News

DSSR Named Among Building’s Top 150 Consultants for 2026

DSSR is pleased to once again be recognised in Building Magazine’s annual Top 150 Consultants rankings, which bring together some of the UK’s largest architectural, engineering, surveying and project management consultancies.

The 2026 table places DSSR among the UK’s Top 100 consultancies, with the practice ranked 96th overall. The annual survey benchmarks firms across the industry using measures including UK fee income, staff numbers and office presence.

This year’s results record a UK team of 99 people across our three offices, reflecting the depth of expertise that enables us to support clients and project teams throughout the UK.

As an independent building services engineering and sustainability consultancy, DSSR continues to work across a diverse range of sectors, delivering sustainable MEP design and helping clients improve building performance and progress towards net zero carbon.

Our continued inclusion within the Top 150 is welcome recognition of the scale of the practice and, most importantly, the contribution of our people. It is their expertise, commitment and collaborative approach that underpin the work we deliver for clients every day.

We look forward to building on that experience as we continue to develop our capabilities and support projects across the UK.

Jonathan Day shortlisted for Future Leader of the Year

DSSR Senior Engineer Jonathan Day has been shortlisted for Future Leader of the Year at the ACE Awards 2026, recognising his progression, increasing leadership responsibilities and contribution to the development of others.

Jonathan’s career with DSSR has developed through the apprenticeship route, combining academic learning with practical project experience. He has since achieved a First-Class BEng in Building Services Engineering (Hons) and established himself as an important member of the team delivering complex healthcare projects.

His project experience demonstrates how his responsibilities have grown. At King George Hospital, Jonathan contributed to the delivery of a 12-bed Intensive Critical Care Unit within a demanding ten-month programme. At Salford Royal’s £35m Acute Receiving Centre, his work included electrical infrastructure for major trauma and surgical facilities, while at University College London Hospital he consolidated CAD information from more than 100 projects across the 75,000m² estate to create a more reliable record of building services infrastructure.

Alongside technical delivery, Jonathan has increasingly taken responsibility for coordination and leadership. He is also committed to supporting those following a similar route into the profession. As the first apprentice within DSSR’s Harrogate office, he now mentors newer apprentices, supports work experience students and represents DSSR at careers events, sharing his own experience of progressing through an apprenticeship into an engineering career.

The Future Leader of the Year shortlisting therefore recognises not simply Jonathan’s technical progression, but the wider contribution he is beginning to make to project teams and to the development of others.

We are delighted to see Jonathan receive this recognition and very proud of everything he has achieved so far.

James MacLeod shortlisted for ACE Award

We are delighted to announce that James MacLeod has been shortlisted at the ACE Awards 2026, recognising the impressive progress he has made since beginning his career in building services engineering.

Based in our Harrogate office, James MacLeod is a Project Engineer who has combined his development at DSSR with continued academic study. He achieved a Distinction in his Level 4 HNC in Building Services Engineering (Electrical) and is now studying towards a BEng (Hons) at Leeds Beckett University.

Having initially supported surveys and other project activities, James has quickly progressed to contributing to electrical design on complex healthcare projects. His experience includes lighting, emergency lighting and life safety systems within live hospital environments, where careful coordination, technical accuracy and compliance are particularly important.

His contribution has also extended beyond his core project responsibilities. After becoming a qualified drone pilot, James introduced drone technology within the Harrogate team to improve the efficiency of surveys and the quality of information captured on site. He also supports other apprentices and has spoken with students at careers events about opportunities within engineering.

The shortlisting is a fantastic recognition of the commitment James has shown to both his academic and professional development, as well as the increasing responsibility he has taken on during his time with DSSR.

We are extremely proud to see his progress recognised at industry level and look forward to supporting him as he continues to develop his career.

DSSR shortlisted for Consultancy of the Year

We are delighted to announce that DSSR has been shortlisted for Consultancy of the Year – Fewer than 250 Employees at the ACE Awards 2026.

DSSR is one of just four consultancies to make the final shortlist, alongside Atelier Ten, Harley Haddow and Sutcliffe. With this year’s entries independently assessed by a panel of industry experts, reaching the final four represents a significant achievement for the business.

