Steensen Varming is an engineering firm headquartered in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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History

It was founded by Niels Steensen and Jørgen Varming in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1933. The firm specialised in civil, structural and building services engineering. During the 20th century, the practice grew out of Denmark and new offices were established in Australia (Steensen Varming Australia ‐ 1973), United Kingdom (Steensen Varming Mulcahy ‐ 1957) and Ireland (Varming Mulcahy Reilly Associates ‐ 1947). Jørgen Varming was the son of a prominent Danish architect,

Kristoffer Varming Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

; Jørgen studied engineering at the University of Newcastle.

Sydney Opera House

Steensen and Varming were chosen by the Danish architect

Jørn Utzon Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzo ...

as the mechanical consulting engineers for the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

in Sydney in 1957. The Australian branch of Steensen & Varming Australia (later to be known as Steensen Varming) was led by Vagn Prestmark a partner from the Danish Steensen & Varming firm. Prestmark established Steensen Varming in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1957 and the company was permanently established in Australia in 1973. Steensen & Varming was not well known in Australia prior to the Sydney Opera House, it was however well established in Europe with offices in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

and employed over 500 people by 1973. When Utzon resigned from the Sydney Opera House in 1966, Steensen & Varming continued as the mechanical consultants ultimately delivering the design, documentation, contract administration and detailed site supervision of all mechanical, hydraulic and fire protection services, including the controls and supervisory system. Steensen Varming's most known contribution to the Sydney Opera House, was the design for the water

heat pump A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...

system. The architects and engineers agreed that constructing a boiler chimney stack or a cooling tower, would not be in keeping with the design of the Opera House, which ruled out the two normal approaches for large-scale air conditioning. Steensen Varming provided the design solution in using a heat pump system, which used water from the harbour as the cooling agent. There were three main considerations which led to the design of the Opera House air conditioning as a heat pump system, the availability of the waters of Sydney harbour as a heat sources and sink, the aesthetics and the savings that could be achieved with a water-to-water heat pump. Three pumps draw water from

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

, the water is filtered to remove debris and then passes through tubes and is discharged into the harbour at the opposite side of the Opera House. Fresh water circulates between the heat exchanger shells and the shells of the condenser and evaporators of three centrifugal chillers / heat pump sets. The design innovation and technical expertise demonstrated in this landmark project subsequently led to the awarding of other projects in Australia to the Steensen Varming practice. The engineering construction of the Sydney Opera House was featured in a

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

production hosted Richard Hammond called Engineering Connections. The programme aired in Australia on 13 March 2010. Part of the documentary featured the seawater heat rejection system originally designed by Steensen Varming and assistance on this documentary was provided by Steensen Varming who acted as technical liaison to the production team.

Australian projects

Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre

Steensen Varming was the first Australian organisation to win an Award of Excellence from the

International Association of Lighting Designers The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) is a learned society of architectural lighting designers founded in 1969 and based in Chicago. History In 1969, a group of lighting designers—including Ray Grenald—established the ...

for the lighting of the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, Sydney. The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre was one of the last architectural designs by the architect

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauh ...

and was completed in 2008.

The Mint, Historic Houses Trust Australia

The

Sydney Mint The Sydney Mint in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is the oldest surviving public building in the Sydney central business district. Built between 1811 and 1816 as the southern wing of the Sydney Hospital, it was then known as the ''Rum Hospi ...

was recently named as one of 30 projects that have reshaped the built environment since 1978. "The refurbishment project is an example of the Integration of services systems (by Steensen Varming), to provide a modern, functional headquarters while minimising the impact on the heritage and archaeological fabric of a site."

References

External links

* {{Official website Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1933 Danish brands Danish companies established in 1933 Engineering consulting firms Engineering companies of Denmark Engineering companies of Australia Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Engineering companies of the Republic of Ireland Service companies based in Copenhagen Companies based in Copenhagen Municipality