Buro Happold appoints new Director of Fire Engineering

06/07/2010 Written by: Gill Sincock

Andy Passingham strengthens consultancy’s global fire engineering capabilities

International multidisciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold has bolstered its fire engineering offering with the appointment of a new global director, Andy Passingham.

Andy, a chartered engineer with over 20 years experience in the construction industry joins Buro Happold from Ove Arup & Partners where he worked on over 400 projects, developing teams of fire engineers in London, New York, Bristol, and Birmingham.

Through his several years experience of working abroad in North America and the Far East Andy has built up an expansive understanding of a wide variety of sectors, projects and cultures, which has enabled him to deliver innovative and insightful solutions to fire related issues. In keeping with the Buro Happold ethos of a holistic practice Andy has a keen interest in the integration of architecture and engineering, which stems from completing a Masters degree ‘Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment’ early in his career.

Andy has developed fire strategies for projects as wide ranging as the Eden Project, Salt Lake City Library and many large healthcare schemes which have involved sometimes radical departures from conventional prescriptive design codes.

Andy’s role at Buro Happold will include the strengthening and expansion of the fire engineering group at Buro Happold, with particular emphasis on growing the consultancy’s USA and the Middle East based teams. Andy said “Buro Happold delivers world class fire engineering solutions for a range of clients at home and abroad and I am looking forward to further developing our reputation for redefining (fire) engineering excellence. With an emphasis on growing our presence in North America and the Middle East, by establishing a strong local presence, we will build on the great projects that we are delivering there such as The Louvre in Abu Dhabi, to ensure the practice’s long term success in fire engineering globally”.