Authority (13 Oct 2006). ODA negotiates with Team Sir Robert McAlpine on Olympic Stadium. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
  3. ^ Architectural-Gallery-Saudi Arabia-Tuwaiq Palace. Gallery. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
  4. ^ RedR-IHE patrons. RedR-IHE. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
  5. ^ Template:Cite press rlease
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