ECCE BRUSSELS BRIEF:  EU policies and actions on Research and development; Education; Environment, Energy; Information Technology; General Interest; Project Financing; News from the European Parliament

During the Italian Presidency summit in Brussels in December, positions differed on voting rights proposed within the draft Constitution and the summit was viewed as a diplomatic failure.  However, it was not without benefit for the built environment.  Just before the summit began EU leaders backed a Euro 62 billion investment plan for the next three years, somewhat less than the Euro 220 billion originally proposed.  The money will be distributed amongst a priority list of both public and private transport and research projects.  Funding will come from EU and national funds, EIB loans and private financing. 

Projects include: cross-border gas and electricity links to reduce risk of power cuts; gas pipelines in the North Sea and undersea pipelines between North African and Spain, Italy and France; the Galileo satellite positioning system; high-speed rail links between Liege, Cologne, Figueras and Perpignan; railway tunnels at Malmø and Stockholm; a bridge over the River Rhine at Kehl to provide a high-speed network link between France and Germany; broadband roll-out to remote areas; research on hydrogen and fuel cells to replace petrol as a fuel for cars.

News and background information on the Italian EU Presidency is to be found on http://www.ueitalia2003.it/EN

Looking ahead: 1 January - 30 June 2004: Irish Presidency of the EU http://www.eu2004.ie

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

° EU Research Commissioner visits Japan: Commissioner Philippe Busquin visitedt Japan from December 5-9 to participate in the G8 Carnegie Group conference, the meeting of G8 research ministers, to promote future scientific co-operation between Japan and the EU. Agenda topics included nanotechnology, hydrogen and fuel cell technology, nuclear energy including ITER, and biotechnology research. He discussed there the possibility of starting negotiations for an EU-Japan scientific co-operation agreement. Information on the group and subjects for discussion may be found on: 

° Surface Transport – Call for Proposals: The European Commission has published a call for proposals in the area of surface transport under the Sixth Framework Programme's activity 'sustainable surface transport'. This is one of the areas covered by the 'integrating and strengthening the European Research Area' specific programme. The total indicative budget for this call is 150 million euro. All proposals should be submitted online. The Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS) software tool for on-line or off-line proposal preparation is available on the CORDIS website. More information is to be found on: CORDIS:Prepare and submit a proposal     CORDIS:EPSS guide     CORDIS: Thematic call in the area of 'Surface Transport 2B'    

Full call details appear on: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cf m?CALL_ID=107  

Deadline for submitting proposal documents is 6th April 2004.

° The European Commission has re-published a call for proposals in the area of 'sustainable surface transport specific support actions' under the Sixth Framework Programme's activity 'sustainable surface transport'. This is one of the areas covered by the 'integrating and strengthening the European Research Area' specific programme. This call covers the following areas:  promoting SME (small and medium sized enterprise) participation; stimulating dissemination and exploitation of results; realising the European Research Area (ERA); promoting candidate countries' participation; stimulating international cooperation. Total indicative budget for this call, five million euro. Details: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cf m?CALL_ID=21 

Deadlines for submitting proposal documents are 6 April 2004 and 22 September 2004

° Commission considers need for need to boost RTD proposals from candidate and acceding countries: An evaluation of the results of the first calls for proposals shows that only 12.7 % of the proposals submitted after the first round of calls originated from candidate and acceding countries. Researchers from these countries were involved in 40% of all proposals. Highest participation rates were in nanotechnology; information society; sustainable development, global change and ecosystems. The lowest has been in aeronautics and space. Further information is on: http://www.cordis.lu/candidate_countries

° EC/Switzerland co-operation agreement renewed.  The Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the European Communities and the Swiss Confederation. (doc. 15753/03) This agreement is based on the principles laid down in its predecessor, in particular with regard to the contribution from the Swiss Confederation to the budgets for the Sixth (EC and Euratom) Framework Programmes. It will run from 1st January 2004 on a provisional basis until procedures are concluded.

