harry macdonald steels

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Harry Macdonald Steels

Proceedings of the Institution ofCivil Engineers

Management, Procurement and Law

163

November 2010 Issue MP4

Pages 185191

doi: 10.1680/mpal.2010.163.4.185

Paper 800026Received 28/04/2008

Accepted 30/11/2009

Keywords:education & training/procurement/

recruitment

A short history for the future of engineering

H. M. Steels EurIng, CEng, CEnv, FICE, CMCIPD

The author has views on the development of the

profession for the twenty-first century which are both

challenging and provocative. By contrasting the Victorian

industrial revolution with the major changes in society

needed today, a fundamental review of the professions

raison detre is suggested, as is a radical rethink of theeducation and training of civil engineers. The author

believes that the standards are already set and that there

are the germs of a renaissance, but that industry and the

profession at large have yet to realise their full

significance.

1. BACKGROUND

There seems little doubt that the world which new entrants to

the civil engineering profession face will be very different to

that with which the profession has become complacently

familiar, even if some of the reasons are disputed. Is the

profession developing its young civil engineers to be capable of

shaping this future?

Plenty of people are beginning to talk about the environmental

problems faced by the world, but there is arguably only one

profession which has the holistic wherewithal to do something

about them, and that is civil engineering. The profession needs

to decide how it can best train the next generation of civil

engineers to be capable of succeeding in what will be a

mammoth task.

This paper was originally a talk requested by ICEs Edinburgh

and East of Scotland Region on 20 February 2008. Editing it for

publication required changes which revealed just how far theprofession has moved in less than 2 years. The paper still asks

many questions and makes some suggestions to further promote

the debate.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The last time the UK faced an upheaval of the magnitude of this

one was the Industrial Revolution, during which the profession

emerged and reigned supreme. Many of todays problems may

have been inadvertently generated by this revolution, but I

believe civil engineers can also learn useful lessons from it.

It was a revolution which took place over more than 100 years longer than may be available this time. The start was the

exploitation of water, both for more reliable power than the wind,

and also for low-friction transport navigations and canals.

Distribution was important for the unprecedented quantities of

goods being produced in the new factories, which were just

beginning to exploit water, then steam power, as an energy

source. Alongside the transport construction boom, there was an

equally massive building boom mills and factories, and the

towns and cities to supply labour.

The development of the mobile steam engine eventually led to

the Stockton & Darlington railway, which opened in 1825.

Seven years earlier, the Institution had been founded by a small

group of young civil engineers in what was still largely an

agrarian country, but which was just beginning to become

industrialised, about 40 years after the start of the canal age

and just at the beginning of railway mania.

The Society of Civil Engineers founded in 1771 (which became

the Smeatonian Society in 1830), professed to be (1879),

promoting and communicating every branch of knowledge

useful and necessary to the various and important branches of

public and private work in civil engineering, but was in fact,

little more than a London dining club for men of more mature

years, and established reputations, to talk socially about their

work.

The group of young engineers saw the need for a forum to share

their knowledge and experience and mutually promote their

advancement. Their supervising engineers were too busy to

share it, or perhaps many bosses still felt that knowledge meant

superiority and power, and had no desire to relinquish either of

them. Broadening their understanding by discussion among

themselves became the learned society role of the Institution,now rebranded as engineering knowledge.

In 1828, the great source of power in nature was coal, harnessed

very inefficiently through steam. Coal is stored energy and was

portable (a battery) which could be carried to where the energy

was needed. From here on, the methods and geography of

distribution, for both goods and passengers, expanded rapidly.

Some 27 000 km of railway were constructed in the UK alone by

1885 (less than 60 years).

Amazingly, at the same time, these pioneering civil engineers

were building railways in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austriaand Switzerland; in Norway and Denmark; in Moldovia,

Saxony, Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, Poland and Russia;

in Syria and Persia; in Australia, Canada, India and Argentina,

Management, Procurement and Law 163 Issue MP4 A short history for the future of engineering Steels 185


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thereby successfully organising worldwide supply chains and

labour without aeroplanes, mobile phones or computers. It

would appear that improved methods of communication have

not resulted in a commensurate improvement in

communication.

