Evolution in the built environment - the signs of leadership

The economic recession and the challenge of climate change are demanding new solutions for modern lifestyles. There is a call for leadership in the built environment to help create communities that support a rich social fabric. Our cities, towns and villages need increased social connectivity to inspire the innovation and creativity in our lifestyles that is necessary to reduce our unsustainable consumption of the planet's resources.

This article explores the experience of the last two decades of a partnership, informed by Quaker values, that redefined the role of the "engineer". By understanding its leader, Professor Sir Ted Happold the world renowned structural engineer, and his approach to achieving this vision, it seeks to encourage us to look for a better way forward.

The current economic crisis and the challenge of climate change calls on individuals and organisations to evolve a new balance. The built environment provides great opportunities to directly influence the world, and offers solutions to improve the quality of life for our communities whilst reducing our environmental footprint. The wide range of people involved in delivering development and its many stakeholders, provide routes through which professions and citizens alike can influence the world around them. What will encourage us in our everyday lives to seek a better way forward, rather than to accept the way the world is?

The evolution of the built environment through human-made technology has historically driven significant improvements to our quality of life. The construction of the first human shelters through to the improvement of basic public health needs such as sewage and water treatment to municipal buildings, bridges, high streets and green spaces within our communities – all these provide us with symbols of civic pride and embody our culture and heritage, as well as improving the health and comfort of our lives. Freedom to travel, access to resources and leisure time have all defined our need for infrastructure networks and connections to places and spaces that illustrate society's development and priorities. Creating the built environment to support lifestyles to be more in balance with nature is the new challenge.

What vision, values and cultures are now needed in built environment organisations to support the development of solutions for a sustainable future? The Quaker values of simplicity, equality, integrity, justice peace and care of the environment drove Ted Happold to lead in a redefinition of the role of the consulting engineer in society. Understanding more of his approach gives us a good insight into how we can evolve organisations and build confidence to realise a more sustainable path.

Ted Happold (1930 to 1996) spent his life working in the field of structural engineering. Working on projects took him all over the world, including State Mosque of Sarawak, Coventry Cathedral, Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. He founded the Bath consulting engineering partnership Buro Happold in 1976 and became Professor of Building Engineering at the University of Bath in the same year. Other well known Quaker entrepreneurs, still in business today, include Lloyds, Barclays, Waterford, Clarkes and Cadburys.

The relationship between Quakers and banking is of interest given the current economic situation. Quakers success in banking was predicated on their reputation for being honest and trustworthy - all defined as necessary attributes in early banking circles! Trust and honesty define Quaker business relationships, with their values for integrity being core to Quaker beliefs.

Building relationships of trust with clients and staff by providing fair wages, giving credit for other's contributions, taking responsibility for truth and fulfilling commitments are common sense business standards. Ted's integrity to his Quaker values and the relationships built by following these values, were long lasting. With these bonds of trust, the shared confidence grew that was necessary to explore originality in science, technology, collaboration and design. Ted wrote of engineers that "Their craft is intensively creative, at its best it is art in that it extends people's vision of what is possible and gives them new insights. But the aesthetic produced is bare (meaning unfinished). It may not have been seen before and is more likely to relate to a natural rather than historic precedent. This is what I mean by engineering design as a technological idea, as distinct from a visual style or fashion."

Ted enabled many connections; he drew together the engineering professions and founded the Construction Industry Council, a collaborative body of construction professionals. Talking about these professions, Ted said "We need all these differences to achieve quality. But our biggest problem is how to work together well, how to understand what we each do best, how to have a common language and values" . Active in the arts, science and the public sector and committed to the development of a diverse network of professional colleagues, designers, manufacturers, architects and artists, Ted sought collaboration and a common language between the arts and engineering. He was a strong communicator, charismatic and persuasive and well aware of the need to understand problems from the perspectives of others and to respect their professionalism.

