ECCE members have been distributing a questionnaire to contracting and consulting engineers, to local authorities, and also to public utilities and transport companies who employ professional civil engineers.

In July 2001, ECCE member organisation the Union of Associations of Civil Engineers of Romania (UAICR) will host an International Conference on the theme of “Challenges to the Civil Engineering Profession in Europe at the beginning of the Third Millennium”. This will present the results of the EUCEET projects and bring together participants from across Europe – both from academic and industry circles to see how best training can be developed to meet the changing needs of the profession.

Further information on the project can be obtained on the following web site:

http://www.euceet.utcb.ro/EUCEET-ECCE-Conf.htm

For further information please contact:

RIL Symposium Secretariat

Association of Finnish Civil Engineers RIL

Meritullinkatu 16A5

FIN – 00170 Helsinki, Finland

Telephone: +358 9 6840 780 Fax: +358 9 1357 670

e-mail: siv.forsten@ril.fi internet: www.ril.fi/ecce.htm

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION – 2nd World-wide ECCE Symposium

Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, some 9 km away from Helsinki city centre will be the venue for the second ECCE international conference on the theme of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Practice of Building and Civil Engineering. The first world wide ECCE Symposium on the subject was held in Lahti, Finland in September 1997 and attracted participants from 29 countries.

The current Symposium is organised by the Association of Finnish Civil Engineers (RIL) and the Technical Research Centre of Finland, Building Technology (VTT) with the co-operation and support of ECCE. IABSE, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering, EG-SEA-AI, The European Group for Structural Engineering Application of Artificial Intelligence and IAI, the International Alliance for Inter-operability are all co-sponsors.

The following themes have been chosen: ICT-supported development of processes and management, information networking, methods and software tools, practical integration of information for the life-cycle and success stories in the practical applications of ICT.

Researchers and engineers working in industry in the design, manufacture or facility management of buildings and civil engineering facilities, or in the production of related software will have the opportunity to come together to exchange experience and investigate practical applications. The working language of the symposium will be English, translation and interpretation facilities will not be available.

ECCE and the European Institutions

Looking towards the European Parliament building at Strasbourg, September 2000

ECCE maintains regular contact with the European Parliament, liaising directly with members of Parliament’s committees on issues of concern.

ECCE seeks to create a network for organisations that represent professional civil engineers in Europe. Together, through ECCE, these bodies play an active role in offering technical advice on European issues that affect the profession. This ensures that members are kept informed and their views are transmitted to the European Institutions.

One such institution is the European Commission. Through active involvement in two working groups – Information Technology and Education and Training, ECCE has played its part in supporting the Commission’s Competitiveness in Construction activities. These aim to improve competitiveness in the sector. In the autumn of 2000, the European Commission made it clear that it would be imposing sharp cut-backs on the already limited support it was providing for the Construction Competitiveness initiative. This initiative was seen as a “follow-up” to the Atkins ‘Secteur Report’ of the early 1990’s which highlighted ways in which the construction sector could become more competitive and efficient. The initiative has now been severely curtailed. ECCE has, however, been invited to join the Phase 2 IT Working Group which will now include representatives of all Member States and will focus on business-to-business and e-commerce.

CHANGES AFOOT AT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S CONSTRUCTION UNIT

The European Construction’s unit was seen as an integral part of the European Commission’s Industry Directorate General “D.G. III”, the Industry Directorate General (D.G.) of the European Commission. Following the decision to carry out reform of the European Institutions, the Industry Directorate General has become part of a renamed and restructured entity. The construction unit still exists but now forms part of an enlarged Directorate General – “D.G. Enterprise”. This has brought together the former Industry D.G., the former D.G for small and medium enterprises and the innovation part of the former Directorate General for Telecommunications and Information Technology. As a result of Commission cutbacks the future of the Construction Unit appeared very uncertain throughout the autumn of 2000 and industry representatives held high level discussions with senior Commission officials to seek assurances that the Unit would not disappear as a focal point for the built environment.

Mr Karlheinz Zachmann of the European Commission, who runs a Construction Contact Point for the major pan-European bodies representing the construction sector has attended a number of ECCE meetings in recent years. He is responsible for the EURAFEDAC database of all pan-European Construction related organisations which represents individual members. Work continues to complete the database and it is hoped that this will be made available on the Construction unit’s “Create” web site (accessible via the Commission pages on the Europa web-site at http://www.europa.eu.int )

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