Today the profession would have great difficulty raising the

finance through shareholdings and organising the logistics to

produce new infrastructure at the extraordinary rate managed

by these early engineers. In just one comparison, the motorway

programme, with central government finances, has managed to

build some 3200 km of road in roughly the same period.

There is certainly difficulty in overcoming the modern, stifling

political and planning systems, but these early engineers seem

to have had a stout determination to overcome political and

social obstacles a determination which the profession needs to

rekindle! For example, James Locke was only 29 years old when

in 1836 he confronted the acknowledged expert on railways by

proposing a railway to Scotland over Shap. George Stephenson

ridiculed the concept, both in public and in various select

committees winter weather would be an insurmountabledifficulty and trains would travel down hill with such velocity

that they would be in danger of running into the sea! It appears

that already, at the age of 40, Stephenson had become rather set

in his ways, losing that enthusiastic vision which had driven the

industry so far only a few years earlier.

It is complacent to presume that things were much easier for

these early railway builders; that there was little organised

opposition. In fact, there was huge opposition. Vitriolic, single-

issue action groups are certainly not a modern phenomenon. It

took Locke 11 hard years to

(a) fight off alternatives, including Stephensons Morecambe Baybarrage and Hudsons East Coast route

(b) refute the arguments of at least four organised and well-

funded pressure groups

(c) win over many vested interests, sceptical landowners and

politicians

(d) recruit canny shareholders to push his proposals through the

legal and political processes.

There was an iron-willed determination and a huge belief in

what he was proposing!

At the same time and at a similar speed, others were developing

materials and processes. Henry Bessemer patented his method ofmaking steel in 1856, but well before that, civil engineers were

exploiting cast and wrought iron in factories and bridges. The

development of methods of mass production led to factories

covering over 40 ha and employing more than a thousand

workers.

At first, people were in awe of the new power. They flocked to

the towns and cities, dreaming of earning their fortunes in the

new factories. Crowded city infrastructure and poor public health

became new problems for the profession to solve. Many of the

public infrastructure solutions devised are still in use today.

Processes for distilling coal tar for town gas heralded the

distillation of crude oil and the exploitation of natures second

battery oil. First pumped in abundance around the 1920s,

crude oil generates petrol and paraffin (or kerosene) at the high

end of the distillation process, essentially as waste products. A

colleague from Shell said, If the internal combustion engine

had not then existed, we would have had to invent it. The

public seems to equate lack of oil solely to reductions in their

personal mobility, without realising that they are utterly

dependent on oil-based products. If it is plastic, man-made fibre

or medicine, it is probably petrochemical. If it moves, it is

probably lubricated by petrochemicals. People even eat

petrochemicals. Modern lifestyle is dependent on

petrochemicals.

It is difficult to find figures for remaining oil deposits but it

does seem generally accepted that the world has already

consumed more than half of the original 2000 to 3000 billion

barrels of conventional deposits worldwide. At current usage

rates, the other half will last between 30 and 60 years. But oil

use is increasing in the developed world at the rate of 24% per

year and the emergence of South-east Asia will have a serious

effect. So the Earths most prolific battery may be flat in 25

years time, just as the current crop of graduates will be at

maximum influence!

The relative cheapness of diesel, kerosene and petrol has meant

that freight has been moved economically by road and air over

increasing distances. As a result, manufacture and distribution

have become concentrated into larger and larger factories and

storage depots, requiring an ever greater distribution network.

It has also enabled people to have their own personal transport

and the road network has proliferated at the expense of rail. As

a result, families dispersed and people started a love affair with

travel as a tourist industry; they have also become accustomed

to, and jealously guard, their personal travel space.

The advent of the aircraft has created the so-called global

economy. The local supermarket stocks fresh produce from

Chile and Brazil, Kenya and Egypt, Capetown and Idaho. It is

normal to flit over to Prague or New York for a weekends

shopping or a stag night. There are designer goods made in

China, Turkey and Chile. The UK imports cars made in Korea,

Malaysia and the Czech Republic. For how much longer?

