A historic US engineering and construction firm has chosen Birmingham for its first UK office.

Burns & McDonnell, which was founded in 1898 by two Stanford University engineering graduates, specialises in designing and building infrastructure throughout the world.

It has taken space in Quayside Tower, Broad Street, and the UK business will be led by managing director Jonathan Chapman and business development director Jeff Casey.

Mr Chapman said: "We are really excited to be establishing Burns & McDonnell's first UK office here in Birmingham.

"The company is looking to expand and the UK is an obvious market in terms of infrastructure and commonality of engineering practice and compliance.

"We want to build on our track record and use our experience to deliver in the UK.

"We are facing disruptive challenges in the electric industry here in the UK.

"These challenges require innovation in the types of investment and technology deployment to support renewable energy, energy storage, connection of new nuclear and the shift to electric vehicles.

"It's a natural evolution as resources and supporting technology get pushed to achieve even higher levels of grid performance.

"We are looking forward to investing here and building our business here."

Burns & McDonnell is headquartered in Kansas City and employs 5,700 staff across its network of US and global offices.