Shape My City Session Four: Engineering with BuroHappold

The Shape My City group were joined on the 8th of June by Peter and Hannah from BuroHappold Engineering, this month’s session focused on Structural Engineering. For the warm-up activity participants got into groups and had the challenge of making a bridge from 50 sticks of spaghetti and 25 marshmallows! The groups had to carefully consider the structure and how they could make their bridge span a width of 10cm and be strong enough to hold the load of glue stick, a tricky challenge, but one group was successful! With the group already thinking about how to create stable structures, it was time to hear to Peter and Hannah talk about their jobs as engineers at BuroHappold.




Peter spoke first; he is a Graduate Structural Engineer. He described it as the job that puts the skeleton into the building/bridge/vehicle (it's not jsut buildings which are structures), after Architects have designed it. Important points to consider are calculating loads the structure would carry e.g. people standing on it, making sure it is stable, strong and deciding sizes and materials. Considering environment and safety factors (e.g. accounting for 1 ½ humans) are also important to make structures safe and usable.
Pete studied Maths, Graphic Communication, Physics and Chemistry for A-levels before studying Civil Engineering with Architecture in Glasgow. He now works at BuroHappold following a  scholarship. A typical day for Pete includes team meetings, modeling designs, and setting digital analysis models to run. The highs of the job for him are working with a great team, constant new inspiration, and satisfaction of seeing your work progress and be built. Peter said there weren’t many negatives, only occasional staying late at work to complete deadlines, but that happens with many jobs.



Hannah spoke next; she is a Graduate Engineer working in the Security and Technology Team at BuroHappold, and she is currently working on the Tottenham football stadium. Her job is very varied. It could involve designing street furniture, researching technology, considering IT storage, mobile signal, Wi-Fi and cameras, a huge part of designing a stadium. Many things have to be considered, including future technological developments, how much space cables take up, future capacity and maintenance. Tottenham is currently at stage 4 in the design process, and the constant architectural changes sometimes make it challenging for the IT Infrastructure, but it's also really exciting. Hannah studied Maths, Design Technology, Business and IT at A level. She went on to study Product Design Engineering at university, originally applying to be part of the sustainability team at BuroHappold, she found herself n the IT Infrastructure team, which she finds really interesting and enjoyable.

In terms of advice for their younger selves, Hannah and Peter said:
  •  it's important to always go for something that you enjoy
  • it’s never too late to change your career
  • decisions don’t have to be final so go for something you are passionate about
  • getting involved in extracurricular activities (like Shape My City!) is great for your CV and university applications.
After lots of listening, it was time for the Shape My City participants to work on their own design brief, where they had to come up with a concept design for Everton’s new stadium in Liverpool. Things they had to to consider included:
  • Which site? Godison Park, Walton Hall Park or Bramley Moore Docks?
  • What are the pros and cons of each site option? (looking at photos)
  • How can you make sure the stadium accommodates the client’s requirements?
  • How will the stadium be orientated? What shape will it be? 
  • What type of roof is most appropriate?
  • What would you like to experience as a fan?
  • Is your stadium environmentally friendly?


The three groups came up with interesting and varied ideas for the stadium.
  • Group one’s stadium aimed to also hold music concerts to keep the stadium used all year round, include large screens for maximum audience viewing, a pathway with see-through glass to water below, digital seats in the screen, Wi-Fi, a merchandise shop and a focus on community engagement.















  • Group two had a stadium with a movebale roof, which resposnded to the weather, an option to fold down seats so the stadium could also become a velodrome, a digital view for fan’s to see player’s walking out onto the pitch, Wi-Fi throughout, restaurants and a clock tower entrance, which referenced the heitage of the loca area.
  • Group three designed a train station, underground passage, a tunnel that fans could walk through to enhance their audeince experience, shops, an outside TV with sound, and an exclusive peek at the players if they walk round to the back of the stadium.


Peter and Hannah were very impressed with the designs, saying the participants had considered many aspects including how to use the stadium not only for football matches, extra revenue opportunities and ways to enhance the fan’s experience, all along with some interesting structure designs. All the groups also chose the Bramley Moore Docks site, which is the proposed location for the actual new stadium in Liverpool.

Find out ore about BuroHappold
Find out more about careers in Structural Engineering from Institute of Structural Engineering.

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