3. THE PRESENT SITUATION

The production of large quantities of unusable by-products was

the first real hint that the Industrial Revolution would involve

the production of large quantities of noxious materials, freelydischarged into the air, poured into water courses or dumped on

the land. Public anxiety and concern about pollution forced the

government to legislate, one of the major examples being the

Public Health Act 1875 (1875). This legal backlash has

accelerated ever since, culminating in the Health and Safety at

Work etc Act 1974 (1974), which has spawned a plethora of

regulations and regulatory bodies ever since.

However, has legislation to defend society against unacceptable

practice now changed into draconian and restrictive laws,

needing armies of behaviour police, which actually prevent

initiative and restrict acceptable risk-taking?

The public has begun to realise the serious implications to the

environment of unrestricted development. During my lifetime,

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the breakdown of sea defences on the east coast in 1953,

earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes of increasing severity,

suggest that things are changing. Is more localised UK flooding

caused by climate change or is it merely the consequence of too

much development already on floodplains?

Fifty years ago, perceptive people such as Rachel Carson

brought to prominence the concept of the environment, together

with a respect for ecology (Carson, 1962). The latter was not, of

course, a new science, nor was the environment invented (or

discovered) in the 1950s. Concepts of what might be called

environmental protection were circulating 100 years before,

although not by that name. I would equate the past 50 years or

so to the canal age of the Industrial Revolution the slow start.

The biggest and most dramatic changes are yet to come!

The Institution recognised these changing perceptions by stating

(ICE, 1972) that the profession required knowledge & judgement

in the use of scarce resources, care for the environment and in

the interests of public health and safety. Farsighted words

which have stood the test of time.

By contrast, rapid advances in information technology have

given almost the entire world glimpses of what wealth they

could have. Expectations have been created by the media and

fed by the commercial obsession with market expansion.

Wealth creation is the new religion, evidenced by the rise of

new global economies in South-east Asia and India, based on

the western model.

The planets population continues to explode: from 1 billion in

1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974,

5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000

(www.globalchange.umich.edu). Medical science improves lifeexpectancy and rudimentary sanitation and potable water is

being engineered globally. Food is bulk grown and distributed,

thus giving rise to the belief that the planet can sustain many

more people than it does already only if bulk transport

remains economic.

The developing world sees no reason why it should not enjoy

similar standards of living to the affluent West. The demand for

energy and resources appears insatiable. Natural resources are

being consumed at a growing rate. If scientific predictions are

correct, future generations will be badly deficient in resources

and will experience a significantly changed climate. The effects

are likely to be very significant in the working lifetime of those

engineers now entering the profession.

4. FUTURE CHALLENGES

Todays graduates will largely reach the pinnacle of their powers

around 2025 and will probably have significant influence until

2050. What will be the challenges they must face? I suggest

they are

(a) clean water

(b) transport

(c) energy

(d) climate change(e) security

(f) urbanisation

(g) resource depletion.

4.1. Clean water

The consequences of greater life expectancy, urban

concentration of populations and gross exploitation are now

being made worse by man-made and natural contamination. In

the UK, recent floods in Gloucestershire threatened to pollute

the water supply to over half a million households. It is a

popular mantra that the south-east of England is short of water,

yet every time they flush a toilet, as much clean water is used

as serves a rural Indian family for a day. Everything is relative,

and it is up to civil engineers to explain and promote the need

to curb demand, and enable better distribution, in this and

many other resource uses.

Demand can no longer be driven by selfish wants and desires,

but by needs. Society can no longer afford to waste resources

but must harness what is left for the betterment of the entire

world. Clean water and adequate sanitation are surely rights for

all, yet a significant proportion of the worlds peoples do not yet

have it.

4.2. Transport

Already in the UK road space (needs not desires) is beingrationed, with congestion charging and variable speed limits.

The technology already exists via the satellites to give everyone

an energy allowance and then to monitor its use. I do not

believe engineers will be building many more roads in the UK;

rather they will be seeking innovative ways of making them

work more effectively, and one of those will be restricting their

use for all.

