ICEhighways Jobs

Civil Engineers Feel Impact of Recession - ICE Annual Salary Survey

2009-10-23T17:12:00.003+01:00

The average basic salary for civil engineers dropped for the first time in seven years according to the Institution of Civil Engineers annual salary survey, clearly showing the impact of the recession on the sector.

Basic average income in the UK dropped by 0.3 percent to £47,282 in the 2008 tax year, breaking a steady run of increases since the survey's inception in 2003. Total salary, which includes secondary income and bonuses, fell by 1.7 percent to £51,899. This was due to significant drops in additional income: secondary income (21.5%), overtime income (7.6%) and bonuses (13.2%).

Interestingly, the recession has not affected all workers equally. The survey showed those on lower salaries have been affected more severely, with the bottom ten percent of earners seeing significant falls in basic income (6%). Conversely, the top ten percent of earners saw moderate increases (1.2 %).

Despite the fall in salaries, members' satisfaction with both their role and their employer satisfaction remained high across the board and job security was also fairly strong (57% rating their job as secure or very secure).

New best practice guide for construction clients

2009-10-20T18:11:00.002+01:00

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has launched a new initiative aimed to ensure best value from the public purse on government funded construction projects.

At a time of likely cuts in public spending, the case for improving efficiency and value on construction projects funded by central government, local government authorities and regional development agencies has never been greater.

The new ICE Client Best Practice Guide will play a vital role in the move to a more efficient public procurement culture. For the construction industry this means avoiding wasted investment, over-spending and missing completion dates on major infrastructure projects.

The guide is a one-stop reference and route map for achieving best practice from a construction client’s perspective. It explains how to influence the success of projects - during the planning, development and implementation stages as well as during operation and final decommissioning. Ultimately it will ensure better value for money for the taxpayer.

Speaking at the launch event, Sue Kershaw, Head of Programme Management, ODA Transport, Olympic Delivery Authority, said: 'The role and performance of clients is one of the most significant factors in determining the ultimate success of construction projects, regardless of their size, complexity or location. But poor procurement practices can lead to wasted investment. Clients need to know if they are using best practice, how can this be assessed and how it leads to project success'.

The Client Best Practice Guide is available in hard copy and online. For more information go to www.icevirtuallibrary.com/clientguide.

Conference backs ICE Infrastructure plan

2009-10-13T12:00:00.004+01:00

Neil Kinnock, former European transport commissioner, and economist Will Hutton spoke in support of ICE's plan for a national infrastructure investment bank at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

Both agreed that the bank was needed to ensure that key infrastructure projects have a secure source of funding.

ICE believes that the overall impact of the infrastructure investment bank will be to strengthen UK competitiveness and help the country's transition to a low-carbon economy.

Public satisfaction with UK roads and highways goes downhill

2009-10-08T17:22:00.003+01:00

Public satisfaction with the state of our roads and highways has dropped for the third consecutive quarter according to a new survey released by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The survey, which monitors change in attitudes to key public services in the UK, showed that only 54% of respondents are satisfied with the current state of the UK’s roads and highways. This has slipped down from 58% per cent in the last quarter and 62% in the quarter before.

When asked which services are the priorities for more investment, the disposal of rubbish and waste just topped the list with 39% putting this as their first or second investment priority. Roads and highways came a close second with 37% listing this in their top two areas in need of investment, compared to 50% in the last quarter.

ICE’s Director General, Tom Foulkes said:

“You cannot blame the public for becoming more dissatisfied and frustrated with the state of our roads and highways. With an estimated £1bn road maintenance backlog, there are too many roads that have been in need of proper repair for a long time and are deteriorating further by the day...Funding for maintenance tends to focus on quick-fix reactive work which rarely tackles the underlying cause of damage and fails to prolong the life of the road. It is also costly as it usually needs to be repeated regularly. The focus needs to be on planned, preventative maintenance programmes that provide better value for money and long term solutions.

The survey, conducted quarterly by ComRes, investigates public attitudes towards key public works and services and asks them to indicate their overall levels of satisfaction as well as their top investment priorities.

Is the Government helping or hindering the recruitment process?

2009-07-03T17:25:00.002+01:00

Without doubt, the civil engineering recruitment industry has suffered in the past year. Most have cut their print and online recruitment spending in line with fewer jobs and a plentiful supply of candidates. Civils employers are working hard to retain key staff in a bid to safeguard existing jobs and be poised to reap the rewards as and when the upturn comes.

Within this environment, the government has come under attack for sending out 1,000 bogus CVs to employers as part of an investigation into equality in recruitment, it has emerged.

The Department for Work and Pensions sent out the fake job applications as part of an exercise to establish the extent to which people with “foreign” names faced discrimination. The CVs included candidates with 'Anglo-Saxon' names and those with similar qualifications and a name that suggested they were from an ethnic minority. The CVs were linked to mobile phone numbers, which were used to monitor whether the candidates were offered an interview.

