Welcome to this special issue of Civil Engineering, which celebrates ten years of professional collaboration between the ICE and engineers in central and eastern Europe. It started in 1990 when the Manchester branch of the ICE's north western association started a professional initiative with Poland in 1990. This became the ICE central and eastern European sub-committee in 1998—and there are now branches in Poland and Russia and links with Romania, Hungary, the Baltic States, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Links with other countries will follow in the future.
The last decade saw revolution in the 20 or so countries of central and eastern Europe. It was not foreseen in the 1980s that communism and the associated command economies would collapse and be replaced by new democracies. The 1990s was a period of transition, a period of uncertainty and pain, and new market economies were formed.
At first there was a fall in the standards of living, with inflation and unemployment, but in many of the countries the developing markets have produced growth and eventual improvements to living standards. The transition and change is ongoing however, and produces the right conditions for partnership and collaboration at professional, structure and business levels. The advances are such that ten countries—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia—are applying for accession to the European Union. The changes of transition and accession are supported by international funds, particularly for infrastructure, and present real opportunities for civil engineers.
The dramatic changes are evident to anyone who has visited these countries over the past ten years or so. The starting stage in a successful venture into these new markets is to understand the history and culture—the transition from a command to a market economy has not been smooth. The paper by Nigel Holden addresses these issues and is probably one of the first papers ever published to emphasise the need for cross-cultural understanding by civil engineers.
The paper by Tony Glover and Paul Nowak discusses the opportunities for civil engineering arising from EU funding programmes – particularly Phare and ISPA. Diana Maxwell addresses the financial infrastructures provided by the major European development banks.
Areas of particular opportunity at present include
transport – road, rail and water
infrastructure – buildings, services and utilities
environment – energy, waste disposal, contamination, clean and dirty water.
The opportunities vary from country to country. Andrew Minasowicz, Ian Whyte and Paul Nowak discuss the civil engineering market and transport infrastructure needs in Poland; there are similar needs and requirements in most of the other countries of central and eastern Europe.
John Palmer then reviews the environmental challenges and the associated legislation and standards. Those countries applying for EU membership are the most advanced in adapting to European directives and legislation. Environmental issues are, however, largely at the start of development and are not generally well established throughout these countries.
There are examples of good practice and multi-national co-operation as reported by Geoff Lawn, Malcolm Wilkes and Magnus Rystedt in their study of water services to St Petersburg. It appears that public-private partnerships are more successful in the utility market at present when compared to the transport sector. Nevertheless, the plans for major transport works, such as international roads and railways, suggest this may change in the future.
Finally Andrew Gale, Nell Chang, Ian Whyte and Alun Thomas provide a factual briefing on the countries of central and eastern Europe. This provides a historical background and summary information. It is hoped readers will send in updates which can then be incorporated in the on-line version of this journal at www.ice.org.uk.
The collapse of the socialist political systems has led to a gap in the professional structures within central and eastern Europe countries. This is being addressed in terms of national and international standards, qualifications and professional registration and educational change. The UK's joint board of moderators, for example, has accredited two Russian universities and there is a strong demand for more accreditation visits. In Poland, as reported by Minasowicz et al, there have been reforms in training and education and a new chamber, adopting many of the ICE's procedures, is to be created by the government to license engineers.
In conclusion, this special issue provides the first general appraisal for engineers of the developments and changes in central and eastern Europe and of the opportunities for collaboration and partnership. The future is in the hands of the young engineers who have little memory of the turbulent past. Information exchange and understanding started with a visit to Poland in 2000 by associate members and graduates, which is reported by Victoria Edmondson and Ben Hargreaves. The visit was the start for young engineer exchange and future activities will help cement the special professional relationships that have developed over recent years.
We would like to thank all contributors and referees for their time and patience and particularly to Kenny O'Hara, who was the Civil Engineeringeditorial panel member responsible for assessing all papers. Please note that the papers will be presented at an ICE meeting in the summer (contact Agnes Alvite on +44 (0)20 7665 2204 for details) and that written discussion contributions should be received by 31 August 2001.