There is of course a huge resistance to reducing travel. Millions

of pounds have been spent marketing it as a must-have for

tourism, commuting and bulk transport. A similar amount of

effort will be needed to dissuade the same markets from

believing it has become a necessity. With supermarkets scouring

the globe for products, travellers desperate to see the worlds

marvels (as a friend said recently, I must see Venice before it

disappears) and daily work commuters, restriction is going to

take some doing.

There is a great urge for speed. A new railway from Englands

political heartland to Scotland must be high speed. Why? One

fails to see a corresponding increase in productivity from the

increased speed with which people can commute between

meetings. One only has to look at the productivity of Victorian

forbears to realise that speed is not an essential; they had

neither cars, nor computers, nor phones, nor aeroplanes noneof the paraphernalia now considered essential for

communication.

Greater speed costs a disproportionate increase in energy use. A

car uses fuel 20% more efficiently at 60 mph than at 70. Air

conditioning takes around 5 miles off a gallon, yet many people

leave it on all the time. Stricter enforcement of lower speed limits

would reduce the UKs dependence on fuel and would probably

cause travellers to reassess the need for their journeys.

Even at todays high prices, people are apparently unconcerned

by what they have to pay for convenience. They seem obliviousto losing a small fortune in depreciation or paying excessively

for the convenience of onions from Mexico. How much longer

can the average citizen sustain the escalating cost?



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4.3. Energy

Where will be the great sources of power in nature? The fossil

fuel batteries (coal, oil and gas) society has been discharging so

thoughtlessly are going flat and no one has yet found a viable

way of recharging them. Of the 98 oil-producing countries of

the world, 64 are thought to have passed their geological

production peak, and 60 of those are in terminal decline. The

public seems to equate this purely with a loss of mobility, but it

is far more serious than that.

There is a complacent assumption that petrol and kerosene will

be replaced by biofuels (no one seems to publicise the enormous

areas, irrigation and fertilisers needed to grow the crops) or

hydrogen (what energy is needed to produce the fuel?). But

what will be the replacements for petrochemical products, such

as the myriad of plastics?

Society has largely discharged or debased natures batteries. It

now need several things.

(a) Development of an attitude which conserves energy, rather

than profligate use as though it were inexhaustible.

(b) New ways of translating the energy from the sun into a usableresource. Windmills are elementary, rather like the canals and

horses of yesteryear. Tidal power is like Trevithicks crude

engine. Solar panels are in their infancy. Conversion rates

from fuel to power are notoriously low (30%). Society

desperately needs new, more efficient technology which does

far less environmental damage and can be mass produced. If

that is nuclear energy, how do civil engineers persuade the

public that such energy can be produced efficiently, and the

wastes dealt with safely?

(c) New and efficient ways to store and transport energy. A

recent candidate for membership dramatically improved the

efficiency of existing overhead power transmission lines, buthad to overcome sceptical resistance from the experts (who

nevertheless all gladly jumped on the bandwagon when it

worked). His personal odyssey is just one indication that the

profession does have the raw material in its young engineers.

4.4. Climate change

Although the causes may be disputed, there does seem to be

indisputable evidence that the globe is getting warmer and

weather patterns more violent. The UK public appears to believe

that it is just going to enjoy Mediterranean summers, when in

fact the predictions are that it will get wetter and wilder as well

as warmer.

So are the standards for UK infrastructure adequate? Already

motorways and sewer systems flood periodically in downpours.

Is localised flooding the result of climate change, or of too

much development of floodplains? Coastal protection is under

serious review. What of continuous welded rail lines? And

integral bridges?

Is sewage transport and treatment taking account of reductions

in water usage resulting from metering and higher charges, or

are designs still presuming the same percentage of solids. Tides

have already been close to inundating the Thames Barrier. The

Environment Agency admits that East Anglia was lucky in 2007when high tides did not, as anticipated, exactly coincide with a

full moon and strong winds. Westminster 6 feet deep in water

within hours screamed the headlines. No one mentioned the

(possibly terminal) vulnerability of the sewage and underground

transport systems.

