Copenhagen office welcomes new country director for Denmark

Buro Happold has appointed Niels Elliot Brøchner as new country director to strengthen our Copenhagen team and its commitment to making lasting, sustainable contributions in the Danish built environment. He joins current office director Paul Roberts in creating a dynamic leadership team that combines international expertise with a dedication to growing Buro Happold’s 15-year presence in Denmark.

A structural engineer with 20 years of experience and  a recognised leader in the field of structural engineering and a professional with deep experience in heading multidisciplinary teams on complex projects, Niels comes to Buro Happold from the Copenhagen headquarters of COWI, where he was Head of Section in the Buildings Department.

Niels’ appointment is an expression of Buro Happold’s ever-increasing engagement in Denmark. His focus will be on bringing in new talent, strengthening collaboration with Danish clients and reinforcing a healthy, self-sustaining pace of growth for the office. Working closely with Paul Roberts, Buro Happold’s current office director in Copenhagen, Niels will reinforce the team’s existing strengths with a wider range of design and consultancy services, bringing on board key specialists to complement existing areas of expertise. The goal is to achieve consistently equitable and sustainable outcomes for the built environment.

I am delighted to join Buro Happold, a firm that has been rooted in Denmark for almost 20 years. This is an exciting moment for the Copenhagen office, as we embark on a focused initiative to expand our team and diversify our services. Buro Happold has much to offer the built environment in Denmark, with its unparalleled global expertise and ability to read and respond to the local context through a creative, innovative approach to engineering design that is unique in the market here.

Niels Elliot Brøchner

Niels’ arrival allows Paul to focus on applying his creative design talent to projects and competitions led by the Copenhagen office. The close working relationship between Paul and Niels represents the best of Buro Happold, combining both directors’ experience with a dedication to achieving better solutions for people and the planet within the architecture, engineering and construction industry.

I’m thrilled that Niels is with us. He brings with him invaluable experience in Denmark, and his key role in the leadership of the Copenhagen office will allow us to strategically develop our design services focused on the future needs of the Danish market.  Niels’ arrival allows me to dedicate more time applying our collaborative, integrated design approach to our projects, making sure that the very best of Buro Happold is brought to every design challenge. In addition to that, I will be further developing our skills in the fields of sustainable design and digitalisation, two areas very close to my heart.

Paul Roberts

Buro Happold’s presence in Denmark has grown since the Copenhagen office opened in 2006, with projects across a wide range of typologies, all with unique engineering challenges. With a very talented majority of Danish staff, the Copenhagen office is Buro Happold’s base of operations in Denmark and throughout the Nordic countries. Recent projects include Lille Langebro and the refurbishment of Skt Petri hotel in Copenhagen; European Spallation Source in Lund, Sweden; Odenplan Station in Stockholm; Gothenburg University Library, Nyt Rådhus in Bodø, Norway and Glostrup Hospital Neuro Rehabilitation Centre.

With Niels’ arrival and a focus on growing the team over the coming years, the Copenhagen office will be poised to respond to increasing opportunities in Denmark and strengthen Buro Happold’s support of Danish architects working in Germany and beyond, through the close tie with the offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. Copenhagen is one of Buro Happold’s most important offices worldwide: Denmark’s focus on sustainable construction and the new legislation introduced this year around carbon reduction targets is very much in line with Buro Happold’s approach and mindset.