BIRMINGHAM — Burns & McDonnell has hired Zoe Dempsey as UK business development director. Dempsey, who joins from an independent, not-for-profit centre of excellence for the energy sector, is a member of the senior leadership team for Burns & McDonnell in the UK and heads the company’s business development work in the country. 

Burns & McDonnell is an engineering, architecture and construction firm that designs and delivers the overhead transmission, substation and underground transmission infrastructure that brings the electricity from offshore wind farms and power stations to towns and cities across the UK. With its UK headquarters in the centre of Birmingham, Burns & McDonnell provides the technical consultancy, engineering services and project delivery that are helping the U.K. adapt to the net-zero future set out by government policy.

Dempsey will support Burns & McDonnell clients in the UK and spearhead the firm’s growth in the energy market. She will work closely with Managing Director Jonathan Chapman to identify opportunities for innovation, in support of the long-term U.K. investment strategy of Burns & McDonnell.

Dempsey joins Burns & McDonnell from the Energy Systems Catapult, where she was head of account and bid management. The Catapult’s work helping UK businesses capture the opportunity of clean growth is aligned with Burns & McDonnell work planning for the UK’s transition to net zero.

Zoe Demspey, UK business development director at Burns & McDonnell, said:

“I’m excited to be joining the Burns & McDonnell team in Birmingham. The opportunity to work at the forefront of some of the UK’s most important challenges, including how to achieve access to clean energy for future generations, is extremely exciting. Whilst Burns & McDonnell has more than a century of experience in the US, the company is an exciting challenger in the UK and European markets. I’m looking forward to enjoying the best of both worlds in my new role.

“I’m also impressed by the company’s commitment to playing its part in improving gender diversity in the engineering sector, by both helping to inspire young female engineers in Birmingham and offering support throughout their career.”

Jonathan Chapman, UK managing director at Burns & McDonnell, said:

“Zoe is a fantastic addition to our team. Her skills, wide-ranging experience and Birmingham heritage make her the perfect fit for Burns & McDonnell. I’m looking forward to working closely with her and learning from her as we continue to expand Burns & McDonnell in the UK. This is a challenging time to join any workplace, but I’m enormously proud of the way we have responded as a team to these difficult circumstances, supporting our clients and each other.” 

This year, Engineering News-Record ranked Burns & McDonnell No. 1 in Power for the fifth consecutive year. Along with remaining No. 1 in electrical Transmission and Distribution, the firm placed among the top five in four other Power sectors, including Wind.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a private, employee-owned engineering, design and construction firm with 7,600 professionals located in offices throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employees.

We develop solutions through creating passionate partnerships, placing client service front and centre, understanding clients’ needs and striving to make them successful. Our employee ownership culture means that our success is closely aligned to our clients’ success. We are bold in how we develop solutions and challenge the norm, drawing from the whole company to find answers to some of the toughest questions. We work on some of the world’s most crucial infrastructure projects, delivering completely integrated service from concept to completion.

In 2017, Burns & McDonnell opened the UK office in Birmingham. With more than 120 years of experience designing and building infrastructure throughout the world, Burns & McDonnell is now taking forward a long-term investment plan in the UK.

With the UK energy market undergoing a transformation, our focus is on providing a differentiated service across technical consultancy, engineering services and project delivery as the UK adapts to a low carbon future underpinned by smart technologies.