A new campaign to promote civil engineering in Wales has been launched (29 March) by Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development John Griffiths at a site visit to the West Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme in north Wales.
The campaign is simply called “This is Civil Engineering” and has been designed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru to demonstrate examples of civil engineering to the general public through the display of vinyl banners and signboards at sites during construction and immediately following completion of works. The banners and signboards feature a QR code linked to a dedicated page on the ICE website that explains what civil engineering is and what civil engineers do. The page also contains links to more detailed civil engineering information and navigation to the rest of the ICE website for those interested in becoming civil engineers and a link to the ICE’s education pages for schools to find out more. ICE Wales Cymru has also produced A3 posters for site offices and visitor centres.
A number of sites across Wales already have This is Civil Engineering banners and signboards as part of a trial roll out of the campaign. The breadth of civil engineering can be seen from the types of schemes already proudly displaying their banners: two coastal defence schemes in north Wales; a cycle way in south east Wales; a land slip remediation project in west Wales; and a major city centre highways scheme in Swansea.
The Environment Minister said:
"We know that flooding and coastal erosion is a growing problem here in Wales and that more and more Welsh homes are at risk.
"The Welsh Government is investing over £100m, supported by money from European Regional Development Fund, in a programme of flood and coastal erosion risk management improvement schemes to help protect Welsh homes and businesses from this problem. This means more construction projects, such as this one here in Rhyl.
"It also means that going forward we will need more highly skilled civil engineers in Wales to help take forward this important work. That is why I am delighted to endorse this campaign by the Institution of Civil Engineers to promote engineering as a career option and to highlight the Rhyl coastal defence scheme as an example of why engineers are so crucial to the future of Wales."
Keith Jones, Director ICE Wales Cymru said: “This is Civil Engineering promotes the contribution of civil engineering to society and we are proud to have developed the campaign in Wales. We are currently working closely with colleagues at the Institution to roll out this campaign across the UK. Our colleagues in Scotland are particularly eager for banners to be displayed during construction work leading up to the Commonwealth Games next year.”
The launch of the campaign took place during a site visit to the £8.25 million West Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme - an example of a civil engineering project which will have a huge impact for local people by reducing the threat of flooding to over two thousand residential properties and more than 500 commercial properties. The scheme (www.rhylcoast.co.uk) is funded from the European Regional Development Fund and Welsh Government for Strategic Flood and Coastal Risk Management Project.
Photo caption: L to r: Mike Wellington, Director (Fluvial Design) Martin Wright Associates; Ian Davies, Chairman ICE Wales Cymru; John Griffiths, Welsh Government Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development; and Keith Jones, Director ICE Wales Cymru, launching This is Civil Engineering campaign at West Rhyl Coastal Defence scheme. Photo by Phil Micheu.
If you are interested in displaying a vinyl banner at your site please contact us at wales.cymru@ice.org.uk with the name of the scheme. We also have A3 posters available.
West Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme Information
- The scheme will reduce the threat of flooding to 2,139 residential and 560 commercial properties.
- The scheme will use in the region of:
- 7,000 cubic metres of concrete
- 60,000 tonnes of rock armour, which has been sourced locally from Halkyn and Gwalchmai, Anglesey
- 800 tonnes of steel sheet piling, which is a fundamental part of the defences
- Martin Wright Associates, together with partners, Cascade Consulting, AECOM, and ABPMer were awarded the contract for the design of the scheme and Morrison (trading as Galliford Try Infrastructure) is the contractor constructing the works on site.
- For more information visit www.rhylcoast.co.uk (which has a link to Facebook and) Twitter: @rhyl_coast or text “rhyl” to 60066 for free text alerts on the scheme.