Gen Z at Buro Happold
Born after 1995, Generation Z is now populating the workforce. Digital natives, they are politically and socially engaged and value equity, diversity and fairness. They have also never known a world without a climate and biodiversity crisis.
Meet Buro Happold’s Generation Z
Henry Pahl
I’ve been a sustainability consultant in the Chicago office for almost a year. I love being able to have a real impact on climate resilience and help companies reduce their environmental impact.
Sandra Firlinska
I started work in the Warsaw office this year as a BIM technician. I work on fascinating big projects for a company that really does care about our planet.
Orion Page
A graduate structural engineer, I’ve worked in the Bath office for two years and like working collaboratively with architects to create a powerful vision.
Shaden Alshwaier
I have worked in building services in Riyadh for just over a year. I really enjoy my work environment, the variety of people I get to meet and the interesting projects.
Aleksandra Tutaj
I’m from Poland, but I’m based in Munich. What I like most is how friendly and international the office is, and how you can work on all types of projects with responsibility from the start.
Bestan Star
As a graduate electrical engineer in the Dubai office, I enjoy the innovative projects that we are working on. We also have a nice dynamic in the office – people are always happy to help!
Jingyi Xiao
I am based in Berlin, and my background is in architecture, sustainable building and energy. The most exciting thing for me at Buro Happold is the variety of projects, and how we all learn from each other.
But how do they work? What issues are shaping their career? We asked Buro Happold Gen Zers about work, life, and everything in between…
Q. How is work? Is it how you imagined it would be?
Henry
As a sustainability consultant, I honestly expected a lot more pushback from clients in terms of sustainable solutions. You always hear that companies aren’t reducing their emissions, but the people I’ve worked with are setting quite ambitious targets, and really pushing the envelope on a lot of green issues. In the United States, there isn’t a lot of regulation that’s driving it, so a lot of these changes are coming from private industries. I feel like most clients are a lot more on top of it than I expected as a student.
Sandra
I studied urban planning so working as a BIM technician is a bit different. But my thesis was on BIM as it is something I am interested in, so this job is an opportunity to learn more. I always imagined that big companies were full of stress and pressure. There is tension around deadlines sometimes, but everything is well planned, and we often make jokes to lighten the mood when things get busy!
Q. Where do you normally work?
Aleksandra
I do enjoy working from home, sometimes it’s a bit easier to focus and finish a task without any distractions. However, I did miss real life contact during the pandemic. I like going to the office to say hi to my colleagues, it is important in terms of getting to know new people. It makes it easier to connect the face to a person when having interactions online.
Bestan
I started as a graduate during the pandemic when people were coming into the office once a week and it was challenging to get to know all of my colleagues. I would also sometimes hesitate to reach out on Teams to colleagues that I hadn’t met in real life. Now that we are in the office more often, it has been easier to ask questions and interact with my team. I think being able to have face-to-face conversations is important, especially for graduates. Working remotely also has its benefits, so I like being in the office a few days a week and working remotely the rest of the week.
Henry
Our team has a hybrid approach. We’re doing one or two days in the office, which we try and align with our colleagues. We show up on Wednesdays, and occasionally on Thursdays for company happy hour. I worked in manufacturing before where there was no remote work, so this is a change. I do miss some of the easy chat in the cafeteria. Sometimes I think it’s easy to hesitate before reaching out to different colleagues on Teams, as everyone is so busy. The silver lining of the hybrid approach is a lot of flexibility; you can plan your work around medical appointments, or walking the dog.
Sandra
As I’m pretty new to Buro Happold, I like being in the office because I am able to have face-to-face conversations with people and ask them anything. Plus, in the Warsaw office there is often cake or sweets in the kitchen because there is always something to celebrate!
Q. Let’s talk about mental health and achieving equity. How important are these issues to you?
Sandra
Generation Z must take care of the future and our next generation. Good mental health is important; we see it in the same way as our physical health and are not embarrassed when we talk about going to therapy. We even share stories and things that our therapists have said. It’s wonderful because it makes our life better.
Henry
I definitely think that considering health and wellness is more and more important at work. You know, just having your management consider those things in the first place is something, it’s pretty new. I think hopefully, that’ll build out even more.
