In September 2006 the practice celebrated its first 30 years in style with a memorable event at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium – a beautiful building for the beautiful game, engineered by Buro Happold. Over 500 guests attended the evening drinks reception and took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of this spectacular new stadium.
A series of eye-catching displays charted the development of the practice since 1976 and showcased some of our recent flagship projects. One of the highlights was the auctioning of a club shirt kindly donated by Arsenal and signed by the current team. The winning bid was by Chris Lee of HOK Sport, the stadium's architects. Over £2000 was raised for the Willow Foundation, a charity founded by former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson which arranges special days for seriously ill young adults.
The 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium is an iconic new landmark for Arsenal, for London and for world football. Completed with zero overspend in time for the 2006/07 season, it represents a striking example of our multi-disciplinary skills and a fitting location to mark 30 years of engineering achievement and innovation.
