Peter Hansford(photo by NCE)
I was fortunate to get a seat in the Great Hall of One Great George Street to listen to his inaugural speech to Engineers. In the speech, Peter challenged Engineers to deliver "more for less". This set the theme of his speech for the next one hour . *Engineers today are locked into a race to find ways to reduce emissions and to produce low carbon solutions for infrastructure. Therefore delivering value is not about producing cheap or low quality work, nor about reducing attention to safety or taking short cuts in protecting the environment.
Delivering value is about achieving the maximum benefit – for society or for investors – from the resources they can afford. This means making every pound, every euro, and every dollar count. It’s also about making every unit of carbon and every job count.
But deliver value of what? This is where Peter highlighted five key areas:
1. Value of INFRASTRUCTURE - essential for economic growth
2. Value for MONEY - as professional obligation
3. Value for CARBON - legacy for the future
4. Value of CIVIL ENGINEERS - always professional and inspiring next generation
5. Value of the INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS - for members and society*
I spoke to the President after his inauguration speech and was thrilled to learn that he will be visiting Malaysia as one of the countries for international mission. He will be presenting on 'Infrastructure development in the tropical environment' for a biennial Asia Pacific Conference in PJ Hilton on 14 January 2011.
I felt honoured he took time to listen to a "small engineer" like me when there were all the "big guys" from the BIG COMPANIES, including my BIG BOSS (the guy at the VERY TOP)!
After sharing his thoughts, he suggested I drop him a line. I followed up with an email to highlight Malaysia's ongoing high value economic transformation plan (ETP). The plan identified nine entry point projects(EPPs) to realise the ETP. These are:
1. Integration of urban mass rapid transit system
2. Revitalising the Klang River into a heritage and commercial centre
3. Greening of Greater Kuala Lumpur
4. Creating iconic places and attractions
5. Creating a comprehensive pedestrian network
6. Attracting the world’s most dynamic firms within priority sectors
7. Attracting the right mix of internal and external talent
8. Connecting to Singapore via high speed rail system
9. Developing an efficient solid waste management and ecosystem.
All of these key points strike a chord with the Presidential Address - delivering value and low carbon infrastructure for the future. There is also a central theme surrounding the nine EPP, which is to make Malaysia more sustainable than ever before and advocating the need to, as the President of the ICE put it, "deliver new things using new ways".
*Information adapted from the Presidential Address
