ECCE Newsletter 3
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ECCE Newsletter Nº3 June 2013 EUROPE’S POLICIES FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING During the 57th ECCE Gen- Inside this issue: eral Assembly in Lisbon, an International Conference was organized with the title: “Changes in Civil Engineer- 57th ECCE General 2 ing”. The theme is very real Meeting in Europe as after several years of investments in large infrastructures networks, Standing Commit- 3 suddenly, with the economic tee on Environment crisis, the construction indus- try almost stopped. So it is & Sustainability time to think about what to do Workshop Regulat- 5 about Civil Engineering in Europe and to give some ing access to pro- guidelines to the politicians. fessions: national Conference “Changes in Civil Engineering” perspectives Civil Engineering is always associated to public invest- are presently with incomes infrastructures needed), each ments, as its goal is to above 95 % from the world European will travel more achieve the well-being of the growing economies, and than 11000 km per year EU Sustainable 5 human society from the sim- many small SMEs, which (trans-European networks Energy Week 2013 ple comfort of having water in stayed in Europe, went into needed) with a big increase the tab, till the construction of bankruptcy. Today young in air transportation a 2km span bridge allowing civil engineers go working (intermodal systems need- What is the Euro- 6 an easy crossing of a large abroad as soon as they finish ed), the temperature will pean Professional river. Besides public works, their graduation. Europe that increase around 3ºC what Card? Civil Engineering is also as- globally has a lack of engi- leads to drying zones and an sociated to private invest- neers, who are the basic increase of the ocean level ments mostly corresponding force for a new growth of the with bigger waves and fre- News from ECCE 7 to the building of our homes. economy, is sending its civil quent hurricanes (water infra- Members All this represents in average engineers abroad! This clear- structures and coastal pro- more than 10% of the Euro- ly means a policy to increase tection needed), people living pean countries economy and the difficulties of any econo- in cities will increase from Upcoming ECCE 11 employment. my recuperation. 40% to 70% (transport net- Meetings & Confer- works for cities needed). This When governments stop But does this have to be like ences shows that Europe needs public investments, the econ- that? Has Europe built all its urgently to address the strat- omy of the society is affect- infrastructures and does not egies to be implemented in ed, leading to a reduction in need any more? No, it is infrastructures, like: private investments and au- clearly a short sighted vision tomatically civil engineering of the politicians, because Trans-European Energy activity decreases and unem- the well-being of our society Infrastructure; News from: ployment increases signifi- still needs, and will always cantly, reaching the actual need, a lot of public invest- Trans-European road and Estonia crisis in Europe. ments in civil engineering. railway links; Germany In this situation, many of the JF Kennedy during his reign Transports in sustainable construction companies, invoked this principle to good European cities; Latvia without work in Europe, had effect. The economy oper- only one way to survive: to ates more efficiently with a Intermodal transportation Lithuania internationalize, meaning to smooth infrastructure system systems; move to the countries where but cannot be put in place Portugal Coastal protection and public investments exist, without investment. Just look Slovenia namely in South America, at a few examples of what water infrastructures for Africa and Far-East. With Europe should implement: climatic changes. them went the engineers, the Infrastructures Mainte- architects, and in general all New Infrastructures – At the end of this century, the nance – Besides building the members of the construc- new infrastructures new tion cluster. Several Europe- energy consumption will in- crease around 100% (energy maintenance strategies to an construction companies protect the existing struc- Nº3 Page 2 tures, increasing their service achieved without the help of to death of people. A special terity and investment poli- life, or to prevent their rup- public funding complement- program should be devel- cies to reach a new growth ture in accident situations, ing private housing invest- oped for European southern with Civil Engineering be- should be financed as they ments. Also here there is a countries to consider both ing part of it. bring economy to Europe, lot of civil engineering to be the seismic and energy as- June 2013 associated to: implemented, associated to: pects in building renovation, towards a safe and functional Fernando Branco reduced costs of mainte- Renewal of our homes with house. nance new Insulation Systems ECCE President In conclusion there is still a (façades, roofs, glass, etc.) reduced need for substitu- and installing Monitoring lot of work to