Engineers must quickly determine new standards adequate for

the foreseeable future and then convince the powers that be to

do something. Few are talking about it so far, and the

population at large (abetted by the media) views any restrictions

on their freedom with extreme scepticism.

4.5. Security

Small groups of disaffected persons are now able to

communicate and gain knowledge quickly and very effectively.

The means by which they can cause mayhem become

increasingly devastating and diverse. Civil engineers and others

must define such hazards, evaluate the risks and formulate

realistic resistance whenever they are designing new

infrastructure. They must also contribute to a better worldwide

distribution of wealth and greater tolerance and understanding,

so that fewer people feel disaffected.

4.6. Urbanisation

Wealth creation has invariably necessitated the building ofcities around the centres of manufacture. This concentration of

population requires massive movement of goods and wastes,

with huge energy commitments. China, which readily admits to

plundering resources and damaging the environment to quickly

accumulate a huge treasure chest, now plans 20 new cities each

year for the next 20 years, moving 12 million people from rural

areas each year.

But there is a rapidly growing desire to protect the environment

in China. The first phase of Dongtan eco-city, which is three-

quarters of the size of Manhattan, is to be complete by 2010. It

is hoped to be self-sufficient in energy, water and most food,

with the aim of zero emissions of greenhouse gases in the

transport systems. Peter Head, the Director of Arup, who is

masterminding this extraordinary project, stated, It is no

gimmick. It is being led at the highest levels of the Chinese

government. So already the profession is developing the

expertise but can it stimulate the will drastically to alter

societys established way of life?

4.7. Resource depletion

It is not just energy sources that are being eliminated, but many

raw materials. The only renewable resource used is timber, and

that is not being renewed at anything like the quantity or quality

at which it is being consumed. Every other resource is finite.Engineers must find better ways of using, conserving and reusing

these scarce resources. They cannot go on digging holes in the

Earth to provide traditional materials, while being the largest

single waste-producing industry in the UK.

5. HISTORICAL LESSONS

What lessons can be learnt from the previous revolution by the

next generation of engineers?

5.1. Lesson 1. Political inertia

Politicians are forced by the electoral system to think relatively

short term, retaining power by proposing vote-catching policies.Very few, if any, have the background to begin to understand

the complexities of the environment. At a local level, engineers

have abdicated the responsibilities of the county surveyor and



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the borough engineer, upon whose wisdom so many politicians

depended in the past. They are thus unprepared and ill-advised

to confront the huge questions now needing answers and are

loathe to take unpopular decisions.

In the previous revolution, there was no expectation that

politicians might lead the change; they were carried along by

a great surge of engineers proposals, backed by shrewd

businessmen. It is good to see that at last some principles are

being agreed cross-party (the polluter pays principle is just

one example), binding on whoever succeeds in power. The

profession needs to drive more of this long-term, politics-free

commitment, forcing politicians to think beyond the next

election. The ICE initiative to promote a chief construction

officer (equivalent to the chief medical and chief scientific

officers) at the highest level of the civil service is a worthwhile

start. But it is only a start.

Civil engineers need to do more. Perhaps they should wrest back

the initiative and consider raising private capital, force enabling

bills through to acts of Parliament, taking public opinion with

them, and build the infrastructure deemed necessary (as somany Victorian engineers did).

5.2. Lesson 2. The opposition

Entrepreneurial ancestors faced huge opposition, both political

and social, but nevertheless they persuaded powerful men with

money to invest in major new projects, drove their enabling

bills through parliament and were not afraid of (occasionally)

failing. The profession today is greatly embroiled in private

finance initiatives, but they are still at the behest of

governments and in the stifling control of ultra-cautious civil

servants. Might that money achieve better value without such

limitations?

Huge resources have been expended by the retail industry to

persuade the populace to develop their standard of life to buy

more and better, to travel further and more often, to eat an ever

wider variety of produce. It is going to be very difficult indeed

to stop, let alone reverse, that thrust, driven by a continual need

to increase profits. Whole industries will go out of business and

all will contract to achieving just enough. Business leaders,

shareholders and others will have to fundamentally change their

thinking expressions such as turnover year-on-year and

increased sales compared to the same period last year will

become extinct.

