Building services engineering

Our innovative design solutions embrace the latest technologies to improve a building’s performance and sustainability.

Integrated building services systems create a balanced and controllable internal environment; natural ventilation, heating and lighting systems are combined with active systems, such as air conditioning, to provide a high level of comfort and operational efficiency.

Building services represent a significant planning and cost factor on any building project, so it is essential to provide a fully integrated design solution that is delivered on time, on budget and which embraces the latest technology. Buro Happold is recognised within the industry as one of the UK’s leading international building services consultants. Designed to provide optimum levels of occupant comfort all year round, our MEP systems set a new benchmark for efficiency and sustainability. As a major global player we have completed projects in a wide range of locations, always making sure we adhere to the codes and standards of the host country.

To achieve the most appropriate solution we adopt a holistic approach, considering all aspects of the design process from ‘abstract’ issues such as occupant wellbeing to the detailed analysis of mechanical components and the impact of environmental regulations on the building’s form and energy usage. Using sound building physics principles and advanced modelling techniques to analyse the envelope and spatial layout, our systems are integrated into the building fabric to create functional internal spaces and balanced, controllable conditions.

With buildings responsible for over 40% of all energy consumption, sustainable design is now top of the regulatory and corporate agenda. Buro Happold has significant expertise in the design of environmentally responsible buildings. Our approach is to ‘design out’ active systems wherever possible in favour of passive internal control methods such as natural ventilation, external shading and thermal mass. Working as part of a team we are able to balance our client’s aspirations with engineering (and budgetary) constraints to design high performance, low energy building systems.

We adopt a holistic approach, considering all aspects of the design process

Future flexibility for any changes of use is something that always needs to be considered both in terms of the engineering systems and commercial viability. To add value to a project we can carry out a whole life costing of the systems and utilities to assess ongoing and initial costs of maintenance, repair, servicing and operation, as well as social and environmental costs.  This process can help the design team and the client choose between alternative designs, systems and strategies and so achieve cost control and certainty right from the start. 

Building services systems set the parameters for the operational efficiency of a building and the ‘quality’ of its internal environment.

Museum of Liverpool thumbnail 2
Buro Happold

Project

23/04/2012

Opened to the public in 2011, the Museum of Liverpool is one of the world’s leading city history museums and the largest newly created national museum in the UK for over a hundred years. Situated alongside the Three Graces in Liverpool’s historic waterfront setting, it will showcase Liverpool’s social history and popular culture while setting a global benchmark for other museums of its kind.

Find out more

Palasport Oval Lingotto thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

27/02/2012

Located in the southern part of Turin in the Lingotto district, the venue, features a 400m oval ice track and is the work of Buro Happold, HOK SVE and Studio Zoppini Associati, winners of an international tender for the project.

Find out more

ARTIC thumbail
Buro Happold

Project

10/01/2012

Buro Happold, along with HOK and Parsons Brinkerhoff, are designing the major new transit center in downtown Anaheim that’s envisioned as a hub for California’s future high-speed rail network, as well as for Amtrak, commuter rail and other regional transit lines. The station will accommodate passenger arrivals, departures and transfers with supporting retail, restaurants and passenger services within the building. Buro Happold is providing MEP engineering, complete enclosure and facade rationalization, BIM modeling, energy modeling, daylighting, lighting simulation, and sustainability and LEED consultancy.

Find out more

Wembley Thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

05/05/2011

Buro Happold has concluded the first phase of Wembley Infrastructure (Phase One). We have been involved in the project since 2002 starting with a single project that has evolved into the company providing a wide cross-section of our services to find the right solutions to a series of challenging design issues.

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

13/06/2013

In April, opening day visitors to Partners Healthcare's new Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston were greeted with light-filled, state-of-the-art facilities, which the Boston Globe commended as "emblematic of the...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

13/05/2013

Battery Park’s SeaGlass Carousel, which received the final panel to its nautilus-inspired enclosure at a topping off ceremony on April 18, celebrates New York’s past and future. It’s both a reminder of the original New York City...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

10/05/2013

A gravity-fed waterfall and 'raintubes' that reveal the journey of water from roof to cistern, a building dashboard that displays data about water capture and reuse, and an integrated system that diverts 100% of site runoff for...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

08/04/2013

Last fall, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its plans for the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The announcement represented a significant step towards realizing the organization’s longstanding dream...