EDUCATION, TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION:

Link between studying science and higher earnings: A UK report has found that students specialising in science before going to university are likely to have the highest salaries later on in their careers. The study showed that those opting for physics, chemistry and biology together at A-Level earn the most later on, while those choosing history and French are likely to have the lowest salaries. The results of the study come shortly after a survey of members of the Institute of Physics, an international organisation, which showed that the highest paid sectors are finance, telecommunications and the electrical industry.

THE ENVIRONMENT:  

THE ENVIRONMENT:  (D G Environment -  http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/environment/index_en.htm)

° European Commission’s First Environment Policy Review adopted: the Review reports on developments since 12001 and highlights current EU and national priority issues.  The key message is decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures, as set out in the 6th Environment Action Programme whose agenda runs until 2012.  Although the EU has played a leading role in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, the EU as a whole (and in particular nine member states), will miss their targets.  The review recommends a better use of existing financial instruments to support nature conservation objectives. http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/whatsnew.htm

° 2003 Environmental Policy Review (EPR) - Council Conclusions: the Council has stated it is looking forward to the forthcoming communications of the Commission on the WSSD follow-up, the Environment Technology Action Plan, the stocktaking of the national Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) and of the Cardiff process, including an analysis on how to relaunch this process, all of which are planned for the beginning of 2004, as well as the 2004 SDS Review.  The Council is concerned that negative trends noted by the EPR since 2001, particularly regarding climate change, energy and transport as well as biodiversity, have not been reversed.  Further EU and national measures are necessary to meet key EU sustainable development targets. The Council therefore stressed that the 6th Environment Action Programme Objectives should be taken into account in future financial perspective reviews of Community financial instruments.

° Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment: An interim Communication on this item will be adopted by the Commission before the end of January 2004. The final thematic strategy is scheduled to be adopted by July 2005. The Commission is inviting Member States to participate in technical working groups of experts, which will be organised in 2004.

° Climate change meeting in Milan: The 9th Conference of Parties (COP9) to the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) met on 1-12th December with a view to continue developing the practical implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. 120 parties have ratified the Kyoto Protocol representing more than 2/3 of the world’s population, which is expected to enter into force in the near future. The Commission remains confident that Russia will ratify the Kyoto Protocol and that the EU emissions trading scheme provides a strong incentive for Russia and other CIS countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

° European Investment Bank proposes new EUR 500 million initiative to support the EU Climate Change policy: The proposal was presented during COP9 in Milan and contains the following: Euro 500 million Financing Facility, for commitment over 2-3 years, to provide structured loan finance for projects sponsored by promoters (i.e. those promoters participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and seeking to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions).  A further proposal (still under discussion) is put forward for a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) to provide conditional grant finance to help identify, prepare and market Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism  project-related carbon credits, in transition and developing countries respectively, that most likely would be linked to the EU ETS allowance market. The EIB is also exploring the potential for EIB participation in a carbon equity-type facility.

° EU's prospects for achieving its Kyoto target will not be affected by enlargement: The arrival next May of 10 new Member States, several of which are projected to reduce emissions by much more than their own Kyoto targets require. The EU reduction commitment and the burden-sharing agreement cover only the 15 current members and the new countries' emissions will not be included.  The transport sector is responsible for just over 1/5th of the EU's greenhouse gases and poses by far the biggest challenge to the Kyoto targets, largely because of fast-growing emissions from road transport.

° EU signs agreement with USA, Japan and China to address air pollution from transport: the accord will allow for joint research on emissions and vehicle testing, and foresees the creation of a common scientific platform to measure and benchmark air pollution from traffic. The joint effort will offer scientific support for forthcoming international emission requirements for transport, and a basis for the next European standards for passenger cars and Light-Duty Vehicles (EURO V) http://ies.jrc.cec.eu.int/Units/eh/events/EURO5/

° Council of Ministers deliberates on Management of Bathing Water Quality – political agreement still out of reach - The Council noted that the conditions did not yet exist to permit it to reach political agreement on the proposal for a Directive on the management of bathing water quality (13789/02). The main outstanding issues for debate at Council were: the level of protection, i.e. the maximum permitted risk of contracting disease and the provisions in the event of on short-term pollution incidents.  The European Commission had disagreed with the compromise text put forward by the Italian Presidency on two issues: (1) it would establish a health risk of about 10%, considered too modest compared to the current 1976 Directive level of 12%. The Commission's proposal is 5%. (2) the compromise text does not provide for any binding values and deadlines linked to achieving the 5% risk objective. The Commission believes an agreement based on this compromise would have limited health and environment benefits; it has stated its preference to continue to work towards a strong agreement rather than one which would weaken the protection of public health.