The recognition reflects the continued development of DSSR as an independent building services consultancy and the contribution of our people across the business. Our submission focused on the progress we are making through investment in our people, technical capability, collaboration, innovation and sustainable design, while continuing to deliver a high standard of service for clients across a diverse range of sectors.

Being shortlisted is particularly rewarding because it recognises the collective effort behind the business. From the engineers delivering projects and developing new technical solutions to those supporting our clients, people and day-to-day operations, our progress is underpinned by the experience, commitment and enthusiasm of colleagues across DSSR.

The ACE Awards celebrate excellence across the consultancy and engineering sector, recognising the people and organisations helping to shape its future.

We are very proud to have DSSR recognised amongst such a select group of finalists and look forward to joining the other shortlisted organisations when the winners are announced in December.

DSSR back in action at Morrison Construction charity football tournament

The DSSR football team was back in action recently, joining 17 other teams from across the industry for Morrison Construction’s charity 5-a-side tournament at Powerleague Glasgow.

After making it as far as the quarter-finals last time around, the team returned hoping to go a few steps further, although the trophy will have to wait for another year!

Away from the results, the event was all about bringing the industry together and raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and Alzheimer Scotland. It proved another great afternoon of football, friendly competition and networking in support of two extremely worthwhile charities.

Congratulations to Advance, who emerged as this year’s champions after beating Soben 4–1 in the final.

Thanks again to Morrison Construction for organising another excellent event, and to everyone who played their part both on and off the pitch.

Designing for People, Not Just Buildings

Mental health facilities require a different approach to building services design. Every element of the environment can influence patient experience, recovery outcomes and staff wellbeing, with lighting playing a particularly important role. For individuals spending extended periods indoors, access to a healthy and responsive environment is essential.

By integrating intelligent lighting design alongside sustainable engineering solutions, modern mental health facilities can create spaces that feel calmer, safer and more connected to the natural world while reducing operational costs and environmental impact.

Supporting Wellbeing Through Circadian Lighting

Creating Therapeutic and Energy-Efficient Spaces

A Whole-Building Approach to Mental Healthcare Design

Delivering Sustainable, Cost-Effective and Recovery-Focused Mental Healthcare Facilities

If you want to learn more on how our lighting design specialists deliver solutions that enhance wellbeing, improve sustainability and reduce operational costs, click the link below:

Preparing Hospitals for a Warmer Future: Why Cooling Infrastructure Matters More Than Ever

As temperatures continue to rise and periods of extreme heat become more frequent, healthcare estates face increasing pressure to maintain safe, comfortable and resilient clinical environments. Whilst patients and visitors rarely see the infrastructure operating behind the scenes, cooling systems play a vital role in ensuring hospitals can continue functioning efficiently throughout the year.

The Growing Challenge of Overheating in Healthcare Buildings

Engineering Solutions That Keep Hospitals Running

Delivering Long-Term Resilience

International Women in Engineering Day 2026

Last week, Regional Director, Lindsay Wood, was invited to support an event for International Women in Engineering Day. She went along to Turnbull High School to provide the students with valuable insight into the sector and discuss the pathway into its many different fields.

By Lindsay Wood

I was pleased to be invited to attend the 7th annual International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) event at Turnbull High School. The primary purpose of this event is to encourage girls to consider engineering as a career path through discussion and practical engagement in core engineering principles.

It was encouraging to see that around 70 female pupils from second year, from schools across East Dunbartonshire, attended the day-long event to meet women in the engineering field and find out more about the jobs they do.
Including myself, female engineers from 8 different organisations attended the event. It featured an icebreaker, practical group activities, and a Q&A session for pupils to be able to ask all the engineers about our routes into engineering, our career pathways, and more about our specific jobs.

The girls worked in smaller groups, rotating around various practical activities that the engineers had prepared related to our specific fields of engineering. We created a wide range of activities to spark their imaginations and show how different engineering roles can have significant positive impacts on society. These activities ranged from building structures from paper straws and paper that had to withstand the wind loading of a hairdryer, bridges between tables made from Knex, to building a railway & working out the signalling controls, to improving the internal environment of a space using building services.

In DSSR’s activity, the girls were invited to consider how they could improve their classroom environment using a variety of measures, but working within a cost budget, with improvement targets for carbon, air quality & comfort. I was proud to see the girls discuss the merits of the various measures and the competing requirements that some of the targets posed. They quickly learned (as will be familiar to my colleagues in the engineering field) that in order to achieve their budget, compromise was needed!

