Buro Happold has announced the appointment of California-based Simon Kaye as advisory partner for the U.S. region. The move places Kaye, a senior consulting leader with 25 years of experience achieving accelerated, sustainable growth across multiple private and public market sectors, into a key role overseeing Buro Happold’s three existing, highly successful advisory teams – cities, sustainability and brightspot strategy – which have recently been folded into a unified North American business operation.

Kaye will lead efforts to increase Buro Happold’s portfolio of advisory work in the U.S. and globally, capitalizing on the resilience of the firm’s consultancy offerings and recent investments in the development of those teams.

“Our clients increasingly demand credible expert partners who offer comprehensive services and understand not only the engineering behind their business, but the business and market sector as well,” said Jennifer Price, managing director for the U.S. and partner with Buro Happold. “Our advisory teams uniquely serve this need, and we are excited to have Simon Kaye bringing vision and strategic direction to the group. As head of U.S. advisory strategy, Simon will lead the teams as they work in close collaboration with our clients to provide business management advice underpinned by Buro Happold’s deep technical expertise. He is the ideal choice to lead our strategy for growth in this increasingly important area.”

Bringing experience with multidisciplinary propositions from across diverse geographies, Kaye’s considerable track record of developing and implementing successful growth strategies includes key propositions for transportation, manufacturing, technology and aerospace conglomerates, as well as for municipalities, utilities, power companies and other public sector organizations. Most recently, Kaye has developed specific expertise in advisory projects for utilities and other large-scale infrastructure entities, focusing on the development of transformational operating and contracting models, positioning organizations to meet the challenges of regulatory and shareholder requirements.

In his new role, Kaye oversees and manages Buro Happold Advisory and is helping to build and implement processes, support systems, collateral, training programs and more. Kaye is especially focused on transforming how team leaders and members communicate with clients. According to Kaye, this is essential for tapping into the potential for growth within the sectors Buro Happold already serves, especially higher education, municipal agencies and programs, technology companies and commercial developers.

“The primarily service-driven architecture and engineering industries focus on built outcomes, so the conversations tend to be geared around those deliverables,” said Kaye, a London native who has worked in the United States for almost a decade. “Going forward, we will strategically shift the conversations with key clients to illuminate their greater organizational needs and challenges, and then chart out tactical solutions that meet those goals.

“This new mindset will build on Buro Happold’s greatest strengths and place Buro Happold Advisory even higher in the value chain,” Kaye added.

Buro Happold is one of the world’s leading engineering consultancies and has helped create many of the most recognized and innovative places across the globe, including New York’s High Line; the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles; London’s Olympic Park and Stadium; Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium; the World Towers in Mumbai, India; and Jewel Changi Airport, home to the tallest indoor waterfall on the planet. Recent consulting efforts include climate change planning for the City and County of Los Angeles, Washington District of Columbia, and Tucson, Arizona; ESG governance consulting for Battery Park City Authority of New York; strategic planning for higher education institutions, including Northwestern University and the University of Southern California; and transport and mobility consultancy for Ford Motors.

Buro Happold is active in 30-plus locations worldwide and aims to almost double from 2,000 to 4,000 employees in the next six years, creating better balance and resilience across regions in an effort to continue to address major challenges in an ever-evolving world.