ICE Director General, Tom FoulkesThe two well-known industry figures discussed the prospects for the civil engineering industry and also gave advice to the incoming government on how civil engineering can contribute to the UK’s economic recovery and low carbon aspirations.
A range of recommendations to the new government were put forward including the need for an infrastructure bank and the importance of prioritizing infrastructure requirements.
Foulkes cited a recent HM Treasury Strategy for National Infrastructure which identifies the need to spent £50bn a year on infrastructure for the next 10 years.
He said that ICE are currently assisting and can continue to assist future governments to build a vision and framework for infrastructure objectives.
Welcome steps towards meeting the above objectives included, according to Foulkes, the introduction of the Planning Act 2009, the creation of the Infrastructure Planning Commission led by Sir Michael Pitt and the creation of the post of Chief Construction Adviser.
With politics high on the agenda, Antony Oliver thought that more civil engineers standing for parliament would be a welcome change. Oliver posed one big challenge for the future of the industry: how do we balance infrastructure investment with the need to cut the budget deficit?
Oliver also addressed carbon as a currency and the need for engineers to face the challenge of re-thinking everything they do and embrace value management. He said “It’s possible to build anything but the price has to be right and we need to right people to do this”.
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Jane Young
Jane Young is the regional marketing and communications executive for ICE West Midlands.
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