This new section will feature some of the key projects and stakeholder engagements that CIHT has been involved in over the last few weeks.
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Governance
The last week has seen us hold our latest CIHT Council. The Council determines the strategic direction of CIHT and at this meeting heard the latest developments in the update to the CIHT Strategic Plan. CIHT’s new strategic plan will be to cover the period from 2022 – 2027 and the Institution will be consulting with members and other stakeholders over the next few months as this important project develops.
CIHT are also seeking a Chair of the Board of Trustees to be involved in the business planning and governance of the Institution. This is a great opportunity for a member to help steer the future direction of CIHT. To find out more and how to put yourself forward, please see here.
Events
CIHT Spring Conference ‘Reshaping Everyone’s Future: Climate, Communities, Innovation’ – The final programme featuring a fantastic range of speakers has been released. There is so much to see spread over this three-day event. Find out more here.
CIHT sits on the steering groups of several high-profile events and this week saw us contribute as part of the planning for Traffex (a wholly digital event from 15 – 17 June 2021) and Highways UK (planning to be an in person event and exhibition from 3 -4 November 2021 at the NEC, Birmingham). We are working to help shape the events so that they deliver the CPD that is suitable for our members, provide a platform for us to present CIHT views and opportunities for engagement.
The last few weeks have seen us continue with our Future of Transport webinar series. This month’s theme is ‘Sustainability’ and our webinars have looked at:
More information on these and other CIHT events is available here.
Project Updates
Awards – Today is the deadline for submissions to our awards. Why not enter and get the work you do recognised by the wider industry and beyond? See the latest on how to enter here.
Revising Manual for Streets – The steering group has held their latest discussions. The latest updates and details of opportunities to get involve d in this ground-breaking project are available here.
Visibility and Road Safety at Road Junctions – This important work which is supported by Road Safety research grant funding from the Department for Transport is moving forward and we will be providing a more detailed update in the next few weeks.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – building for the future - CIHT are moving forward with our project to deliver the next phase of our EDI journey. Find out more including how to get involved here.
Climate Change - CIHT have started an ambitious project that will look at the ‘Decarbonisation Pathway’ for transport to move to a net-zero approach. This project will involve CIHT research, engagement, identifying actions and highlighting the role of transport professionals at COP26. A detailed overview of this activity including a central update hub will be released in the next few weeks.
News and Opinion
The last couple of weeks saw us comment on government reductions to electric car grants, the launch of the new national bus strategy and our views on the Cabinet Office ‘Transforming Public Procurement’ consultation.
Lots more on all the latest news and activity can be found here or check out our social media feeds on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Campaigns
International Women’s Day – 8 March saw CIHT work with our members to celebrate International Women’s Day. In support of International Women’s Day and the #ChooseToChallenge campaign, we highlighted how and why EDI must be extended across our sector through showcasing initiatives and activities CIHT and its members are working on. Read CIHT CEO Sue Percy's statement here, view CIHT member Kate Carpenter's blogpost on Women & Transport here and find out more about what happened on CIHT's Twitter & LinkedIn.
Education
End Point Assessment (EPA) – We have been holding our latest EPA interviews over the last couple of weeks for apprentices on the Transport Planning Technician apprenticeship programme. As well as assessing them against the apprenticeship standard, the apprentices are also assessed for EngTech as part of the EPA process, which gives them the opportunity to become professionally registered with the Engineering Council.
Events
CIHT Spring Conference ‘Reshaping Everyone’s Future: Climate, Communities, Innovation’ – We have continued to further develop the programme and added more great speakers to this 3-day event. Latest speakers confirmed include Baroness Vere of Norbiton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Vice Chair of the Climate Change Committee, Zeina Nazer, Co-Founder of CITIES FORUM and Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Chair, Network Rail & the London Legacy Development Corporation – Find out more here
Regions - Lots of great events taking place across the nations and regions including Transporting Bedford, Digital engagement and consultation, the South West Showcase series and Active Mobility in Copenhagen
We held a ‘Meet the President Event’ with our Partnership Network, providing a platform for debate and discussion between CIHT and some of our key industry partners. The meeting included a presentation from Nissan on the latest developments in AV technology and how the Infrastructure and Automotive sector might work collaboratively.
More information on these and other CIHT events is available here.
Project Updates
Revising Manual for Streets – The latest project team meeting has taken place and CIHT is working with WSP to deliver this guidance. The latest updates on this project can be found here.
Visibility and Road Safety at Road Junctions – we have recently appointed Atkins to deliver this project and have held our last steering group meeting. The work which is supported by Road Safety research grant funding support from the Department for Transport, will be carried out over rest of this year.
Awards – We are entering the final week for submissions to our awards. To see the latest on how to enter, please see here.
Climate Change / Decarbonisation - CIHT are embarking on an ambitious project that will develop a route map to highlight and support the need for transport to move to a net-zero approach. This project will involve CIHT research, engagement, identifying actions and highlighting the role of transport professionals at COP26. A detailed overview of this activity will be released in the next few weeks.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – building for the future - CIHT are seeking to recruit an appropriately skilled individual or organisation who can help us to deliver the next phase of our EDI journey. Find out more including how to get involved here.
Stakeholder
The last few weeks have seen us take part in discussion with (amongst others) the Construction Industry Council, PACTS, the Highways Sector Council, attend the East England Heartland launch of their ‘Regional Transport Strategy’ Launch and discuss Road Pricing with officials from HM Treasury.