Orion
I’m heavily involved in our Young Engineers Forum, and we work a lot with the Buro Happold Fairness, Awareness, Inclusion and Respect (FAIR) group. The groups that we have like FAIR are great at making everyone feel completely welcome and a huge part of Buro Happold. In terms of equity, I think we could be doing so much more for inclusivity and equity across the company. We do have a graduate intake that adequately reflects our diverse society, but I think as a company, we should be much more proactive at ensuring that this graduate force continues all the way through to the top. I want more opportunities for everyone, at every level.
Aleksandra
More needs to be done to change attitudes. It can be quite challenging sometimes to have your expertise respected, especially as a young female engineer. Very often, I need to underline that I’m an engineer. The important thing is doing your job the best you can, no matter the look, age or gender – look at my results, and then you can judge me.
Jingyi
I spent two years on a construction site. I worked with a lot of older experienced male engineers and construction managers on the site, and they often tried to convince me to use their solutions. As a female young engineer, I think there is space to improve awareness of gender equality. Even if we have less experience, it doesn’t mean that what we say is wrong.
Q. Is climate change the biggest issue facing our industry today? What solutions can Buro Happold offer?
Orion
The construction industry is responsible for between 35 and 40% of CO2 emissions worldwide. We need to change the systemic use and processes within the whole engineering industry. Hopefully, we can then move to a more responsible way of operating and develop an industry that is a lot more conscious of our impact in the long and short term.
Henry
For me, the biggest issue is in the supply chain and data around embodied carbon. Small suppliers don’t have the resources to make a validated environmental product declaration, which means larger customers that are building with those materials often don’t have the transparency they need to see how those products were made, and what their lifecycle emissions are. Being able to calculate supply chain emissions, which are sometimes the largest source of emissions for a company, is going to be a huge help. Filling that data gap will give us better insight and is a huge step forward. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Bestan
Developers and clients should always choose the sustainable option but choosing the greener option and designing for resilience requires a higher financial investment, and let’s be honest – many would rather go the cheaper route. By having strong codes and design requirements, clients won’t have a choice but to comply with them. It is definitely challenging, but we’re seeing positive changes happening in the region that Buro Happold is contributing to. I think that since we’ve started that conversation, we will see great results in making sustainable design a requirement, not an option.
Jingyi
It is also about changing your mindset and habits. I had a ‘good’ experience yesterday in the office, as we turned on the air conditioning, set to 18 degrees. That is really low, lower than outside; some of us were freezing and when we came outside, we felt so comfortable, and we realised that we didn’t need the AC! We don’t have to stay in a ‘fridge box’ for 24 hours a day and if we adapt our expectations and comfort zone a little bit, and use more natural ventilation, we will make a difference to the climate crisis.
Shaden
Our generation were born into this climate emergency – we have never known a time when this wasn’t a scary thing. It’s our job as Buro Happold engineers and consultants to help steer the clients towards a greener way.
The biggest problem we face with regards to climate change is how much energy is required for cooling and heating. Our ancestors actually had the answer to our present problem of cooling down buildings in the Middle East. Wind towers existed for almost 3,000 years, and nowadays, we call them passive downdraught evaporative cooling systems, or PDEC towers.
Basically, they capture the warm outside air at the top, it passes through the tower and is then cooled using evaporative water. Then it leaves the tower at the bottom into the space. The system creates cross ventilation and passive cooling without the high energy used in an HVAC system.
Henry
Which is the more economical decision to make? Letting climate change run rampant is going to have a drastic impact on our economy. It might seem better to take the cheap option, but there’s going to be consequences. We need to change how companies operate, as well as improve regulations, and put infrastructure in that is more resilient to energy outages, water scarcity and rising temperatures. We also need to look at how we quantify value. I don’t think GDP reflects true value in the world.
Everybody is going to have to play a role in mitigating the climate crisis. It’s not just going to be companies changing their ways, people must make changes as well, through their diet or how they go to work. To do this, things must change from a structural perspective to make those changes a lot easier. If you have a tram nearby, then it’s going to be easy to commute to work on public transport. It’s a daunting task, but I think every year we make progress, and every year becomes easier and easier.
Sandra
I am not as much of an optimist as Henry! During the pandemic, people forgot about climate change because there were worse things happening. More developed countries should do more to help places like India and Indonesia to reduce their emissions – we have a long way to go.
