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ECCE’s
42nd MEETING IN ISTANBUL |
An
Introduction to our Turkish Member Association
At
ECCE’s October 2004 meeting in, Mr Taner Yüzgeç,
President of the Turkish Chamber of Civil
Engineers welcomed
members and provided an introduction to Turkey as well as to the history and
background of the Chamber.
Mrs.
Gülay Ozdemir, Managing Director of the Turkish Chamber gave the ensuing
presentation, enlarging on the role and activities of the Turkish Chamber.
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The
Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers TCCE (IMO
in Turkish language) is a member of the umbrella body UCTEA which is a
semi-public body with 260,000 members.
IMO has 66,000 members and is the leading member of UCTEA.
In 1980 the obligation to be a member was abolished for engineers
in the public sector. IMO
membership nonetheless represents the majority of the 80,000 civil
engineers in Turkey. Professional
contact with members is frequent since there is an obligation to obtain a
visa for projects.
A
number of technical presentations were given on themes relating to
education and professional accreditation, reflecting the TCCE’s
involvement in lifelong learning for civil engineers.
Istanbul, the bustling metropolis and
capital of Turkey was the venue for the 42nd meeting of the European
Council of Civil Engineers where a warm welcome awaited delegates from
ECCE countries and guests from as far afield as South America.
Left: Sunny smiles in southern Europe:
pictured on the left are the Turkish hosts for the meeting together with
delegates from nearby Cyprus and more distant shores
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In
his opening address to ECCE members, Taner Yüzgeç,
TCCE President, emphasised the influence on the city of earthquakes.
Istanbul has been destroyed and rebuilt many times – they are currently
preparing for a major earthquake which is expected in the next 30 years. Whilst technological progress can be achieved, humanity has a
long way to go in its struggle against nature.
It was in this
context that Professor Tankut gave a presentation to members on a
“Seismic Rehabilitation Strategy for Southern Europe”.
He explained that it had been noted
that in Turkey and the Southern European seismic region, there is a huge
seismically unsafe building stock. A
systematic assessment, he advised, would reveal that a small number is
seismically unsafe, a certain portion will have to be demolished and that the
majority of structures will have to be rehabilitated.
Whilst
low-rise buildings of 1-2 storeys are not at risk and high-rise buildings of
10-12 storeys are carefully designed and constructed, the greatest risk lies
with buildings of between 3 and 10 storey height.
These form the majority of constructions in small towns and are
responsible for a high degree of material and human loss.
Insufficient lateral stiffness is a major
deficiency he stated, concluding that there is a need to focus on this problem.
It
is important to make government authorities aware of the risk.
There are two types of measure: disaster management following earthquakes
and risk management measures which require consistent, insistent, systematic
study over a period of decades, not years.
It was his belief that what is needed is a state policy rather than a
government policy.
Around
half of ECCE’s current membership is that of ‘new’ or accession states to
the EU. ECCE’s Honorary
Treasurer, Vassilis Economopoulos gave a presentation to members on the European
Union Today, outlining the role of the European Institutions, the allocation of
resources and the funding programmes available.
In
addition to the customary statutory business members also discussed the longer
term vision for ECCE, encompassing the strategic plan, amendments to Articles of
Association and proposals for the creation of a World Council of Civil
Engineers. The latter was discussed
in depth at a special meeting on the Sunday morning following the conclusion of
the ECCE Istanbul meeting.
Turkey
ably demonstrated its interest in ECCE’s education and professional
recognition activities by outlining the “Accreditation of Engineering
Programmes in Turkey” Professor Mustafa Tokyay set out the background to ABET
evaluations and explained the role of the MÜDEK
- the engineering evaluation board. With
regard to quality assurance in engineering programmes, Professor Tokyay advised
that four universities received substantial equivalence starting in 1994.
Since 2002 a Turkish Engineering Deans Council has been involved in a
national engineering evaluation board. EU
further education projects offer the opportunity to share knowledge and
experiences: there is active partnership in the EUR-ACE programme.
An Erasmus programme which started in 2002-3 as a pilot study is now
fully implemented. Almost all
universities have CPD centres.
In a further
presentation on “Civil Engineering in Turkey” Professor Tokyay outlined the
organisational structure of the higher education field in Turkey, its
involvement in international recognition processes and its achievements in
relation to the Bologna Process. He
emphasised the continuing need for well-qualified civil engineers and outlined
the components of civil engineering degrees, the evaluation cycle and
educational objectives. As in
many other countries young people
believe engineers are responsible for most environmental problems: civil
engineering is decreasing as an option for high school graduates, partly because
of the low wages offered by the profession. Demand
for engineers should be carefully determined.