Buro Happold was set up as a partnership and Ted referred to the value of this in many of his presentations;

"The practice was set up a partnership under Quaker business methods. It was run on non-hierarchical lines with no decisions being taken by a majority vote of the partners against the wishes of the minority; instead the partners sought to discern the feeling of the meeting", Max Greenwood 'Memorial Minute for Edmund Happold'.

This Quaker business practice of capturing the 'feeling' of the meeting in the minutes, brings the context of decisions into focus. In arriving at decisions through agreement, there is an increased need to look at the purpose of a decision and explore the true outcome it is aiming to achieve. Working with diverse groups, "talking about what really matters", collaborating by contributing as individuals to a common objective, all creates efficiency.

Communication across politics and government was also important to Ted, and similarly in his lectures he presented his thoughts on the relationship between the engineering professions and government. "Our position in society and our skills are related – if we have declined in any area it is in being an effective part of the decision making process. If you look at the diaries of such as Jessop and Company Ltd, you will see how much of their time was spent convincing clients, or Parliament – yet we do not now teach students those skills"

These values of collaboration and communication build an environment where creativity can flourish; creativity was Ted's main focus and the legacy he left to Buro Happold. He gave many speeches and wrote papers and articles to communicate his messages of appropriateness, efficiency, nature, context, value, technology, change and materials, all of which sought original creative approaches to achieve society's goals.

The innovation, technical efficiency and creativity can be seen directly in many great engineering projects that Buro Happold have informed and influenced. Examples are numerous, but one of the most well know is the steel and glass roof that encapsulates the Great Court of the British Museum – an inspiring structure that is open to the public. This structural design required collaboration of materials, machines and the construction process, as composite structures where structural elements such as glass, wood, steel and fabric work together to achieve structural efficiency. Developing integrated, appropriate elegant design solutions, diverse teams had also to work in harmony; thus defining a new way for consulting engineering practice.

In making creativity his goal, Ted was a leader in emergent processes; his Quaker values were his guide and mentor to his approach and principles. The following three quotes, selected from many, aim to communicate his principles concisely.

"And our ambition is to achieve elegance as well as value. Elegance in the sense that a mathematician uses the word; an economy as well as appropriateness. As a French aircraft designer once said, "When you cannot remove any element then you have the right design"

"Appropriateness of function + economy = value"

"And of course there we can learn from nature since structures have to be totally appropriate – mistakes become extinct"

"The world we form will be the world our children live in. Our intervention must be harmonious. My predominant memory of flying to Frobisher Bay when one of my sisters was a doctor there, is of garbage- even the routes to Everest are now littered. Pollution is no reward.

Current definitions of sustainability in the built environment focus more on the environmental performance standards of development – few address consideration of appropriateness. Exploring the context and purpose of development is an interactive activity requiring individuals, professionals, academics and government to be engaged in open dialogue to inform the outcome of the project and develop original solutions required for a new world.

Creating a built environment that supports more sustainable lifestyles requires society, its institutions and organisations to explore collaboratively their needs and set a shared vision of the future. Ted's relationships, built through Quaker values, inspired by creativity and confidence to make changes to support society in moving towards sustainability. Through strong social values, a new shared vision of a better future was realised. Science advises us of the need to change our behaviour and live in balance with nature; the current challenges are to create environments that maximise social capital and enable us to live within global environmental limits.

Evolution of the built environment can provide solutions to support society in reaching its goal of sustainability. The confidence needed to build new relationships of trust, visions of the future and new collaborations come from the values and approach of organisations, society and individuals.

My journey supporting the adoption of sustainability through the build environment led me back to Buro Happold some 9 years after I left. Rediscovering Ted's legacy, his approach and the importance of Quaker values has been inspiring. Thank you to all at Buro Happold, and Eve Happold, for this support in my research. And to Ted, for providing the bridge that I hope to share, and which in a small way may help to inspire others.

Be the change you want to see in the world!

Lesley Seymour
Sustainable Development Consultant
www.burohappold.com