° Water Framework Directive - Legislation Deadline: Monday 22nd December 2003 was the deadline for European Member States to place the Water Framework Directive into national law. According to the EEB (European Environmental Bureau, a major NGO), nearly all Member States will miss this deadline. In contrast, national laws in future Member States are scheduled to be in place by May 2004, when they join the EU.  In the EEB’s view, despite the shining example of Scotland, where the public was involved from the beginning of transposition as early as 2000, public involvement and communication across Europe has been especially poor.  The new approach Directive aims to benefit many communities, by focusing on ecological and social outcomes, instead of having to always clean up and engineer solutions to bad management.

° CO2 car emission strategy. The strategy's aim is to reduce CO2 emissions from transport. The Automotive industry (ACEA/JAMA) committed itself to an emission figure of 140g CO2/km by 2008/9, which the Commission expects to be met. The Community objective is to further reduce the emissions to 120g CO2/km by 2012.  A self-assessment report from the ACEA2 indicated that it might not meet the targets set for 2008.  The Commission believes that the existing voluntary agreement with the automotive industry was effective but will not exclude an alternative instrument if the voluntary agreement does not work.

° WASTE:  European Economic and Social Committee opinions published: The EESC Opinion on the Communication from the Commission Towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste COM(2003) 301 final. (Link to the Full text of Opinion on ESC website); EESC Opinion on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from the extractive industries COM(2003) 319 final - 2003/0107 COD.  Link to  Full text of Opinion on ESC website . While welcoming the latter proposal, the Committee believes that the Commission should evaluate the reasons why existing EU legislation on waste has not been successful in preventing pollution from tailings lagoons and metal mining activities in general. The Committee hoped the new proposal will prevent the same mistakes being made again in an enlarged EU.

ENERGY:

° “Photovoltaics Technology Research Advisory Council” demonstrates Europe’s desire to be a world leader:  with 24% of overall global production, Europe is now the second largest manufacturer of photovoltaics. Japan has 44% and USA 22%.  Current forecast show large production potential.  The Advisory Council aims to promote uptake of this energy system. http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/energy/nn/nn_rt_pv1_en.html

° European Parliament discusses Cogeneration or Combined Heat & Power (CHP); this was the subject of a report receiving its 2nd reading in December. Part of the effort to complete the single market in electricity and gas, the proposal looks at targets and timetables for an increase in CHP usage across Member States and the need for harmonised definitions of what CHP is.  Informal discussions were scheduled prior to voting with a view to reaching agreement with the Council, thereby avoiding conciliation. If the discussions succeed, the vote was to be postponed to January 2004 to allow for drafting of compromise texts. Rapporteur: Norbert Glante MEP (A5-0457/2003).

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

° New legislation encourages use of electronic tenders: Following conciliation procedure between the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, a legislative package proposed by the European Commission in May 2000 will be ratified by a plenary session of the Parliament and the Council.  The new legislation aims  to increase transparency in selection of tender participants and contract award. It allows Member States to require that electronically transmitted tenders be accompanied by "qualified electronic signatures" (as defined by EU Directive 1999/93 on a Community framework for electronic signatures). http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/1649%7C0%7CRAPID&lg=EN

° Germany approves “Information Society Germany 2006” action plan: as part of this an e-signature alliance has been formed to establish standards based on current use of e-signatures in government and in the economy.  The next generation of German ID  cards will be made compatible with the use of electronic signatures. http://www.bmbf.de/pub/aktionsprogramm_informationsgesellschaft_2006.pdf

° UK plans savings by establishing Framework Agreement for provision of electronic reverse auction services: The 5 suppliers will provide these services to the UK public sector under the management of the Office of Government Commerce’s commercial trading arm.  Reverse auctions enable suppliers to bid against each other to offer the lowest bid for a particular contract – it is estimated this will generate public sector savings of around 25% when compared to traditional paper-based tenders.