In
relation to the site visit taking place on the morning of the second day of the
meeting, a presentation was given by
Hüseyin
Belkaya. Mr Belkaya is Deputy
Project Manager on the Marmaray
Rail Tunnel Project. He provided an
interesting insight into the challenges facing the civil engineers on this
record-breaking project - a 77km commuter rail with a capacity of 75,000
passengers per hour per direction. Once
completed, the project should decrease pollution and
CO2 release in Istanbul.
It should also solve the commuting problem of those whose residence is in
Asia but for whom job opportunities exist on the European side.
There are two peak times for crossing the Bosphorous and it is planned to
decrease travel time for one million people by some 55 minutes on a commuter
journey.
Engineering
challenges are considerable: this will be the deepest immersed tunnel in the
world and it will be constructed in a heavy sea traffic area where stratified
currents are up to 5 knots.
A
related presentation was provided by Ismail Karamut who illustrated the work
being carried out on the Yenikapi
Excavations. Excavations are taking
place in the Langa area, which in Byzantine times was a harbour area on
the Marmaray coast of Istanbul. It is claimed that the original harbour was built by the
Byzantine Emperor I. Theodosius.
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Some
of the excavations in the İstanbul District at the Üsküdar
underground station site under the Marmaray Project are continuing.
According to antique sources Üsküdar square was first used as a
bay but was filled up in the 16th and 18th centuries and opened up to the
use for residential purposes. Its antique name was Khrysopolis
which later became Scutari in
the Roman period. The area
where the Works are completed revealed remains of foundations from the
late Ottoman period of what is known to be an Arasta
(bazaar). Records state that the bazaar contained 50 shops: a large
section of the bazaar was destroyed and damaged during later
infrastructure works.
After
a day of administrative business and presentations, members were able to
unwind over dinner in
a restaurant whose picture windows afforded magnificent views of one of
the modern suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait.
Over dinner member organisations were presented with charming
souvenirs of their visit – colourful ceramics whose style was influenced
by traditional designs.
Left:
A gift to ECCE’s newest member, Latvia, from TCCE President, Taner
Yüzgeç
The
second day of the meeting commenced with a journey by coach to the works
at Tuszla. A morning site
visit was planned to reduce the delays caused by congestion in
Istanbul’s heavy traffic. The
fascination of seeing in person ensured that the morning’s activity |
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Left:
Facing the enormity of the task…. work on site at the Marmary project
site at Tuszla |
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Right:
A mega project requires mega sound. The senior team at Tuszla outlined how
the site works play a part in the overall tunnel project
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Ties that bind … shared
professional interests and concerns lie at the heart of ECCE and technical site
visits offer an opportunity to study projects at first hand
Above: ECCE members face the
camera at the end of a fascinating visit to the Marmaray tunnel project.
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formal business of the 42nd meeting concluded with the
elections for a new Executive Committee and President.
Right:
Past-President 1998-
2002,
Antonio Adão da Fonseca (right) and Past-President 2002-2005, Yrjö Matikainen (left)
are illustrated calculating the votes received.
A
large number of candidates had presented themselves as candidates for
positions on the Executive Committee and a formal election process was
instigated.
Following the election process the new
Executive Committee were welcomed and Richard Coackley, a consulting
engineer in the United Kingdom, became the new ECCE President. |
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Right:
Pictured left to right are Richard Coackley, new President of ECCE, being
congratulated by two of the new members of the Executive Committee, Mrs. Gülay
Özdemir of the Turkish Chamber and Mr. Murt Coleman of Engineers Ireland.
Another
busy and eventful meeting was brought to a close and thanks were given to
the retiring committee members and President and Secretary General, Diana
Maxwell, who was stepping down after nearly twelve years working for ECCE,
was presented with a large bouquet to thank her for her loyal service to
the organisation.
On
the final evening of the two-day meeting the focus veered away from the
challenges and opportunities presented by technical and policy matters.
In sharp contrast to the modern meeting venue, Istanbul’s Hilton
Hotel, the historic Galata Tower is located in the heart of Old Istanbul.
It has dominated the skyline of Beyoglu since 1348.
Originally designed as part of the Genoese fortifications, it was
used as a weather observatory in the 16th century and continues
to offers panoramic views of the Golden Horn, the adjacent landmarks and
the entire city.
Whilst relishing Turkish fare and an evening cabaret, members were
able to enjoy the splendours of the glittering scene of Istanbul by night
and continue to extend the warm friendships which have characterised
ECCE’s activities over the past two decades . |
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ECCE
| European Council of Civil Engineers. A Company limited by Guarantee |
Registered in England and Wales No. 2916733 |