Speaking up for professional civil engineers in Europe

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ECCE -  A REVIEW

(This article was originally written at the request of ICE for their International Newsletter, Spring 2002)

The European Council of Civil Engineers was established in 1985 with the aim of helping professional civil engineers across Europe achieve the highest technical standards.

In fact, ECCE’s foundation was as a result of shared concerns of a few member states over the first professional directive on mutual recognition of professional qualifications.  The Directive, which finally came into force on 4^th January 1991, aims to ensure that every EU national has the right to have qualifications obtained from a minimum 3-year period of study recognised or taken into account by another Member State which regulates a given activity.  Now, over a decade later, the European Union has sought to simplify the regulations and a proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications was published on 7^th March.   With this proposal one might consider that matters have turned full circle - a key issue of concern is once again under consideration by member organisations.  However, over the last decade, both organisation and member interests have altered considerably.

In recent years, as the prospect of EU enlargement has come closer to reality, the membership of ECCE has grown proportionately.  Of the 21 national organisations representing the professional civil engineer within the European Council of Civil Engineers, only 10 come from the 15 EU member states.  It is now the case that over half our member organisations are located outside the EU borders, albeit strongly present in the accession process.

At the present time, ECCE meets twice a year.  On each occasion the meeting is hosted by a member organisation.  In 2001, the venues were Oporto, the adopted home of ECCE President Antonio Adão da Fonseca, and Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana, home of one of ECCE’s ‘younger’ member organisations.  In addition to the administrative procedures and briefings which occur during meetings of the European Council, the opportunity is often given for members to make a technical site visit and review major projects.  In May, whilst some members opted for their technical specialisation and made a prolonged visit to examine the tunnel construction for Oporto’s new light metro system, the majority selected a site visit to the Infante D. Henrique Bridge, created and designed by Professor Antonio Adão da Fonseca together with Professor Fernandez Ordonez and Professor Francisco Millanes.  The bridge, due to open to traffic in October 2002 spans 280m over the river Douro.

In Ljubljana, venue for the October 2001 meeting, bridges were again to the fore, with an exposé on Slovenia’s historic bridges given by Slovenia’s representative in ECCE, Gorazd Humar, who has written a book about the historic Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana.

Language barriers are readily overcome during site visits through a shared enthusiasm for civil engineering projects.

Specialist Task Forces within ECCE at present comprise:-

- Education             - Environment     - Information Technology

      - Professional Recognition        - Research and Development

Task Force topics are reviewed each year and the size and composition of task forces changes over time.

The European Council of Civil Engineers offers a pan-European voice for the civil engineering profession.  As a small organisation it is important to co-ordinate activity with others in the construction sector.

In October 2001, ECCE President Antonio Adao da Fonseca and Diana Maxwell attended ECCE’s first meeting as a member of the European Construction Forum (ECF).  The ECF secretariat is run by the European contractors’ organisation, FIEC, and holds occasional meetings throughout the year to compare and review construction sector concerns and present these to European decision makers.  ECCE is also a member of ECCREDI, the European Council for Construction Research, Development and Innovation.  ECCE has been active in raising the profile of construction research to the European institutions, both as a member of ECCREDI and on its own account on behalf of professional civil engineers.  Collaboration with the Commission occurs through the work of the Information Technology Task Force.  ICE member David Leonard has acted as a technical member of the Commission’s Working Group to promote e-construction.  The Working Group is chaired by ECCREDI; ECCE Secretary General Diana Maxwell is the Group’s rapporteur.   

ECCE itself is increasingly becoming an e-organisation.  Newsletters, position papers and member organisations are listed on our web-site at: http://www.eccenet.org

Minutes and reports from Working Groups and the EU-funded EUCEET project linking engineering education with industry demands will also be published on the site in the near future.

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