be done in in- tion of infrastructures (or Control Systems frastructures and house ren- building substitute ones).. ovation to prepare Europe for Implementation of New the near future, and for that, Building Renovation – And Renewable energies sys- public investments are need- what about private invest- tems (solar, wind, ocean, ed! … And believe it, with ments, mainly associated to river, etc.,) those investments the Eu- housing construction. Europe rope economy will increase which has low energy re- Buildings Seismic Protec- again, as J F Kennedy once sources is leading the way tion - In European Southern said! with a target for reduced countries seismic safety is as energy consumption till 2050. important as energy saving, Europe must urgently find But this is impossible to be or even more as it may lead equilibrium between aus- 57th ECCE GENERAL MEETING The 57th ECCE General Meeting was held on 30th May – 1st June 2013, in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by the Ordem dos Engenheiros (OE). Together with the 57th ECCE General Meeting, the OE/ECCE Conference with the title “Changes in Civil Engineering” was also organized with great success. From left to right: Gorazd Humar - ECCE Immediate Past Pres., Carlos Matias 57th ECCE General Meeting and ECCE/OE Conference “Changes in Civil Ramos - OE President, Fernando Branco - ECCE President, Luis Oliveira Engineering” audience Santos - College of Civil Engineers Board Member During the 57th ECCE General Meeting a special meeting was Another important cooperation between the European Coun- organized between the ECCE Executive Board, the President of cil of Civil Engineers and the Korean Society of Civil Engi- the Ordem dos Engenheiros and the Japan Society of Civil Engi- neers was also confirmed during the 57th ECCE General neers that participated for the first time in one of the ECCE Meet- Meeting by the signing of an Agreement of Cooperation ing. During this meeting many important issues were discussed between the two Associations. regarding the enhancement of the cooperation between the or- ganizations for the benefit of the civil engineering profession. More details and material from the 57th ECCE General Meet- Also, an Agreement of Cooperation between the Japan Soci- ing and the Conference “Changes in Civil Engineering” can be ety of Civil Engineers and the European Council of Civil found on the ECCE website. Engineers was mutually signed. Nº3 Page 3 From left to right: ECCE President Fernando Branco, JSCE President Takehiko From left to right: ECCE President Elect Wlodzimierz Szymczak and ECCE Ono and ECCE President Elect Wlodzimierz Szymczak signing the Agreement President Fernando Branco signing the Agreement of Cooperation between of Cooperation between ECCE and the Japan Society of Civil Engineers ECCE and the Korean Society of Civil Engineers STANDING COMMITTEES STANDING COMMITTEE Environment & Sustainability The Standing Committee Platform to becoming an In addition topics could also Environment and Sustainabil- information center about be on- and offshore wind ity (SC E&S) is a renewed E&S-education within Eu- power and civil engineering, old ECCE Standing Commit- rope concentrated solar power tee. After a period of rest and and civil engineering, waste reorganization it has been Water management and management etc. installed at the 56th ECCE scarcity problems within th E&S center of education General Assembly, 26 Oct. ECCE national member This goal is also on the way, 2012, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. states and a lot of data collecting By this ECCE contributed to work has to be done. Partly the many demands of their Involvement in EU- On the European scale actu- this work may be supported national members to keep a programmes concerning al topics are found and dis- by the Standing Committee keen eye on sustainable energy saving in the built cussed as the result of Education and Training and demands in the built environ- environment “opening” the European wa- by this gives a good oppor- ment. ter market to the public (e.g. E&S platform for civil tunity of cooperating between “European Parliament resolu- The SC E&S had its second engineers different ECCE SCs. tion of 3 July 2012 on the meeting at the 57th ECCE Common understanding of implementation of EU water General Assembly, 31 May sustainability within the group Water management legislation, ahead of a neces- 2013, in Lisbon, Portugal. of players in the built environ- The year 2013 is the interna- ment in Europe is not really tional year of Water Cooper- sary overall approach to Eu- In Dubrovnik Carsten Ahrens existent. Therefore the goal ation and a UN World Water ropean water challenges (Germany) has been elected of the SC is to build up such Day has been celebrated on (2011/2297(INI))). as chairman. nd a common platform of under- 22 March 2013. A number of different nation- In Lisbon George Demetriou standing. The first step to do The resolution A/RES/65/154 al water “managers” within (Cyprus) has been elected as so is the collection of the as part of the Millennium Europe tackle this directive vice-chairman.