CHICAGO, IL Burns & McDonnell has expanded its Environmental Services team with the addition of Chris Dowdell, a Project Manager who brings more than 13 years of industry and consulting experience to his work leading utility and industrial decommissioning and demolition (D&D) projects across the country.

"The regulatory, economic and operational challenges that our clients face are considerable," said Steve Nalefski, a Vice President at Burns & McDonnell and general manager of the firm's Environmental Services Group. "That's why we make sure our team is fully equipped to address the full life cycle of your assets, and Chris has that knowledge and experience. He's decommissioned and demolished power plants and industrial facilities, from a contractor perspective, and he uses that experience to help you make the best decisions going forward."

Dowdell joins the growing team of more than 450 environmental professionals at Burns & McDonnell who provide integrated services from planning and permitting to remediation for clients nationwide.

As a project manager working out of the firm's Chicago, Illinois, office, Dowdell helps utility and industrial clients with all phases of decommissioning and demolition (D&D), from plant shutdowns to facility retirements through site redevelopments. And because not all decommissioning planning results in demolition, Dowdell also assists utility clients with meeting FASB 143 accounting requirements by performing asset retirement obligation studies to determine long-term, end-of-life or retirement cost for facilities.

Having spent more than a decade working on and leading projects for a large-scale industrial demolition contractor, Dowdell knows what such firms need to know to make confident bids. That, in turn, leads to bids with improved cost predictability, leading to projects with change orders held to a minimum.

"Our clients are good at running their plants, and that comes naturally to them," Dowdell said. "Shutting down, decommissioning and demolishing a plant? That's new. They just don't have as much experience. That's where we come in: We truly understand the work, and understand the issues. We provide value, and that builds trust. We know what we're talking about. We become your trusted adviser."

Dowdell has worked on D&D projects, as a contractor or consultant, in 42 states. He received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Kutztown University.