Michelle McDowell receives MBE for services to the construction industry

BDP is delighted to confirm that Michelle McDowell, chair of civil and structural engineering at BDP and current chair of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has been awarded an MBE for services to the construction industry in this year’s Queen’s birthday honours list.

Peter Drummond, Chief Executive of BDP, said of the award: "At BDP, we’re delighted for Michelle. She combines leading the engineering input on projects with a prime role in the ACE and other industry bodies and her contribution to BDP’s interdisciplinary ethos is enormous; she richly deserves this honour".

Michelle is a company director at BDP and chairs the civil and structural engineering group across the practice.  She has over 25 years’ experience in the engineering profession and has worked on award winning schemes across all sectors.  High profile projects include the redevelopment of the Royal Albert Hall, London and the British Council for Offices (BCO) awarded BBC Birmingham and Roche UK headquarters. An industry pioneer in the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), her passion is for integrated design, where the engineer and architect engage together from the outset of a project before ideas begin to form.

Michelle is also currently the first ever female chair of the ACE in its 97 year history.  The ACE represents the interests of over 100,000 people working in engineering and consultancy and her role is to represent the business interests of the profession through political influence, client representations and nurturing young talent.

An advocate for the huge opportunities that the ‘green’ economy will bring to the construction industry, Michelle is a member of the government’s Low Carbon Group. She is helping to set the strategy for how the construction sector can best deliver future carbon reduction commitments aiming to get the industry, its clients and government working together to prepare a clear, realistic proposition for a low carbon future.