° New survey on user views of quality and usage of public electronic services: the survey, carried out on behalf of the European Commission, offers a set of recommendations to public e-service providers in the further development of e-government. The survey will be repeated in 2004.  The survey appears on: http://www.topoftheweb.net/docs/Final_report_2003_quality_and_usage.pdf

° World Summit on the Information Society: the representatives of 176 different nations agreed on a 'plan of action' designed to deliver the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to all parts of the globe. The plan of action outlined more concrete targets for countries to achieve by 2015. Some of the most ambitious include connecting all of the world's villages, universities, colleges, schools and research centres with ICTs, and ensuring that all local and central government departments have websites and e-mail addresses. Further information: http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html

TRANSPORT:

° Report on the Proposed Directive on Electronic Road Toll Systems  In 1997, the Council called on the Commission and Member States to develop a strategy for the convergence of systems of electronic road toll collection in order to achieve an appropriate level of interoperability at European level.  In April 2003 the Commission presented a proposal for a Directive on the widespread introduction and interoperability of electronic road toll systems in the Community.  Once final issues have been agreed between Council and Commission the document may go to Parliament for First Reading. Full text of Document 15442/03
Suite of documents 15442/03

° Economic and Social Committee Opinion on Commission Communication “European Road Safety Action Programme: Halving the number of road accident victims in the European Union by 2010: A shared Responsibility”: (COM(2003) 311 final) The ESC has noted that a target was fixed in 2001, before the European Union had taken the decision about enlargement. The Committee proposes the Commission should carry out a mid-term review in 2006 containing a number of additional proposals.  The annual death toll in the new Member States is 12,000 and this figure could be dramatically reduced by stepping up joint efforts. (Link to  Full text of Opinion on ESC website).

INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING:

° European Investment Bank  

° The EIB is providing its first ever loan for an environment project in the Western Balkans. EURO 27 million financing is being given for water infrastructure in 5 Albanian municipalities (Durrës, Korce, Lezhe & Shengjin, and Saranda). Further information on "EIB Medium Term Strategy for Western Balkans", is available on the Bank's website in a dedicated section: http://www.eib.org/lending/balkan/en/ind ex.htm.

° The EIB is lending EURO 90 million loan to Plinacro d.o.o. ("Plinacro"), the Croatian state-owned gas transportation company.  The project is part of an overall plan to expand and modernise the gas transmission system between 2002-2011, approved by the Ministry of Economy in August 2002. A new link to offshore gas fields in the Adriatic Sea, expanding the gas transmission system to connect to new regions in Southern Croatia, and rehabilitating/modernising the existing transportation system  will assist Croatia to further diversify the source of gas supply.

 

° A Euro 45.9 million loan is being provided to Hungary to finance selected investment schemes in the wastewater sector for rehabilitation, the expansion and the upgrading to EU standards of several wastewater treatment facilities with regard to sewerage collection, treatment and sludge disposal located in three regional centres of the country: Debrecen, Kecskemet and Szombathely.

 

° A Cohesion and Structural Funds Framework Facility of EUR 60 million is being granted to the Republic of Lithuania. The Facility will be used for co-financing projects fostering the development in the economic and social infrastructure (cofinanced by the EU Structural Funds) and projects in the fields of the environment and trans European networks (cofinanced by the EU Cohesion Fund). The Lithuanian State will use the facility to investm in priority areas identified in the National Development Plan e.g. development of transport, energy, water infrastructures and implementation of Community standards in the area of environment, and the development of health and education infrastructure.

 

° A  loan of USD 32 million (EUR 26 million) is being granted to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the construction of the first phase of the Amman ring road. The first phase concerns a 41 Km section around Amman on its eastern side – the ring road is expected to have a total length of 116km.

