Utilities play a vital role in unlocking the value in a development site or regeneration project. Successful buildings and public spaces need to be fully integrated into their environment and the surrounding infrastructure. Buro Happold’s Infrastructure group works closely with clients, planning authorities and utility companies to ‘open up’ a new site by seamlessly connecting it to the prime utility services: water, sewage, power, gas and telecoms/data.

The development of a utility infrastructure to support a site masterplan will consider the utility requirements of each ‘plot’ or building, the resulting load assessment, the requirements for utility infrastructure such as electrical substations and the implementation of environmental strategies to reduce the ’carbon footprint’ of the site. We adopt a proactive approach from the early stages of a project, working with the engineering team and the developers to identify sustainable design opportunities.

Buro Happold’s wide experience of area-wide development schemes enables us to provide strategic procurement advice on utilities provision, creating valuable cost benefits. We understand the complex challenges of linking to existing utility supplies – especially in rural areas or where the grids are overloaded. By carrying out feasibility and technical studies, site surveys, whole life costing, risk and environmental assessments we can implement efficient and economical distribution systems.

Deregulation of the market has further complicated procurement methods, so we assess current networks and advise on reinforcement requirements or on-site power generation options. The growing utilisation of district heating and cooling systems, combined with renewable technology strategies such as the deployment of wind turbines and photovoltaic cells provide the design team with extensive options for providing robust, sustainable utility solutions.