It may have been the result of a throwaway remark to my daughter’s maths teacher, but I am very happy to have been invited to support the International Women in Engineering Day and help the next generation of women get a better understanding of the opportunities in the sector and, more broadly, how engineering influences their environment.

DSSR attend the All-Energy Conference at SEC

The DSSR Sustainability team was represented at the All-Energy Conference at the SEC Event Campus by Sustainability Specialist, Atheya Rajeev. Here is her account of the event:

By Atheya Rajeev

As part of the sustainability team, I attended the All-Energy Conference at SEC Event Campus. I engaged with a wide range of important topics, covering grid & networks, local & community energy, heat decarbonisation, and retrofitting in the built environment. It was particularly encouraging to see a strong alignment across sectors towards achieving net zero, alongside a clear emphasis on empowering the next generation to lead and shape the future energy workforce.

My highlights included sessions on the following topics:

• Clean Power 20230: Are we still on Track?
• Alleviating Fuel Poverty Through Community Ownership
• Heat Network Scotland – A Home and a Voice for the Heat Network Sector in Scotland
• Retrofit Realities: Delivering Warmer and Healthier Homes on the Road to Net Zero

The sessions attended provided a strong cross-sector perspective on the challenges and opportunities shaping the UK’s transition to a net zero energy system, many of which directly reflect the work we are delivering at DSSR.

Much of the discussion explored whether current policy, infrastructure investment and delivery capacity are sufficient to meet national targets, highlighting the critical role of grid resilience, coordinated planning and demand reduction. These are areas where DSSR actively contributes through intelligent building services design, reducing operational energy demand at source while supporting wider system decarbonisation.

A recurring theme across the shorter sessions was the importance of people-centred and place-based solutions. The session on alleviating fuel poverty through community ownership demonstrated how local energy models can deliver both social value and long-term resilience, aligning closely with DSSR’s ethos of creating efficient, cost-effective buildings that deliver tangible benefits for end users.

Discussions around Heat Network Scotland reinforced the growing importance of low-carbon heat infrastructure, an area where our in-house expertise—including CIBSE Heat Network consultancy and low-carbon energy assessment—allows us to support clients in navigating emerging policy and technical requirements.

The “Retrofit Realities” session was particularly relevant to the built environment, focusing on the practical challenges of upgrading existing buildings to meet net zero targets while improving occupant health and comfort. This mirrors a significant proportion of DSSR’s current project work, where our sustainability specialists apply advanced modelling, BREEAM methodologies and performance-led design to balance fabric improvements, services upgrades and whole-life carbon considerations.

As I noted earlier, I was particularly encouraged to see such a focus on the diverse ways we can achieve net zero, and what I believe is a vital emphasis on empowering the next generation of the future energy workforce. It is essential to have a meaningful commitment to delivering low-carbon, high-performance buildings through multidisciplinary collaboration, evidence-based design and a proactive approach to sustainability.

Delivering Safe, Resilient and Future-Ready High Voltage Infrastructure

At DSSR, our High Voltage (HV) expertise is centred on delivering robust, efficient and future-proof electrical infrastructure that underpins critical operations across healthcare, education, industrial and commercial sectors. From feasibility through to detailed design and delivery, we provide a fully integrated HV service that ensures reliability, compliance and long-term resilience for our clients’ assets.

Comprehensive High Voltage Design and Consultancy

DSSR offers a complete suite of HV services, including network design, load assessments, substation design, cable routing, protection coordination and system studies. Each project is carefully assessed to develop optimised infrastructure solutions that balance capital cost with operational efficiency and long-term maintainability.

Supporting Decarbonisation and Future Energy Demands

As the built environment evolves, high voltage infrastructure is playing a critical role in enabling decarbonisation. Electrification of heat, electric vehicle infrastructure and renewable energy integration are placing increasing demands on electrical networks.

A Trusted Partner for Critical Infrastructure

DSSR has delivered HV solutions across a wide range of sectors, with particular strength in healthcare estates requiring uninterrupted power and complex system integration. Our collaborative working style ensures close alignment with design teams, contractors and stakeholders throughout delivery.