Hoare Lea

Hoare Lea was founded by Henry Lea in 1862. With an expertise spanning the mechanical and electrical disciplines, he was the first person to advertise himself as a Consulting Mechanical Engineer when he opened his office in Birmingham.

Lea pioneered electrical lighting, and methods of efficient heating and air conditioning systems. In 1882, Lea supervised one of the first electrical lighting systems installed in a public building at Birmingham Town Hall. Other notable examples of Lea's work include the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, widely recognised as one of the first air conditioned buildings in the world.

Lea died in 1912 leaving control of the practice to his son, Fred M. Lea, also an engineer and his long-standing principal assistant. During the inter war recession, the firm continued to design for public buildings, and in 1939, Donald Lea amalgamated the practice with that of Edwin S. Hoare and Partners of Bristol to form Hoare Lea. Hoare Lea transitioned its legal status from a partnership to limited liability partnership (LLP) on 1 May 2016.

In July 2021, 900-strong Hoare Lea was acquired by US firm Tetra Tech, a firm with 21,000 employees and revenue of over $3bn.

The firm has a range of specialist teams to complement its mechanical and electrical engineering discipline.

Acoustics: engineering, architectural and environmental

CGI: architectural 'lighting accurate' visualisations, animations, interactive and real time presentations/walkthroughs

Communications: Integrated systems for the workplace