From Birdcage Walk

The latest in our ongoing series of updates about activities at the Institution.

Dear Member,

November is always a hectic month in the Institution calendar. Too far away from the August holidays, but not close enough yet for the December ones, most people are at work and keen to interact over engineering issues. It’s perhaps not surprising therefore that it is chosen for this time in the UK to hold a National Engineering Week.  This year it included a ‘This is Engineering’ day  and the ‘Big Assembly’ event .  Both are intended to bring engineering achievements directly to the public’s attention, and can still be viewed online.  They show the way that the engineering institutions are already working together to achieve shared objectives.

On our own however we still have the time to run our Annual Dinner which this year was at the Museum Of Science and Industry in Manchester.  With an after-dinner speaker Tim O’Brien from Jodrell Bank we took a strong diversity and inclusivity theme for the evening;  it was great to have an all-female table of engineers from Manchester University. We also celebrated with three of our Prestige Award winners for their significant international achievements, and our Visionaries for the hope they give us for the future.  Some great images from the evening are available on our Twitter feed and Facebook page.

We have also just celebrated the release of a report on rising sea levels, the work of our Construction and Building Services Division and our Process Industries Division. It is extremely timely for the UK, where we have been suffering heavy rains that have reminded people just how devastating floods from any source can be.  With a prediction that at current rates, sea levels will be 3 metres higher by the end of this century, there are great implications for our ports and our coastal engineering facilities. It makes a good although chilling read and reminds us of the need for engineering solutions and importantly investment to be ready to protect our standard of living sooner rather than later.

Finally the internal operations of our Institution continue with the new Finance Board meeting for its second time this week, to recommend a 2020 budget and the Implementation Group, for our three major reviews, now reaching out and starting consultation; the change process has begun. Much still needs to be done, but the focus is to be clear on all changes to be made, alongside progress towards a second consecutive year of financial surplus by the end of Prof McGeough’s Presidency.   As he said in his Professional Engineering article from Issue 6 this year, if we can get that far by May “I’ll consider it a job well done”.

Colin Brown

Chief Executive