Introducing the new Breaking Silos series, the ICE’s Aimee Jones and CIWEM’s Kieran Murnane urge the industry to collaborate.
We’re in the midst of a global climate and nature emergency.
Sentences like this are often thrown around the industry, from project meetings and lectures to conversations at conferences and events.
It’s become almost business as usual to mention these interconnected crises.
By raising them we tick a box. But are we actually doing enough?
The industry is moving too slowly
The severity of these global emergencies isn’t being matched with enough urgency.
The industry is starting to mitigate its contribution to these issues, but at a dangerously slow pace.
Clients and projects continue to prioritise budget and programme, often failing to recognise that our existence relies on the health of our natural systems.
We need to shift mindsets across the industry towards protecting and enhancing nature as a business-as-usual activity.
We need to move away from building purely functional infrastructure to creating spaces that actively generate positive social outcomes.
We need to focus on resilience.
Adaptation as well as mitigation
Historically, most of the industry’s effort in the fight against climate change has been on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reaching net zero.
While this is of course crucial, we now need to accept the ‘baked in’ impacts of climate change that we will continue to face in decades to come.
This means focusing efforts on adapting to climate change and bringing resilience to our infrastructure.
All while delivering social outcomes to bring our communities into the heart of projects, remembering the fundamental missions of our work.
Action needs to be taken immediately.
What are silos and why do we like them so much?
Our collective industries, sectors, professions and individuals need to take responsibility and drive change collaboratively, breaking down the dangerous silos that have developed over time.
A word thrown around regularly, a silo’s most basic definition is a tower, trench or pit whose main purpose is to store animal feed and prevent any interaction with the surrounding environment.
It’s apt that it’s taken on a strikingly similar second meaning. It represents the artificial structures that we, in our various sectors, have built to keep us talking to the people we’re familiar to and comfortable with.
Engineers with engineers, ecologists with ecologists, finance managers with finance managers. Animal feed with animal feed.
They’re the isolated groups that keep us in our comfort zone.
Introducing the Breaking Silos series
With this in mind, we’re launching an article series to bring together a diverse group of young professionals who will delve into a broad range of themes, including:
- Climate resilience
- Shifting mindsets and putting nature first
- People-positive infrastructure
- Influencing decision making as a young professional
The initiative fosters connections between the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). It aligns with the 2023/24 presidential themes of both institutions.
Each article will be written by an ICE member and a CIWEM member.
The need to break down silos and increase collaboration is at the heart of this initiative, driven by the ICE President’s Future Leaders and CIWEM’s Early Careers Network.
In time, we hope to see more institutions joining us!
Supporting the theme of collaboration
We’re facing many interconnected challenges that can’t be solved by individual disciplines or organisations.
As such, collaboration is a key thread running through the presidential themes of CIWEM and the ICE.
Bushra Hussain, CIWEM’s current president, speaks of the need to connect a community that’s inclusive and accessible for all.
She’s passionate about connecting multi-disciplinary professionals and communities across the world.
She believes in tapping into the wisdom that can be found in cultures from every corner of the globe to address the global water and environmental challenges we’re facing.
ICE President Professor Anusha Shah has emphasised the importance of making connections for a nature- and people-positive world.
She’s highlighted that building assets which do less harm to our natural world is not good enough anymore.
Our infrastructure needs to interact with nature in a way which is restorative and regenerative, rather than extractive. And a net zero and a nature-positive future is impossible without being people-positive.
The need for collaboration and for making connections doesn’t just apply geographically, though greater global cooperation is a key emphasis for Bushra and Anusha.
It also relates to the silos that exist within the departments, organisations, and sectors we work in.
If young people from different institutions can start to make collaboration across sectors and disciplines business-as-usual, this will set the standard as they move from industry newcomers to leaders.
The role of early career professionals
We need early career professionals to be connected to the wider industry.
They need to be aware of the challenges and the role we play, and connect to the other institutions and individuals working in this space.
We need a solid foundation of knowledge to build upon and make change in the industry.
We need to make our voices heard about these challenges, as we bring a fresh and unique perspective to the industry.
Most importantly, we need to channel our passion to make impactful change in the industry, not being afraid of rocking the boat or challenging the status quo.
And we need others to amplify our voices.
Join us in this critical conversation!
Become a Resilience Champion
Do you want to be part of sharing the latest and greatest solutions to address the climate crisis?
Help us deliver best practice by becoming an ICE Resilience Champion, an initiative from ICE President Prof Anusha Shah celebrating sustainable, inclusive and resilient infrastructure.
Apply now
