Mike Cook

Senior Partner & Chairman

Leading design engineer and Buro Happold’s newly elected Senior Partner, Mike is well known in the industry for his significant contribution to designing innovative buildings and to enhancing the reputation of the profession. As the Senior Partner, Mike is responsible for ensuring the enduring values of the Partnership prevail as the practice develops.

Early in his career, Cambridge graduate Mike worked with Buro Happold founding partner Ted Happold and architect Frei Otto on a range of membrane and cable net structures, undertaking research and development into air-supported structures. Since then he has led the design of many award-winning construction projects in UK, USA, Germany and the Far East, including the design of the British Museum Great Court and the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong.

Mike has been responsible for the development of Building Engineering within Buro Happold world-wide. His design interests are fully international and current projects include museums in London, Boston, Washington and Beijing, the Dallas opera house, a concert hall in New York, Dresden rail terminus and a congress centre in Kazakhstan.

Mike is particularly interested in the education of our future generations. He chairs the Education Panel of the Institution of Structural Engineers; he is Adjunct Professor of Creative Design at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College, and an external examiner at the Architectural Association, London.

His contribution to the profession includes membership of the Council of the Institution of Structural Engineers and contributions to many in-house committees. A particular interest is the use of timber in construction and this has led to Mike becoming chairman of the Timber Research and Development Authority (TRADA). In 2009, Mike received the 2009 IABSE Milne Medal for his contributions to structural design.