ICE secures industry cash for new engineering exhibition and learning centre

Industry pledges £300,000 towards £850,000 project to inspire the next generation of engineers with state of the art centre at Great George Street HQ

Antony Oliver
30 November 2015

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Leading engineering firms have pledged over £300,000 to help the ICE fund a new engineering exhibition and learning centre to help inspire the next generation of engineers and demonstrate the diverse career opportunities available to young people.

The state of the art centre, which will open in 2016 at ICE’s London headquarters in Great George Street, will be an interactive space for young people, teachers, parents and practicing engineers and curated specifically with the digital generation in mind.

“If we are to motivate young people to follow in our footsteps and become tomorrow’s innovators we must take this opportunity to pool our resources, and share our stories as a means of trumpeting our achievements,”  ICE director general, Nick Baveystock.

The exhibition intends to bring civil engineering to life with model replicas, installations and digital prototypes of iconic structures, engineering games and 3D printers – making the link between digital and the physical. 

The seven founding partners are AECOM, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Mace Foundation, VINCI Construction UK Limited and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.  Together they have pledged over £300,000, and ICE has promised to match industry donations to the £850,000 project and has called on the  rest of industry to follow suit to bring the project to life.

“If we are to motivate young people to follow in our footsteps and become tomorrow’s innovators we must take this opportunity to pool our resources, and share our stories as a means of trumpeting our achievements,” said ICE director general, Nick Baveystock. “ICE is thrilled to welcome these seven giants of industry as Founding Partners of our exciting space. Our message to those yet to join is simple – exhibit with us, inspire with us.”

The centre is made up of two constituent parts – the Exhibition Centre and the Learning Centre.

The Exhibition Centre will be located at the ICE headquarters at One Great George Street and will open its doors to the public next autumn.  Curated with a digital generation in mind, the rolling programme of exhibitions will celebrate the new technologies and techniques being used to shape the future whilst acknowledging the historical feats of engineering icons.  Each of the exhibits will follow themes, creating a cultural and human link with our built environment, the first of which will focus on ‘transport and communications’. 

“Competition for digital-savvy recruits will be fierce, and we need to attract the best and the brightest to our industry to make the most of these technological advances. To do this we need to promote how digital skills and building information modelling (BIM) are already positively impacting real projects,” WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff UK COO  Mark Naysmith

The Learning Centre, also located at ICE, will provide practicing engineers with a meeting place to develop their knowledge of new technologies in construction, including digital engineering and Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Founding partners will be invited to display structural and digital models, installations and case studies to tell a story of how their projects have connected people, socially, economically and physically to improve their wellbeing.  

“Competition for digital-savvy recruits will be fierce, and we need to attract the best and the brightest to our industry to make the most of these technological advances. To do this we need to promote how digital skills and building information modelling (BIM) are already positively impacting real projects,” said WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff UK COO and MD for transport, infrastructure and property Mark Naysmith. “This exhibition will help showcase and explain how what was recently impossible is now a reality, and inspire the next generation to drive this evolution forward.” 

Costain CEO Andrew Wyllie added: “Customers now demand, on a daily basis, improved performance, new solutions and a shared vision of a better future. Our industry must innovate. Success will only be achieved by those who continually ‘raise the bar’ in the constant quest for higher standards of excellence.”   

The project is part of the ICE’s ‘Shaping the World’ appeal – an international campaign which brings together the greatest civil engineering minds across the globe to help alleviate the effects of major future challenges. The Shaping the World appeal  is funding other projects including a resilience lecture series and a report to be presented to the Hong Kong government exploring low carbon living for a high density environment beyond 2030.  Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal is Patron of the appeal.