Piers Heath is a senior partner and head of the Environmental Engineering team at Foster + Partners. He is a member of the Design and Management boards, providing strategy and design support across all projects.

He studied energy engineering at Southbank University and has gained experience in a broad spectrum of engineering disciplines working with some of the UK’s leading environmental consultants, including Arup, Brown & Root and Battle McCarthy. In 2005, he founded PHA Consult, pioneering a fresh approach to environmental engineering and sustainable design. Since the late 1990s he has collaborated on a wide variety of Foster + Partners projects, including masterplans, offices, education buildings and arts spaces. In 2011, he joined Foster + Partners to lead the new Environmental Engineering team.

He has devised innovative environmental strategies for projects around the world, including the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi – the first building of its kind to be powered entirely by renewable energy – and Spaceport America, the world’s first commercial spaceport. His investigations into the nature of the tall building include the design of Jameson House in Vancouver which soars above two existing Art Deco buildings. His work on Campus Biometropolis in Mexico City seeks to preserve indigenous plants and species and to overcome the local water shortage.

The challenges presented by arts buildings are of particular interest to him. In music venues, such as Zénith in St-Étienne and the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House in Dallas, there was a need for state-of-the-art performance facilities as well as a consideration of the environmental concerns presented by demanding climates and variety in building use. The renovation of the Smithsonian Institution involved the creation of a newly-enclosed courtyard space. The glazed roof balances daylight, solar control and acoustic performance and the low-energy ventilation, heating and cooling systems are designed to provide year-round comfort in the multifunctional space.

He has been a jury member on competition design boards and as Director at PHA Consult received several awards for excellence in environmental engineering and sustainable design.