[3] A lifelong Quaker, he registered as a conscientious objector when called to do National Service, and was directed to work as an agricultural labourer and then truck driver and dragline operator.
After graduation, he spent a short time in the office of Alvar Aalto before joining Ove Arup and Partners on the recommendation of architect Basil Spence.
Notable developments in Lambeth was the housing estate at Central Hill, at Kennington and the public library and auditorium at West Norwood, which Happold chose as the venue for his marriage to his wife Eve.
[4] After becoming head of Structures 3 at Ove Arup and Partners in 1967, he worked on landmark buildings such as the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre, of which Richard Rogers said at a lecture at Bath University: 'Of course, it was all Ted's idea'.
He collaborated with Frei Otto, setting up a laboratory to study lightweight tensile structures with Ian Liddell, Vera Straka, Peter Rice and Michael Dickson.