A review of recent and forthcoming developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president Richard Coackley. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2152, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk/news-public-affairs.
Calling for UK water taskforce
ICE's State of the Nation: Water 2012 report, published in June 2012, warned that the UK faces a worsening water crisis and rated the country's water security as just 4 out of 10.
To tackle the crisis ICE has called for the creation of a new UK water security taskforce to deliver an integrated roadmap to water security by spring 2014, based on strategic plans from all past governments.
The report makes several recommendations for change, including development of new water storage facilities across the country, the removal of regulatory barriers that discourage water sharing between neighbouring water companies and collaborative investment in new infrastructure, and the phased introduction of universal metering, with social tariffs to protect the poorest in society.
Chair of the ICE Water Panel Michael Norton said: ‘The changes ICE is recommending will require some upheaval to current regulations as well as firm decisions on how to forecast future demand, but once done we would see the effect relatively quickly.’
Hitting the national headlines
The State of the Nation: Water 2012 report made headlines across the country with its calls for a more strategic approach to managing the UK's water resources.
At its high-profile launch at ICE's headquarters in London on 7 June 2012, the report was endorsed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' natural environment and fisheries minister Richard Benyon via video link and welcomed in person by Environment Agency chair Chris Smith.
The event was preceded by a 6-month media campaign aimed at highlighting the urgency of the situation, and placing ICE at the heart of the debate. Within 24 h of publication it had featured on BBC TV news, Sky news, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and in national newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent and, subsequently, The Sunday Times, reaching an audience of over 30 million people.
The full report and a recording of the launch are available online at www.ice.org.uk/stateofthenation.
Hunting for prize engineers
ICE president Richard Coackley has called on industry leaders to recommend outstanding projects or civil engineers worthy of nomination for the £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, which was launched by UK political party leaders David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Milliband last year.
The global prize will be awarded biennially to one individual, or a team of up to three, responsible for a groundbreaking advance in engineering which has created significant benefit to humanity. The judging panel includes some of the top names in international science and engineering such as particle physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox and ICE fellow and Buro Happold chief executive Paul Westbury.
Coackley is one of the ‘scouts’ forming a hunting team to help draw out potential winners and wrote to industry leaders inviting them to join him in finding ‘the brightest and the best’.
‘We must cast the civil engineering net as wide as we can and I would greatly appreciate members' knowledge and expertise in identifying and recommending any particularly outstanding projects or engineers who might be worthy of nomination,’ he said.
Further details of the prize are at www.qeprize.org and nominations should be emailed to president@ice.org. uk before 14 September 2012.
