The role of President is the highest honour that ICE members can bestow upon another member. Those holding this esteemed office can trace a remarkable lineage back to John Smeaton, Thomas Telford and other leading figures from the history of civil engineering.

The President holds office for one year and is the head of the Institution performing functions that are somewhat similar to those of a Non Executive Chairman in a commercial organisation. He/she is responsible for championing and promoting the policies and interests of the profession in the public arena, as agreed by the ICE Council.

Our President: David Malcolm Orr
MSc CEng CEnv FICE FIAE FIEI FIHT

Listen to a recording of David Orr's Presidential Address online now, along with slides and video from his presentation

Read a transcript of David Orr's Presidential Address in PDF format

Find out more about David Orr's apprentices

Read David Orr's weblog

David Orr's Portrait

Date of birth:    19 August 1953
Appointment: : Director of Central Procurement Government of Northern Ireland

Biographical Details:

David Orr is the Corporate Services Director for the Northern Ireland Department of Finance and Personnel.  He is responsible for finance, personnel and business planning in the Department as well as a number of reform projects across the NI Civil Service, including the IT shared service centre and a major PPP programme to transform the Government office estate.   David was formerly the Director of Central Procurement for the NI Government and before that was the Director responsible for developing, maintaining and operating Northern Ireland´s 25,000kms of public roads, including the delivery of capital and maintenance works with an annual programme value of £225m.  He was also the Lead Director for Roads Service's £370m PPP programme and led the development of the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan and Northern Ireland´s Strategic Network Transport Plan.

After graduating with honours from Queens University Belfast, David joined Roads Service in 1974.  In 1978 he was awarded a Master of Science degree from Queens for research on pavement management systems.  He became a Winston Churchill Fellow in 1990 following studies in Canada, Germany and Holland on design and construct techniques.

David has always been active in professional matters.  He served as the Honorary Secretary of ICE Northern Ireland from 1994 to 1997, represented the region on the ICE Council  from 1997 to 2003 and was Chairman of ICE Northern Ireland in 2003-04.  He is a Chartered Environmentalist, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering.

David was elected ICE Vice President in 2004 and became ICE President in 2007. He has also chaired the Executive Board, the UK Regional Affairs Committee and the Reservoirs Committee.  He led the Review of ICE Governance which was approved by the Council in November 2006.

 Email: president@ice.org.uk