Buro Happold

Unlimited ambition

From a small business start-up in a townhouse office in Bath in 1976, to a leading international business with nearly 2,000 employees (450 of which are based in our Bath office), Buro Happold has always been a practice with unlimited ambition. With such a significant presence in the South West, it is no surprise that we have delivered some of the regions best-known projects, including work for Dyson, the Eden Project, Wessex Water, and the Universities of Bristol and Exeter. Our Bath office has also delivered some of the most challenging and highly regarded projects in the world, including the Olympic Stadium in London, the British Museum’s incredible roof, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore. 

Unlimited innovation

Developing innovations and finding solutions is at the core of everything we do, internationally and locally such as the Bath Abbey Footprint Project. 

As one of the most visited places in the South West, Bath Abbey welcomes over 420,000 visitors annually. With parts of the Abbey dating back to the 16th Century, significant renovation projects have been undertaken in an effort to secure the future of this historically important building. We identified that the city’s hot spring water presented an ideal opportunity to provide the Abbey with a sustainable heating system, but the water is technically difficult to use in practice. After plenty of analysis and lots of studies, our team has proposed a solution to allow the Abbey to use water from the hot springs for the heating system. The £20 million project will protect the historical building into the future, preserving this world heritage site and allowing it to continue to attract thousands of visitors every year. With construction work currently underway, the project is expected to be completed in 2020.

Unlimited potential

What are the jobs that Bath needs to diversify employment opportunities for our people? Ones that will retain more of the students graduating from our two world-class universities? 

We live in a stunning historic city. How do we build on Bath’s many assets, to attract more exciting, forward-thinking businesses to our city? How do we create workplaces that people will thrive in? What does the future of our highstreets look like? 

Much of our thinking is around long-term commitments to make the world a better place. The future of cities imposes many challenges, so we have begun to pull together a likeminded community of experts – including engineers, scientists, doctors, architects, academics, organisations and governments – to take up the call, and work with us as part of Urban C:Lab, a Buro Happold initiative to pool best thinking to solve some of the seemingly intractable urban challenges facing our world today. 

We advocate for sustainable development, where everyone of us cares about the impact and legacy of our work. Our mission is to use our knowledge and skills to contribute positively to society and the environment. With a sense of economy for the impact on the planet, we can create better outcomes for clients and communities. As built environment experts and in our own business operations, we tread lightly on the earth and will drive a positive response to the climate emergency.

Unlimited talent

Our founder, Sir Ted Happold, believed that it was “out of the different skills and bodies of knowledge we have across our firm, that the quality of what we do really emerges”. This culture of collaboration and respect is as strong today as ever. Buro Happold is determined to continuously improve as an organisation comprising a diverse and inclusive practice, which reflects the varied cultures of the communities and clients we serve – a culture where all our people, have the support and opportunities to reach and exceed their potential.

One such initiative is the Share Our Skills programme, which provides employees with the opportunity and support to apply their talents to causes they are passionate about. To date, we have awarded 925 days of our people’s time for 50 projects across the globe. In 2019, we celebrated five years of Share Our Skills. 

Another initiative is our Young Engineers’ Forum that encourages and promotes the growth of our people across all of our offices. The community connects junior members of Buro Happold through their shared interests, deepening bonds and new friendships. Many members of the YEF have now become STEM Ambassadors, volunteers from a wide range of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related jobs, who offer their time and enthusiasm to help bring STEM subjects to life and demonstrate the value of them in life and careers.