A new resource aimed at helping young engineers plan and deliver infrastructure for international development, poverty alleviation and a sustainable future was launched today by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
Developed by the out-going President Paul Jowitt and his twelve apprentices, the online toolkit provides wide-ranging advice and the responses to the challenges faced by engineers delivering infrastructure for the future.
Few graduates in the UK have experience of working within the context of international development, yet engineering is a global profession and vital to society. Sustainable infrastructure for development is crucial in promoting and driving a low carbon economy, providing the platform for an increasingly urbanised world and helping to lift communities out of poverty.
ICE President Paul Jowitt said working with the young engineers who will shape the new generation of civil engineering had been inspiring. “Civil engineers have a vital role to play in promoting sustainable development to the public, Government and within industry, taking responsibility for and raising awareness of the impact that unsustainable construction will have on our future and the future of our planet. We can literally build the world out of poverty and away from an environmental crisis with carefully planned and developed infrastructure. This toolkit is a guide to how to achieve this balance at every stage of delivering infrastructure projects worldwide.”
The toolkit is the first of its kind, and will act as a quick reference for engineers worldwide. It mirrors project delivery planning, covering four crucial stages:
Policy
Sustainable development needs to focus on reducing the impact of urban society impacts as well as providing communities with effective infrastructure services such as safe water and sanitation, and access to energy and transport.
Planning
It is during this phase of the infrastructure cycle that decisions are made as to what is to be constructed or maintained and at what cost. This is the stage where decisions need to be made that lead to sustainable and maintainable infrastructure.
Implementation
The design of infrastructure needs to be fit for purpose and also contribute to sustainable development.
In-use
The in-use phase of the infrastructure life cycle is critical and often where infrastructure projects fail. The use of appropriate technology and local, trained labour increases infrastructure reliability and resilience. It also boosts local economic development so that infrastructure services become affordable and can generate an adequate maintenance budget.
The twelve president’s apprentices come from all corners of the globe including the UK, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, China and Hong Kong (see full details on each in notes to editors). Working closely with Jowitt, they visited and studied a number of infrastructure development projects in Africa and attended a series of training workshops in London and at UNESCO HQ in Paris. They were tutored by several leading industry professionals led by the principal tutors, Fellows of the ICE Charles Ainger and Ron Watermeyer, to help them formulate the final toolkit.
Actor Bill Nighy, who has long supported international development as an Oxfam Global Ambassador and through his role in The Girl in the Café , praised the initiative saying: “Engineering is at the heart of most human endeavour, and to integrate it in this way to specifically address the problems of the developing world is admirable and to be encouraged. I salute this brilliant and original idea.”
View the full toolkit here www.ice.org.uk/patoolkit
UK: Charles Ainger (MWH/Cambridge); Martin McCann (RedR); Matthew Lynch (Engineers Against Poverty ); Professor Sohail Khan (WEDC); Dr Sue Cavill (DFID/WEDC); Professor Richard Carter (WaterAid); Neil Stansbury (GIACC); David Balmforth, John Pike, Tracey Gee (MWH); Jo da Silva, Dr Priti Parikh, Chris Jofeh (Arup); Tony Iles (Atkins); Ian McAulay, Mark Wilson & Daressa Frodsham (United Utilities); Richard Burrett (CPSL).
South Africa: Ron Watermeyer (Soderlund and Schutte Inc); Mike Lomas (Joint Civils Division SAICE); Pr Tom McKune ( Durban University of Technology); Allyson Lawless (Allyson Lawless & Associates (Pty) Ltd); Kevin Wall (CSIR)
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was founded in 1818 to ensure professionalism in civil engineering. It represents 80,000 qualified and student civil engineers in the UK and across the globe. The ICE has long worked with the government of the day to help it to achieve its objectives, and has worked with industry to ensure that construction and civil engineering remain major contributors to the UK economy and UK exports.