This has been a busy month with a number of CIHT events taking place, Highways UK at the NEC in Birmingham, not to mention COP26 in Glasgow.
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At the beginning of the month, I was delighted to accept the invitation of the Society of Operations Engineers to provide the keynote speech at their annual safety and sustainability awards in Birmingham. The SOE is a sister professional body to us within the Engineering Council, and many of their activities are complementary to ours at CIHT as their members manufacture, drive, and operate various means of transport. DAF were the sponsors of the event, and it was interesting to chat to their directors over lunch about the interaction of HGVs and the highway environment, especially the changes they are introducing to be more sustainable and improve safety on our roads. My speech focussed on the importance of road safety (of particular relevance with it being Road Safety Week coming up (15 – 21 November) because every fatal or serious crash on our roads leads to trauma, grief, pain, and suffering, as well as significant delays, congestion, air pollution and environmental damage. I emphasised the importance of training and professional development in every part of a safe system, and how as professional bodies we have a responsibility to maintain, develop and enhance the competence of our members to support this approach. I also talked about skills shortages and how we need to work together to encourage a wider spectrum of young people into engineering and transport careers.
The following week I was very pleased to present the CIHT North East and Cumbria virtual awards. This event was online and very well organised and, it was inspiring to hear about the exciting projects and people in the North East and Cumbria. I was especially impressed by the regional Apprentice of the year, Michael Richardson, and Young Professional of the Year, Graeme Barella, both shining examples of excellence in our institution. Congratulations again to them both.
We had our first meeting of the new Council this month, where our only item for discussion was the new CIHT Strategy tasking us forward for the next five years; setting our direction, focus and ambition. There were a few contentious points and differences of opinion, but that's only to be expected given the breadth of our industry, and the excellent representation that we now have on Council. This proved to be a productive session giving everyone the opportunity to share their views and shape the final document, which we will be publishing very soon.
Another highlight this month was the Regional Officers’ Conference, which again was online, and perhaps because of that, very well attended. Delegates heard from a number of different presenters including Sue Percy on planning for the future, Peter Connolly and David Watkins on business planning and finance, and Ciara Bachelor and Philip Santos on the annual events programme development. It was great to hear views from around the regions and nations, and to get a sense of how CIHT is delivering to members across the UK and internationally.
The Board of Trustees meeting at the end of the month was an opportunity to reflect on the views of Council on the strategy, review our finances and performance over the last 12 months, consider our future membership strategy, and look at our budget and business planning to 2024. This was an exceptionally busy meeting with a significant volume of papers and issues to be considered, requiring a great deal of work by the officers, chair, and members of the board. It's really encouraging to see new trustees working so well alongside the more established members of the board to deliver against our strategic objectives.
Later that week I was part of a Future Engineering careers talk with fellow presenters from Aecom, the University of East London, and Bentley Education talking about careers in digital infrastructure and the exciting opportunities for young people within the built environment sector. It’s hard to know where to start (and end!) on this topic but I think we covered the ground well, and hopefully inspired a few people to think about opportunities in infrastructure.
November has continued to be busy with a good number of us making the journey to the NEC in Birmingham for Highways UK. It was great to meet with so many people in person and to appreciate the work and energy and innovation that is still evident within highways and transportation. There was a real buzz in the room and real energy and passion in the presentations. We know the pandemic has changed the way we work, possibly forever, but clearly it has not reduced the volume of work, in fact quite the opposite. The presentations, discussions, stands, and sheer enthusiasm, on display at Highways UK reinforced for me the significant contribution CIHT members are making across the sector. Against the background of COP 26 climate change, sustainability, and active travel were significant themes in Birmingham, and although there is a great still to do, it is clear that, as transport professionals, we are making a real difference, and that there is the passion, creativity, and demand for us to make an even greater contribution
If you haven't engaged with COP26 I encourage you to spend some time exploring the website. I particularly recommend the Built Environment Virtual Pavilion: https://virtualpavilion.co/ to view some of the exciting, innovative, and creative solutions being developed around the world to address the climate crisis. As yet the full impact of COP26 is not known. Whilst we hope for radical change from governments around the world, experience shows it is easy to make promises, but harder to deliver, especially given the short timescales needed for implementation to be effective. However, I am optimistic that the solutions exist and that, in respect of highways and transportation, there is a real will to deliver change from the professionals and organisations who are best placed to make those changes. We all need to do what we can, personally and professionally, to save the planet.
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