 

(Please refer also to Environment Section of this Brief for EIB’s major action in relation to Climate Change)

Information on European Investment Bank loans is to be found on http://www.eib.org

° The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development  

° Further Information on EBRD activity is to be found on: http://www.ebrd.org

° European Court of Judgement Public Procurement ruling (Case law C-448-01 of 4 December 2003, on public procurement): the ECJ has ruled that EU legislation on public procurement does not prevent authorities from taking environmental and social considerations in public supply contracts alongside economic criteria. The ruling was delivered in the courts hearing of the case between Austrian electricity supplier Wienstrom and national authorities. http://europa.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&Submit=Submit&docre    

More information from : http://www.curia.eu.int

° European Year of People with Disabilities: Results of report “Access to the built environment”: Results from the group of independent experts chaired by Mr. Domenico Lenarduzzi focus on the role of standardisation which is far from satisfactory at present. Three key points are: 1. many existing standards do not comply with accessibility requirements; 2. cognitive and sensory disabilities are not catered for - there is instead a concentration on wheelchair users; 3. professionals who develop and enforce standards lack awareness of disability issues. The report makes reference to construction in particular to the Construction Products Directive. There is a specific recommendation to include accessibility in the essential requirements contained in this Directive. http://www.eca.lu/documents/egafin.pdf

° New European Standard for the safety of existing lifts: EN 81 - Part 80: Rules for the improvement of safety of existing passenger and goods passenger lifts

° New ISO Standard ISO 14689-1:2003, Geotechnical investigation and testing - Identification and classification of rock - Part 1: Identification and description, brings together in one glossary-type document the physical and chemical properties of rock material designed for use by engineers with limited geological knowledge. The new standard is the work of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 182, Geotechnics, subcommittee SC 1, Geotechnical investigation and testing. Based on international practice, the new standard identifies and describes rock material and mass on the basis of mineralogical composition, genetic aspects, structure, grain size, discontinuities and other parameters. It also provides rules for the description of various other characteristics as well as for their designation. ISO 14689-1:2003 costs 77 Swiss francs and is available from ISO national member institutes  http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services /ISOstore/memberstores.html and from ISO Central Secretariat.

° Third quarter 2003 compared to second quarter 2003 Production in the construction sector down by 0.2% in euro-zone but up by 0.1% in EU15: Among Member States for which data are available for the third quarter of 2003, the most significant increases for total construction were recorded in Portugal and Finland (both +3.2%) and Belgium (+2.2%) The only decreases were observed in Denmark (-2.0%), the Netherlands (-0.6%), Germany and France (both -0.1%).

° Iran Earthquake Disaster: Through its Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the Commission allocated Euro 2.3 Million on 27th December to address the most urgent humanitarian needs. The funds will be channelled through the Red Cross and a number of European non governmental agencies.  

° On 29th December 2003, the European Commission adopted a decision to provide Kosovo with an additional Euro16 million of assistance to be implemented by the European Agency for Reconstruction in Pristina. These extra funds will provide further EU support to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) for the implementation of the Kosovo "Standards Work Plans".

° Commission concludes agreement on the strategy to implement structural funds in new Member States for 2004-2006. Some €22 billion have been earmarked for all structural instruments in the 10 countries which join the EU on the 1 May 2004. The Treaty of Accession provides that the acceding countries may benefit from the eligibility of expenditure under structural funds as of 1 January 2004 where all the conditions laid down in the structural funds and cohesion fund regulations are fulfilled. The programming documents will only be formally approved upon accession on 1 May 2004.  Information relating to Structural Funding allocations for each new Member State is to be found on: http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/index_en.htm

The European Parliament  held a session in Strasbourg from  15th to 18th December 2003.

