BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom — Burns & McDonnell has hired Polly Osborne to join its growing UK team. The electrical engineer will work on the networks, integration and automation team working on future network projects.

Polly is based in the company’s Birmingham head office and has become part of a team of engineers led by James Crouch, who joined the business in January.

The Aston University graduate has served as a volunteer STEM Ambassador in the UK helping teachers engage students outside of the classroom. Polly will continue to offer her time and experience to encourage and inspire young people across the West Midlands and the UK to explore science, technology, engineering and math and consider pursuing a career in engineering.

Polly recently spent a week at Burns & McDonnell’s world headquarters in Kansas City learning about the firm’s STEM outreach programs. The Burns & McDonnell Foundation offers opportunities for young people to learn more about STEM through job shadowing, school competitions and providing teaching resources. In 2017, Burns & McDonnell invested $1.6 million in education, primarily focused on STEM, and donated 12,000 volunteer hours to STEM education activities. Part of Polly’s role will be to see how the program can be expanded into the West Midlands and the UK as part of its long-term commitment to investing in local communities.

Polly’s experience includes delivering high voltage network upgrades up to 132kV. She has already completed a work-based FDEng in Electrical Power Engineering at Aston University, a specialist foundation degree designed for the electrical utilities industry.  She also obtained a Masters of Physics (MPhys) from University of Southampton in 2014.

Polly said: “I am excited to be part of a firm with so much history, technical expertise and passion for the projects it undertakes. I’ve joined the UK team at an exciting time of progress and innovation and am looking forward to seeing the company develop and expand in the UK in the coming months and years.

“It has been a pleasure to use my new role as a way to share my experience with students and young women thinking about pursuing a similar career.  I have enjoyed meeting with my colleagues in the US to learn about the ways Burns & McDonnell gives back to its communities and reaches out to young people to make a difference.

“Strong skills and broad diversity in engineering are incredibly important for the sector’s future prosperity, and it was really encouraging to see the scale of commitment to this in the number of events for school girls in the run up to International Women in Engineering Day this month.”

Jonathan Chapman, Burns & McDonnell’s UK Managing Director, said:

“I am pleased that, as our business works to meet the challenges in the UK electric industry, we are continuing to build a team of highly talented engineers and specialists.

“Polly comes to us at an exciting time, as the business secures significant contracts and builds meaningful relationships with businesses, local government and education.  Her knowledge gained from time spent in the sector, as well as her passion and commitment to engineering excellence, are why we hired her, and we are all looking forward to getting her involved in Burns & McDonnell’s long-term investment plans for the UK.” 

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a private, employee-owned engineering, design and construction firm with more than 6,000 professionals located in offices throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employees. We are ranked by Engineering News-Record as No.1 in Power and Electrical Transmission & Distribution.

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 a completely integrated service from concept to completion.

In 2017 Burns & McDonnell opened its first UK office in Birmingham. With 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.