External Events – We have continued to support the planning for Traffex - which will be a digital event this year, Highways UK and the ITT Hub. We have also attended a number of digital events including the Royal Academy of Engineering’s ‘Engineering Change’.
CIHT Regional Panel – We held the latest of our regional panel meetings, providing a platform for our nations and regions to come together to discuss operational matters and share best practice.
News and Opinion
This week saw the Budget Statement where we provided commentary, the latest ‘Let’s Talk Transport’ podcast was released on low traffic neighbourhoods and a discussion on road pricing take place.
Lots more on all the latest news and activity can be found here or check out our social media feeds on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Campaigns
International Women’s Day – 8 March will see CIHT celebrate International Women’s Day and continue to take the industry lead on encouraging and supporting more women to develop careers in highways and transportation.
In support of International Women’s Day and the #ChooseToChallenge campaign, we will be showing how and why EDI must be extended across our sector through highlighting initiatives and activities CIHT and its members are working on.
British Science Week – This annual event takes place from the 9 March and CIHT will be showcasing some of the fantastic STEM activities our members are involved in as we look to encourage the next generation. If you want to get involved, please contact e: communications@ciht.org.uk
National Apprentice Week – The 8 - 14 February was National Apprentice Week, and we ran a series of campaigns ably supported by our young members showcasing the important role that apprentices are playing in highways and transportation.
On 11 February it was also International Day of Women and Girls in Science and we focused on some of the achievements of our outstanding individuals. Campaigns like these are vital if we are to improve the diversity and inclusion of our sector and we want to thank all our individual members and company supporters who helped pull this week together. You can find out more about the activities and some of the people involved here.
Continuing the education theme, we took part in discussions with the Construction Industry Council Apprentices & Skills Group and the Joint Board of Moderators. Our very own Membership & Skills Strategy Board met this week to discuss the future role of professionals and how we can enhance the support we provide.
Speaking engagements saw Sue Percy involved in a Chief Executive's Roundtable that looked at the role of professional organisations in a green recovery as part of the Trees, People & the Built Environment conference.
CIHT is part of the steering groups of several high-profile events and this week saw us contribute as part of the planning for Traffex and the ITT Hub. Our role is to help shape the events so that they deliver the CPD that is suitable for our members, provide a platform for us to present CIHT views and opportunities for engagement.
The last few weeks have seen us continue with our Future of Transport webinar series. This month’s theme is ‘Understanding our networks better’ and our webinars have looked at:
Our latest Partnerships Forum event was on of Delivering Social Value – where we discussed what that value is, how to define it and explored how we can best manage / maximize social value outcomes.
More information on these and other CIHT events is available here.
Additional stakeholder engagement activity saw us take part in initial discussions with Public Health England on joint working, meet with Jacobs employees at their offices in India to discuss supporting professional development for their staff and take part in the latest round of Highways Sector Council meetings.
News and Consultations – we commented on several issues this week including on the need to revive public transport as part of the Covid-19 recovery and the latest highway maintenance funding announcements for local authorities. We have discussed our plans for our recommendations to the Comprehensive Spending Review and submitted our Electric Vehicle and Road Pricing Consultation response where we have called for the need for the government to introduce a pricing system that accurately captures the additional costs of driving if we want to really achieve our net-zero aspirations. See more on this here.
We also submitted a response to the Department for Transport call for evidence for their Future of Transport: rural strategy. In our evidence we welcomed the publication of a rural transport strategy that would outline how developments in transport can be harnessed in rural communities.
Lots more on all the latest news and activity can be found here or check out our social media feeds (LinkedIn & Twitter).
Board of Trustees – we held our latest trustees meeting this week. The meeting looked at the final outturn for the Institutions accounts in 2020, activity planning / budgeting for 2021 and initiated discussions on CIHT’s next strategic plan that will start in 2022.
Climate Change – one of the core pieces of business that CIHT is leading on relates to the delivery of its Climate Change Pledge. This week saw the Institution appoint a dedicated resource to take the lead on the delivery of this critical activity. CIHT also took part in the latest CIC (Construction Industry Council) Climate Change Committee meeting that is looking at how the construction industry can make the step change it needs in a move to net-zero. CIHT supported research ‘On the Road to Net Zero’ was released that looks at the role of spatial planning and place-based solutions.
Manual for Streets – CIHT has appointed WSP as their consultant to assist in the revision of ‘Manual for Streets’, following a procurement exercise completed in December 2020. More information and the latest updates on this vital project are available here
Sustainable Transport and Planning – CIHT met with officials from the Department for Transport, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government and other stakeholders to discuss the need to integrate transport into the earliest stages of planning and development.
Industry Events – CIHT has spoken at Trees People and the Built Environment on Manual for Streets, attended the Highways Awards and signed up to be involved in Traffex, Highways UK and the ITT Hub 2021. CIHT and Manual for Streets were highlighted at a presentation by MHCLG to over 700 people on the new National Mod
Regional Activity and Events – highlights have included the CIHT North East and Cumbria Awards, the latest in our Future of Transport Webinar Series, CIHT West Midlands ‘Improving Winter and Resilience on UK Roads’, Apprentices End Point Assessment Training, CIHT East of England’s ‘Getting E-Scooter Trials Right’ and CIHT South West’s ‘Meet the President’ event.
Join other savvy professionals just like you at CIHT. We are committed to fulfilling your professional development needs throughout your career
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