° European Parliament approves EU Takeovers Directive The European Parliament voted by 321 votes to 219 (9 abstentions) to approve the EU Takeovers Directive. Two years ago, the Parliament rejected the earlier proposal from the European Commission. Amendments adopted by MEPs matched the compromise deal reached with the Council of Ministers, leading to hopes that the directive will now be approved at 1st reading.  The text lays down how minority shareholders will be protected, how defensive measures can be used by companies targeted in a takeover bid, and how certain Member States' traditions of 'multiple voting rights' will be affected.(COM(2002) 534 – C5-0481/2002 – 2002/0240(COD))Doc Ref.: A5-0469/2003

° REPORT on the proposal for a Council decision amending Decision 77/270/Euratom empowering the Commission to issue Euratom loans for the purpose of contributing to the financing of nuclear power stations  Rapporteur: Hiltrud Breyer MEP Doc Ref: A5-0443/2003 Full text  

 

° REPORT on the proposal for a Council (Euratom) directive on setting out basic obligations and general principles on the safety of nuclear installations Rapporteur: Esko Olavi Sappaenen MEP Doc Ref: A5-0441/2003  Full text

 

° Report on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive amending Council directive 74/408/EEC relating to motor vehicles with regards to the seats, their anchorages and head restraints .  Rapporteur: Dieter-Lebrecht Koch MEP   Doc Ref: A5-0418/2003 (Full text )

 

° Report on Environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage Rapporteur: Toine Manders MEP Doc Ref: A5-0461/2003

Further details of the session may be found on http://www.europarl.eu.int

° 1st International Symposium on Safe and reliable Tunnels - "Innovative European Achievements"  Prague, Czech Republic, 4th to 6th February 2004 : 

° International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean geology, Thessaloniki,  14th-20th April 2004

° Turkish Civil Engineering - 17th Technical Congress and Exhibition, Istanbul, 15th-17th April 2004

The 17th Technical Congress on Turkish Civil Engineering will be held at Yildiz Tehchnical University in Istanbul.  The congress and exhibition aim to present new advances and improvements in technical applications as well as problems and issues affecting the profession.  Student project competitions will ensure participation of future professionals and there will be international project presentations.  Further information from: http://www.imo.org.tr/teknikkongre17/english/english.htm

° Congress of Croatian Builders, Cavtat (by Dubrovnik), 22nd - 24th April 2004

The 4th Congress of Croatian Builders is being prepared by the Croatian Society of Civil Engineers and will cover the themes of Croatia’s construction industry activities aimed at meeting EU accession requirements and implementation of national strategy for the construction of roads and motorways in Croatia.  For participation or paper submission contact: marija@grad.hr

° The Europe of Knowledge 2020: A vision for University-based Research and Innovation, Liege, Belgium,  22nd - 28th April 2004

° 10th International conference on urban transport and the environment Dresden, Germany, 19th to 21st May 2004.

Latest advances in the field of transport will be discussed and research papers will be presented on: urban transport systems; transport sustainability; environmental aspects; transport demand management; air pollution and emissions control; information systems.  Participants will include engineers, scientists and managers working on planning and management of urban transportation systems and transport policy industry in universities, research organisations and government.  Further information is located on: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2004 /urbantransport04/index.html

° Intelligent transport systems Congress and exhibition ‘moving towards an integrated Europe’, Budapest, Hungary, 24th to 26th May 2004

° Annual European association of research managers and administrators (EARMA) conference, Bucharest, Romania, 24th to 26th June 2004,

° Monitoring the geological environment Segovia, Spain, from 5 to 7 July 2004

An international conference on the monitoring, simulation and remediation of the geological environment aims to attract a multi-disciplinary audience of researchers, practitioners and government employees interested in a variety of areas, including civil engineering, forest and agricultural engineering, geography, biology, ecology and hydrology.

° B4E "Building for a European Future - Strategies and Alliances for Construction Innovation" , Maastricht , Netherlands, 14th – 15th October 2004. 

° Advantages for Real Estate and Construction Sector, Helsinki, 13^th - 16^th June 2005

The 11th Joint CIB International symposium aims to put modern construction management and economics into a perspective of modern real estate and construction businesses and projects.  Topics of interest include the evolving sector, firms and their businesses, projects and processes, IT and construction processes, Foundations of our thinking and practice. The call for Papers will be available in October 2003.

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