This needs a very different approach to that of the first

revolution, where the accumulation of wealth was the prime

driver. Now society needs to promote a target of well-being, of

sufficiency, of satisfying need not selfish desire. This elimination

of greed and avarice certainly cannot be achieved by civil

engineers alone, but they could be catalytic ambassadors.

5.3. Lesson 3. Experience

The engineers who drove the revolution were young. Locke, in

his early twenties, was the same age as Brassey, his main

contractor. Trevithick made his first high-pressure steam engine

when aged 26. Stephenson made his initial breakthrough onmobile steam engines at a similar age, but had become set in his

attitudes by the time he was 40. The older generation must learn

from his typical obduracy.

Elders must rather use their experience to temper the

enthusiasm of youth, to ask questions, rather than as a cautious

brake, forcing the repetition of familiar (tried and tested)

solutions. The chairman of the ICE graduate awards 2007 said,

The problems facing society at large, and the need to create a better and

sustainable built environment, can only be solved by engineers with

imagination, interdisciplinary understanding and with a confidence

that comes with knowledge and experience. The talent is in the pipeline,

and the judges were given a clear sight of the potential. All we need to

do is to get on with it!

Too many companies are not getting on with it. A notable

exception is the armed forces, whose officers in Iraq and

Afghanistan are frighteningly young but very well trained. To

release talent is indeed a serious hazard, the risks of which can

be managed, just like any other (not all the Victorian schemes

were a success), but few seem inclined to assess and manage

that release.

5.4. Lesson 4. Established practice

There was a determination to create, embrace and exploit new

ideas and materials, by going back to fundamentals, thinkingproblems through in new or different ways. A lawyer first

pointed out to me what a civil engineer actually decides, At this

time, with these resources, in these circumstances, this is the

best I can do to which must now be added, for the foreseeable

future. It is he said, a very strong engineering decision which

can be defended in a court of law, but is not absolute. One of

those circumstances is bound to change, so the same problem

tomorrow may have a different solution to that of today.

This is a huge responsibility. Many young engineers do not see

their role this way; they are constrained to comply with

established best practice; their lateral thinking has been

squashed under a risk-averse plethora of rules and regulations.

6. WHERE TO START

6.1. The education system?

Where should the identification and nurture of real talent begin?

I do not believe the educational systems currently in vogue have

the ability. The state-imposed common standards, which the great

majority of students are required to achieve at every stage, must,

of necessity, be lowest common denominators rather than highest

common factors. To ensure advancement of the individual and

continued supporting finance for the school, college or university,

all students must conform. This is the antithesis of what is

needed, and it is unlikely to change quickly enough. Only in sportdo young, talented individuals appear to be sought out and sent

off to academies of excellence. So it is up to the industry to

identify and nurture talent. Perhaps the profession (with

industrial sponsorship) might consider setting up an academy of

excellence. Could this be done by expanding its existing

sponsorship scheme, Quest?

But could at least the universities do something? Is too much of

an engineers education the mere transmission of established

best practice, rather than developing an understanding of

fundamental principles? Is there too much emphasis on the

technical aspects of the profession, resulting in graduates whobelieve that analytical calculations will form the majority of

their daily workload? Should the 4-year MEng and the 3-year

BEng degrees be differentiated not by more of the same but by



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something completely different, tailoring their intake

accordingly?

Is there a case for banning the use of computers in universities

producing MEng graduates (apart from word processing), to

avoid the methodical use of software and to refocus on the

principles? I remember years ago meeting two squash-playing

engineering friends, one with an applied science degree from

Oxbridge, the other with a practical degree from a polytechnic.

The latter told me, I even had to show him how to detail the

shear reinforcement in a concrete beam hed never done it at

university. He later explained to me why we did it that way.

There is certainly a strong case for developing a broader

understanding of the business, particularly the social risks. The

best undergraduates need to be taught to ask why? and

whether as well as what? and how?. The new civil engineer

must be able to predict and analyse who will benefit and who

will lose from any change they propose, and by how much.

