With global expertise in sustainable, equitable solutions for cities and buildings, the roster of new leaders includes specialists in higher education, high-rise, and airports
LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK, N.Y.- The award-winning multidisciplinary design firm Buro Happold has announced an unprecedented elevation of 17 senior firm members to partner this year, effective May 1. Among the firm’s new U.S. leaders are two prominent women practitioners: One known for innovative structural engineering, Yasmin Rehmanjee, and the other a leader in sustainable, high-performance built environments, Julie Janiski.
In addition, the announcement reflects Buro Happold’s joining forces with higher-education consultancy brightspot strategy, creating a specialized and integrated team of experts to help solve the weighty and complex challenges impacting colleges and universities today. Among the sector leaders is brightspot strategy’s founder and also a new Buro Happold partner, Elliot Felix.
Other new U.S. partners on May 1 will include Robert Okpala, who has led Buro Happold’s regional multidisciplinary teams for mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineering on many large, complex projects, and the team that created a far-reaching sustainability plan for New York’s Battery Park City. Also an MEP leader, Panji Grainger has worked globally on high- profile stadiums, towers and mixed-used commercial, retail, and residential buildings, including projects in the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, India, Malaysia, and the United States. Grainger served as MEP team leader for the London 2012 Olympic Stadium. In addition, another sustainability leader advancing to Buro Happold’s roster of partners is Jeremy Snyder, who has accrued about two decades of experience in high-performance building and campus design. His credits include such innovative works as the Tower at PNC Plaza and the Pittsburgh International Airport Terminal Modernization.
The appointments add further strength and diversity to Buro Happold’s leadership team, supporting the firm’s strategy for continued growth through 2021 and beyond. Buro Happold CEO Neil Squibbs said of the new cohort, “They bring broad geographical and industry expertise, diverse lived experiences and energy that will drive the growth of Buro Happold, supporting our commitment to shape an equitable and sustainable future built environment for all.”
More biographical information on the newly elevated firm leaders follow below. Their promotions take effect in May this year and represent the highest number of new partners chosen by Buro Happold in a single year, encompassing experts working in five countries, 12 offices and a variety of disciplines and specializations. Details on all of the elevations may be found here, and a related announcement video is also online and found here:
https://buro.im/newpart20.
— Julie Janiski, LEED AP BD+C, MArch, MDesSci, is a Certified Passive House Consultant and a leader in Buro Happold’s Boston office, where she heads integrated teams of engineers, designers, analysts and other experts to deliver the highest-performance projects. Her career has encompassed work in construction, building operations, architecture, and engineering — broad experience laying the foundation for a fully integrated approach. Known for merging design, consulting and analysis to champion regenerative design in the built environment, Janiski directs projects at all scales achieving sector-leading levels of carbon reduction and water conservation as well as social equity and human health and wellbeing. Her recent work includes consulting on the Massachusetts Commercial Energy Code, a number of U.S. Embassy projects internationally for the U.S. State Department, USDA grant-funded research on forestry and heavy timber design, a Net Zero workforce training center in Pittsburgh, and The House at Cornell Tech, a residential high-rise in New York City which is certified LEED Platinum and Passive House. Janiski holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan and a Master of Design Science in Sustainable Design from the University of Sydney. Her commitments in the local Boston community include being a board member for Built Environment Plus, the co-chair of the Boston Carbon Leadership Forum, and a key contributing author for a proposed Net Zero stretch code.
— Robert Okpala, MA BEng(Hons), CEng, MIEE MCIBSE, LEED AP, ESTIDAMA PQP, brings more than 25 years of experience in engineering design consultancy for commercial, cultural, educational and mixed-use buildings. Known for leading large multidisciplinary engineering design teams to integrate complex project requirements with aspirational architecture has helped Buro Happold clients achieve high-performance project ambitions. Okpala is an electrical engineer by training and serves as a Trustee of the Happold Foundation, a charity dedicated to using engineering skills and experience to make a positive impact on future talent for varied industries. Okpala joined BuroHappold in 1995 and has worked in Buro Happold’s London, Dubai and Riyadh offices before moving to New York in 2018. He is passionate about sustainable design within an integ-rated project delivery framework, and is recognized as an advocate for human-centric, smart technologies that improve resource efficiency, operational effectiveness, and user experience for clients’ built environment assets.