Burns & McDonnell has hired industry veteran Mike Starbuck to launch and lead the company’s European Mission Critical data centre services from the UK. The new business practice will be based in London and will be focused on data centre design consultancy for clients across Europe.

The move will support continued expansion in the UK and cement the country’s place as the US firm’s European headquarters. Burns & McDonnell opened its first European office in Birmingham in 2017. The growing Birmingham team is currently delivering transmission and distribution projects for energy sector clients, supporting the UK’s transition to a net zero carbon footprint.

Starbuck will lead a new Burns & McDonnell London team, supporting the multidiscipline design and consultancy services of data centres and other mission critical facilities throughout Europe. The team will draw on experience of the UK energy sector, as well as the global business’ in-house expertise in mission critical projects.

Starbuck’s industry experience includes 30 years of mission critical project work supporting some of the world’s largest technology and data center companies. He joins Burns & McDonnell from a global engineering firm, where he has spent 12 years as Technical Director.

Burns & McDonnell UK’s Head of Mission Critical, Mike Starbuck, said:

The deep experience Burns & McDonnell has supporting and leading mission critical projects around the world, paired with the strong knowledge of the UK energy sector make the business well-suited to be a disruptor in the market.

“I’m looking forward to leveraging my experience to establish and grow the mission critical practice in London. I’m determined that we will build on the success of the mission critical practice by hiring the best people and leveraging the global business’s wide expertise to provide a high-quality service and boost our growth.”

Burns & McDonnell Principal, Robert Bonar, said:

“Mike has a deep, holistic understanding of the mission critical market and we’re excited to add his strengths and experience to our robust team of professionals supporting design, construction and planning projects around the world.”

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.