Celebrating our growth in Northern Ireland
International multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in Scotland and North Europe – North Europe encompassing main offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as the more recent addition of Belfast, and a growing presence in Copenhagen.
“We started out with just two founding members in 1996, but now have around 200 staff spread throughout the region,” explained Rod Manson, Buro Happold partner and regional director.
The region’s workload has grown exponentially in terms of type, scope and location over the past ten years, and Manson is justifiably proud of the firm’s achievements both locally and further afield.
Committed to Northern Ireland
“Our Belfast office, specifically, was established in 2006 as a direct result of the practice’s ongoing commitment to our projects and clients in Northern Ireland,” he said. “We already have an impressive portfolio of projects in Northern Ireland, including the new library at Queen’s University Belfast, the Odyssey Quays development and the City of Belfast Stadium. Meanwhile, the Belfast office has just completed a state-of-the-art mental health unit for Craigavon area hospital in Portadown, which has been shortlisted for a prestigious Building Better Healthcare (BBH) award.”
The office is also running some major international projects, such as the King Abdulaziz Centre for Knowledge and Culture, which has just gone on site in Saudi Arabia. The Belfast office is especially strong in building services and structural design, and is supported by a range of engineering disciplines in the region’s other offices, especially across the water in Scotland.
With sustainability for the whole life-cycle of the building becoming ever more important, the development of the SAT (Sustainable and Alternative Technologies) team in the regional HQ in Glasgow is especially significant. “Our landmark low-carbon project to date is probably the Wexford County Council offices in Eire, which went on site this spring,” said Manson. “Here the whole form and orientation of the building optimises energy efficiency, with a double ‘skin’ to temper incoming air. A rain screen surrounds the building, acting as a buffer space and thermal wrapper in winter. We’re providing a range of services on the Wexford project, and both building services and structural design are central.”
“Our goal is to reduce energy use by 30% on all new buildings”
Meanwhile, the recently opened Queen Margaret University campus in Edinburgh and the plans for the new Dundee City Council offices have both been awarded a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, while sustainable and innovative timber engineering has been employed at the Ted Cullinan-designed John Hope Gateway Visitor Centre in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens. “It’s our goal across the company to reduce energy use by 30% against the relevant building regulations on all new buildings,” said Manson.
The regional offices also carry out more civil, infrastructure and ground engineering work than they used to, and this expanded capability enables them to take on more multi-disciplinary projects, from football stadia to masterplanning. Examples include the Massar Children’s Discovery Centre in Damascus, where Buro Happold is providing a full range of consultancy including civil, structural and building services, as well as fire and façade engineering and computer simulation analysis.
“The regional business has grown by 25% year on year”
With so much activity, it should come as no surprise that turnover has grown by 25% year on year since the regional framework was first established, and the opportunity for a new office in Norway is now on the radar, allowing Buro Happold to expand further into Northern Europe.
“New markets are opening up, and the exceptional quality of both our staff and our reputation is enabling us to work with high-profile architects such as Zaha Hadid, on the Glasgow Museum of Transport,” said Manson.
Manson feels it has been a privilege to act as custodian of Buro Happold’s founding principles of care, value and elegance. “Buro Happold has traditionally valued the partnership, shared ambition and creative tension that exist between architects and engineers,” he said. “We have worked with some of the most creative architects in the region, and have also seen the general appreciation of both sustainability and creative design solutions become much more significant in the drive to create better projects, to match our clients’ and users’ higher expectations. We look forward to another decade of Buro Happold innovation, collaboration and inspiration, in buildings and infrastructure right across the region.”
With the prospect of expansion into new markets, and further large projects on the horizon – from the Forth Ports Hub Masterplan to an iconic gateway to the new capital city of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE – the future looks every bit as bright as the Northern Lights!
ENDS
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Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976. We now employ over 1,700 staff in 21 offices worldwide, and our aim is to produce high quality engineering design in concept, in detail and in execution, on time, to programme and delivering excellent value for money. Our distinctive culture and ethos is still based on the same principles of care, value and elegance that were established when the practice was founded.
We offer structural, building services, civil, infrastructure and façade engineering, as well as a broad range of specialist consultancy services including sustainability, ground and environmental engineering, fire and security design, health and safety management, inclusive and urban design, project management, and specialist CAD and computer simulation provision.