Costain Group boss Andrew Wyllie is new president of the ICE

It is essential for civil engineers to embrace the use of technology and to deliver greater value for money for customers, Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie will say today in his inaugural address as he assumes the 2018-19 presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Speaking to an audience of ICE members and senior industry leaders at a reception at ICE headquarters, Wyllie will encourage civil engineers to take full advantage of new technologies and seize the wide range of commercial opportunities that have already been created.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is significantly changing the way in which money is being spent by customers and is now generating a wide array of major opportunities,” said Wylie. “There are opportunities to deploy new technology to increase the capacity of infrastructure networks, to improve customer service, and to ensure greater security of supply.

“ICE and its members must be at the forefront of the smart infrastructure revolution and ensure ICE remains the ‘go-to’ organisation to address the big issues of the day,” Wylie said.

Wyllie also highlighted the importance of diversity in engineering and of attracting and developing the outstanding talent of the next generation. He revealed that this year, for the first time in Costain’s history, more than half of the graduate intake was female.

Wyllie said: “Equality issues have become business critical for any engineering organisation seeking to be successful today. For example, Network Rail, has introduced equality, diversity and inclusion performance as a hard measure in their tender review processes. The score attributed to EDI performance can be the difference between winning or losing engineering work. And this trend is only going to accelerate.

“The industry needs people with a wide range of skills, experience and opinions. We also know that solutions to the world’s major issues are going to be provided by extraordinary people – those who challenge the norms and have a passion to make a real difference. Our task is to encourage even more of these talented people, who desire to do something truly meaningful for society, to become civil engineers.”