Institution of Civil Engineers 200th anniversary

The Bicentenary of the Institution of Civil Engineers is beginning in 2018; it marks a year celebrating the best of past civil engineering projects and looking forward to the future. Reflecting on the greatest engineering feats taken on in the past and inspiring the future engineers of tomorrow.

Many people will not remember when Patrick McLoughlin announced "the year of the engineer" to be 2018 in celebration of the unveiling of Crossrail. At this point, he was the Transport Secretary and Crossrail was being commissioned as the largest civil engineering project in Europe.

A few years on Crossrail has been given a Royal nod and the opening is edging closer. Now the United Kingdom is home to some of the most outstanding and ambitious projects to be undertaken in modern memory. It is because of the fantastic collaboration between engineers all along the supply chain that Crossrail, Thames Tideway, The Falkirk Wheel (seen above), Hinkley Point and more are able to change the landscape of British Infrastructure.

Many people do not appreciate the work that those Engineers, chartered surveyors, members of the various Institutions and contractors undertake. After all, the roads you drive on, the lights that illuminate your homes, the taps you drink from; in fact, all our infrastructure is built with the sweat from their brows.

After learning a lot from working on the ICE 200 project I have gained a new found respect for the people that quietly dedicate their working lives to raising the standards of our infrastructure. It would be impossible for all of the benefits of the modern world to be distributed and appreciated if we didn't have these people delivering an outstanding level of professionalism.

So throughout 2018 I am looking forward to raising the profile of the ICE and giving it's members a chance to speak about the work they do. Society owes an awful lot to their engineers and now is as good a time as ever to recognise that. Notwithstanding, we are going to need to rely on them to solve the problems of the future.

Urbanisation, IoT, rapidly changing Technology, renewable energy and many more issues are going to confront us in the next 200 years. I have no doubt that those issues will be solved, even in partial contribution, by the ICE and its dedicated members.

So share this article and help raise the profile for the oldest and one of the most respected engineering bodies and their well deserved 200th anniversary!