Without this information, it is impossible to make a sound

judgement as to whether such a change should occur. Such

balanced decisions should not be left entirely to the whims ofpoliticians or the chance of formal public inquiries or

uninformed media pressure.

6.2. The workplace?

The civil engineering industry has traditionally used many

graduates for routine technical work, and some universities

have undoubtedly responded to a perceived vocational

requirement for such technicians. But one size cannot fit all.

Many talented engineers have, in the recent past, had to wade

through too many years of relatively mundane employment

before releasing themselves (very few employers set them free).

Too many of the particularly able have sought such release

outside the profession. The precocious talent is there in the

workplace but its frustration is all too apparent. Existing ICE

members must perhaps be wary of a repeat of the inaugural

meeting in Kendalls Coffee House.

The industry can no longer afford to suppress talent like this;

indeed, it needs to develop and exploit it far better than it has

ever before managed. The entire industry must identify, develop

and get maximum value from the talents of individuals,

utilising their strengths and identifying and rectifying any

weaknesses. Good graduates must not be allowed to succumb to

the comfort zone of routine familiarity.

At the same time, their managers must use their experience to

ensure that they do not run too loose, inadvertently taking

excessive risks, making costly mistakes, threatening indemnities

and the firms reputation, and possibly lives. A fine balance, but

the whole art of engineering is in judgement and compromise; it

is only that the profession has not applied it too well to its

people in the past.

6.3. Manage risks?

Society is now tangled in a web of restrictive legislation. The

need to minimise excessive despoliation and profiteering has

spawned too much legislation, which in turn has spawned anoverzealous, controlling bureaucracy. The avoidance of risk and

compliance with rules are now endemic in much of what civil

engineers do. They need to regain the initiative by challenging

the bureaucratic wet blanket, re-establishing public trust in their

competence and their ability to deal safely with risk.

Now, more than ever before, the profession must anticipate the

circumstances and consequences of each project, and minimise

or reuse scarce resources. It is not good enough merely to

depend solely on established best practice, enshrined in

standards and codes of practice, out of date on the day they are

published because they are based on prior experience. Many of

these modern codes leave little or no room for original thought;

they are merely manuals describing detailed systems of analysis

which must be followed to achieve compliance.

To cope with new demands, the profession must go back to

those inalienable fundamental principles, break away from

established best practice and make decisions based on

principles, not precedent. There are people and companies who

are doing these things already; the profession admires their

breathtaking breakthroughs in design, project management and

execution. But it is not yet a general or widespread

characteristic of the profession. It must become so if civil

engineers are to succeed in solving the problems of the future.

6.4. The profession?

The attributes which the Institution defined for a Member in

February 2006 in ICE3001 Routes to Membership (ICE, 2006) are

listed here in abbreviated form.

(a) Theoretical and evidence-based application of technology.

(b) Identify techniques, procedures and methods.

(c) Organise tasks, people and resources.

(d) Manage teams to meet change and quality.

(e) Independent engineering judgement.

(f) Budget within statutory and commercial frameworks.

(g) Know safety laws and identify hazards to manage risks.(h) Contribute to sustainable development.

(i) Communicate ideas and plans.

(j) Comply with Rules of Professional Conduct & Ethics.

Those are for a member, designated by the Engineering Council

as an Incorporated Engineer.

A chartered engineer is expected to add the following skills.

(a) Introduce and exploit new and advancing technology.

(b) Creative and innovative development of technology.

(c) Conduct research and evaluate effectiveness of solutions.

(d

) Direct, control and lead teams to continue improvement and

meet change.

(e) Holistic independent judgement.

(f) Use sound commercial and contractual understanding.

(g) Lead health, safety and welfare improvement.

(h) Lead sustainability improvements.

(i) Communicate new concepts and ideas to everyone.

These latter attributes do seem to sum up rather well the qualities

of the professions amazing Victorian predecessors. They also

build upon the Engineering Councils generic standards for all UK

chartered engineers, whatever their expertise, first set in 1972.