Find out more

Buro Happold

Blog

08/04/2013

The construction of Bath Abbey began in 1499 and is regarded as one of England’s finest medieval churches

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

08/04/2013

Buro Happold was part of a multidisciplinary team that celebrated the official opening of the new double LEED Platinum facility for GlaxoSmithKline at Philadelphia's Navy Yard with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, April...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

28/02/2013

An international design team has been chosen to create a new urban centre and a public square for Straume, near the city of Bergen on Norway’s west coast. Buro Happold, working with Haptic Architects, NORDIC - Office of...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

25/01/2013

Buro Happold and Schmidt Hammer Lassen have won an international design competition for a new culture centre and library in Karlshamn, Sweden. The new state of the art cultural centre will include a range of facilities...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

21/12/2012

Buro Happold is thrilled to announce that the consultancy has been voted the top structural engineer and the number two services engineer in Building Design’s WA100 survey, completed by leading architectural...

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

04/12/2012

Buro Happold’s specialist consultants work with Wilkinson Eyre Architects to deliver refurbishment and expansion of Wellcome Collection

Find out more

Buro Happold

News

30/11/2012

Buro Happold’s Dr Robert Cooke, already a well known personality in the industry in the Middle East, is the proud winner of the MEP Engineer of the Year for 2012.  Rob was recognised for his significant contribution

Find out more

Buro Happold

Video

27/10/2011

Tuwaiq Diplomatic Club thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

21/10/2011

Located in the Diplomatic Quarter on the northwest perimeter of Riyadh stands Tuwaiq Palace, a complex originally designed as a diplomatic club but now used by the Saudi government as a hospitality centre. The demands of the...

Find out more

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art thumbnail 01
Buro Happold

Project

27/09/2011

Elegantly placed in the rural Arkansas landscape, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a series of seven concrete, glass and wood pavilions set along a stream bed. Within the complex are permanent and temporary galleries, a library, meeting areas, an auditorium, indoor and outdoor areas for public events, sculpture gardens and walking trails.

Find out more

Forum Steglitz Thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

27/05/2011

Originally built in 1974, the Forum Steglitz shopping centre is situated in one of Berlin’s busiest multi-functional shopping and service areas. With a footfall of approximately 10 million visitors a year the shopping centre also...

Find out more

Louvre Abu Dhabi Thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

26/05/2011

In March 2007, the Tourist Development and Investment Company of Abu Dhabi announced that a new Louvre Museum would be completed in the city of Abu Dhabi. The new museum’s dramatic domed roof is undoubtedly the strongest feature...

Find out more

Riverside Museum of Transport Thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

26/05/2011

The new Riverside Museum, Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel, is located on a dramatic site at the point where two rivers, the Clyde and the Kelvin meet, close to Glasgow Harbour. As well as providing a permanent home for collections not previously on public display, the new museum exhibits the contents of the old Glasgow Museum previously held at Kelvin Hall. Kelvin Hall was the second most visited attraction of its type in the UK, with half a million visitors a year, so the new Riverside Museum is well placed to become a world-class cultural destination.

Find out more

Polish Pavilion Thumbnail
Buro Happold

Project

26/05/2011

Inspired by folklore, the Polish Pavilion has a striking façade that features a number of inclined surfaces designed to resemble folded paper, cut out in a folk art design. Reflecting the main theme of the Expo – ‘Better City,...

Find out more

Explore...

Discipline Director

Buro Happold Neil

Neil Billett

Partner


Regional Leaders

UK

Buro Happold Andy

Andy Keelin

Partner


Buro Happold Steve

Steve Williamson

Partner


Central Europe

Buro Happold Ian

Ian Booth

Partner


Northern Europe

Buro Happold Jason

Jason Gardner

Director


North America

Buro Happold Michael

Michael McGough

Principal


Middle East

Buro Happold Robert

Robert Okpala

Group Director


Asia-Pacific

Buro Happold David

David Littler

Director


India

Buro Happold Krishnendu

Krishnendu Mukherjee

Group Director


Select a discipline