Edmund Happold

Professor Sir Edmund Happold (1930 - 12 January 1996), better known as Ted Happold, was a structural engineer and founder of Buro Happold. Happold was the son of Frank Happold, Professor of Biochemistry at Leeds University. After a grammar school education he studied geology at the University of Leeds. His mother was a lifelong socialist. A lifelong Quaker, he registered as a conscientious objector when called to do National Service, and was dire... more

Professor Sir Edmund Happold (1930 - 12 January 1996), better known as Ted Happold, was a structural engineer and founder of Buro Happold. Happold was the son of Frank Happold, Professor of Biochemistry at Leeds University. After a grammar school education he studied geology at the University of Leeds. His mother was a lifelong socialist. A lifelong Quaker, he registered as a conscientious objector when called to do National Service, and was directed to work as an agricultural labourer and then truck driver and dragline operator. This aroused his interest in construction, so he returned to Leeds University, where he achieved a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1957. After graduation, he spent a short time in the office of Alvar Aalto before joining Ove Arup and Partners on the recommendation of architect Basil Spence. At Ove Arup and Partners he worked with Povl Ahm, engineer for St Michael's Cathedral in Coventry. Happold studied architecture in the evenings. In 1959 Happold moved to work... less