Sadly, these have never been enforced and the ICE is already

ahead of other nominated bodies in striving towards them.

It is clear that competence alone should no longer be sufficient at

chartered level. The Institution is seeking the next generation of



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leaders; those who have the vision and determination to produce

revolutionary solutions and the courage to take responsibility and

promote them. The industry must now respond.

ICE has set appropriate and perceptive targets, but the industry

has yet to realise that a chartered engineer is no longer merely

competent, but demonstrates the desire and commitment to

drive the industry forward into a new age. The profession is still

producing too many engineers who are good at compliance,

suppressing vision and new ideas because they are frightening.

Such conservative attitudes will prevent change and result in

disaster.

7. CONCLUSION

Todays graduates face a future the problems of which have

never before been experienced, the full impact of which has yet

to be realised. ICE is once again at the forefront, with its

increasing emphasis on sustainable development and the health,

safety and welfare of humankind, but neither membership nor

industry yet appears to have truly grasped the significance. Fine

words are one thing, implementing them is a quantum leap

further.

The identification of technical, financial, environmental and

social hazards and the rational assessment of risk and its

consequences are legitimate and proper engineering tasks.

Instead of falling back on compliance with established best

practice, the next generation of high-flyers must establish new

best practice. When Nervi was asked, at an enthralling talk on

his innovative designs for the Rome Olympics in 1960, how he

managed to comply with the codes and standards, his response

was, I write the standards!

The best young engineers must be encouraged to make

judgements based on the anticipated future; to lead the debate

about what is needed, as distinct from what is wanted or

selfishly desired. They should be encouraged and supported by

their mentors to speak out from a sound basis of knowledge and

understanding.

The profession must continue to move up the decision-making

chain. It must become far more involved in changing public

perceptions. It must take on the advertising industry by

exposing their folly. The retail industry cannot go on expanding

public consumption year on year. It must expose manufacturing

industrys apparently insatiable use of scarce resources and its

unattainable aims for greater profit by expansion.

Although the profession will always need highly skilled

engineers who can do it through compliance, it now needs,

more than at any time since the early days of the Institution, a

small cohort of engineers who have the vision, passion and

determination to change to decide what needs to be done, and

to persuade the world (and the investors) that what they are

suggesting is sensible. It is the professions duty to identify and

nurture anyone capable of such vision. It must encourage and

support precocious talent and offer supporting experience as a

steadying influence, not a block.

I suggest that, rather than the somewhat laborious definition of

civil engineering published in November 2007, the next royal

charter should contain a fundamental change to the original of

1828: Harvesting the remaining sources of power in nature for

the needs and survival of man.

(a) Harvesting: to suggest that the profession must nurture and

utilise the sources of power much more responsibly than ever

before.

(b) Remaining: to get away from dependency on fossil fuels.

(c) Needs: to reflect responsibility to educate the population

away from selfish wants and desires to needs, something

which is much more sustainable.

(d) Survival: to suggest what might happen if the profession

does not succeed.

This vision is possible, but it needs massive endeavour and a

change of mindset from all.

REFERENCES

Carson R (1962) Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA,

USA. [40th Anniversary Edition (2002) Mariner Books New

York USA.]

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (1974) Elizabeth II.

Chapter 37. Her Majestys Stationery Office, London.

ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) (1972) Institution of Civil

Engineers Revised Royal Charter. ICE, London.

ICE (2006) ICE 3001 Routes to Membership. ICE, London.

Public Health Act 1875 (1875) Victoria. Chapter 55. Her

Majestys Stationery Office, London.

What do you think?To discuss this paper, please email up to 500 words to the editor at [email protected]. Your contribution will be forwarded to theauthor(s) for a reply and, if considered appropriate by the editorial panel, will be published as a discussion in a future issue of thejournal.

Proceedings journals rely entirely on contributions sent in by civil engineering professionals, academics and students. Papers should be20005000 words long (briefing papers should be 10002000 words long), with adequate illustrations and references. You can submityour paper online via www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/journals, where you will also find detailed author guidelines.



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