Max Fordham

Max Fordham LLP is an environmental building services engineering consultancy, pioneering in sustainable design and low-carbon engineering. For over 50 years, we have engineered air, light, sound and energy to bring buildings to life. From our offices in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol, we have worked with the world’s leading architects on some of the world’s greatest buildings. Max Fordham's portfolio includes award-winning exemplars of sustainable design and a diverse mix of beautifully engineered buildings.

The Practice numbers over 250 people. It is a Limited Liability Partnership and essentially employee-owned, with 120 partners.

Max Fordham is the only practice to be crowned “CIBSE Building Performance Champion” twice (2022 and 2020), became BSRIA Soft Landings Practitioner of the Year in 2019, and were named ACE Inclusion & Diversity Champion in 2017. Max Fordham’s projects have won the RIBA Stirling Prize three times: for MAXXI with Zaha Hadid in 2010, Newport Street Gallery with Caruso St John in 2016, and Magdalene College New Library with Niall McLaughlin Architects in 2022.

What encouraged you to become a member of ASBP?

Being part of the Alliance gives us a platform to share our experience and collaborate with other great organisations engaged in sustainable construction.

Max Fordham is at the forefront of Net Zero Carbon (NZC), sustainable building design, Passivhaus and Soft Landings, as well as having in-house specialists in Embodied Carbon, Circular Economy, and the NZC verification process. As a practice we are signatories of the World GBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, were the first business to have their offices verified against the UKGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Framework, and have published the Net Zero Carbon Guide. Also in 2022, Max Fordham’s own house became the first residential building in the UK to be verified as net zero carbon, marking a watershed moment in the country’s drive to achieve a net zero carbon future.