With results due later in the summer, the project is thought to be laying the groundwork for future legislation requiring that nameless CVs are used in job applications.But the exercise has come in for criticism from some employers’ groups. 'We are completely shocked to hear the DWP has gone ahead with this,' said Gareth Elliott of the British Chambers of Commerce. 'Businesses have enough on their plate without having to deal with the underhand tactics of the DWP.'

Do you have a view on this? Please post a comment.

Twittering our way to success

2009-07-03T17:18:00.004+01:00

Twitter has become synonymous in recent weeks with the election turmoil in Iran, where Iranian nationals used the site to communicate to the outside world when press coverage was severely limited. This may have helped change the perception of Twitter as an adjunct to social banter and gossip.

Nevertheless, most of us would not be temped to use Twitter at work for fear of being seen as wasting time. This is borne out by research conducted by Monster, who revealed that nine out of ten workers think that social networking sites are seen as an extra-curricular activity.

Some employers are changing their viewpoint and remain open minded about the value of Twitter to provide insight and ideas that may not be available elsewhere. As soon as it is proven, it is predicted by many employers will change their stance on the use of Twitter if a business benefit can be brought about.

Click here for the results of Monster’s survey.

ICEhighwaysjobs, the newly launched jobs site from the ICE aimed at transport professionals, is one of the first professional job sites to post vacancies onto Twitter. Could this be the new way forward to attract candidates? Only time will tell, but watch this space.

ICE says funds must be ringfenced to protect UK infrastructure

2009-06-26T11:51:00.002+01:00

The Government must ensure funds are ringfenced if it is to protect the UK’s critical infrastructure, according to a new report from the ICE.

The State of the Nation: Defending Critical Infrastructure, released this week, says infrastructure maintenance is currently funded by revenue budgets under pressure from financial cuts.

The report draws on oral and written evidence from over 70 sources, including UK infrastructure asset owners, regulators, agencies and service providers.

It identifies and explores the main threats to the UK’s infrastructure networks – system failure (through underinvestment and neglect), climate change and terrorism – and concludes that, despite efforts being made through the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) to reduce vulnerabilities to terrorism and other national security threats, the threats from climate change are only just beginning to be considered and the threats from system failure are barely focussed on at all.

Leader of the ICE’s inquiry Alan Stilwell said: “We need to recognise that the UK’s infrastructure assets form an interdependent network, in which a single failure can cascade across the network rendering otherwise unaffected sectors inoperable”.

Read the whole report at http://www.ice.org.uk/state_of_the_nation.

The Good Client Guide

2009-06-16T11:42:00.004+01:00

Recently I have had occasion to consider the role of the construction client.

ICE is proposing a Good Client Guide, which should be available by the autumn. The Clients’ pivotal role in the success of a project has long been recognised – John Smeaton noted this in the 1760s, and gave advice to the Board of the Forth-Clyde Canal, making clear what they should expect of him and others on that project.

One problem is the whole range of clients in the construction sector. In schools, for example, there are the elected politicians setting out strategy, civil servants responsible for delivery, and then local government, perhaps in different political control, and finally the ‘school’ itself – with its staff and other stakeholders. They, the ultimate client, are very dependent on both the expertise of the other client tiers in getting policy and funding right, as well as the construction professionals involved in delivery.

In this situation developing a client guide is a challenge – how much should we assume the client knows? How much detail do we need to provide about procurement systems, risk, and project management. Before long it ceases to be the couple of sheet of advice Smeaton provided, and becomes a heavyweight handbook.

Hopefully, ICE Guide will get the balance right.

Mike Chrimes

Road-charging stuck in the slow lane

2009-06-11T17:37:00.003+01:00

Britain is a long way short of adopting a national system of charging for road use, the transport secretary said in a downbeat assessment of the policy’s prospects.

Geoff Hoon said in an interview with the Financial Times that he wanted to see evidence of the practicality of road-charging schemes, which have been government policy since 2004, before pressing ahead.

Ministers have become more reticent about road-pricing policy since 1.7m people signed a petition opposing the plan on the Downing Street website in early 2007. There has been still less discussion of the policy since December, when plans for a local congestion charge in greater Manchester were defeated in a referendum by a margin of nearly four to one.

However, transport policy experts and even the RAC Foundation continue to support the idea of congestion-based pricing as the best way of making efficient use of limited road space.

The Institution of Civil Engineer's (ICE) view of current highways and transport topics.

Latest traffic management jobs on ICEhighwaysjobs.com.

Graduates have to be focused and flexible to work in engineering

2009-06-09T08:55:00.001+01:00

News headlines are reporting a big drop in graduate opportunities across all key employment sectors, including civil engineering.

The pressure is certainly increasing on graduates to develop the age-old business skill of multi-tasking ahead of time – launching a systematic job search while still studying for their exams. The harsh reality is that it is no longer enough to start thinking about jobs once exams are over. The signs are that this message is getting through.

Graduate schemes have been filling up earlier than previously and most job boards across are carrying fewer graduate opportunities than ever.

The other great lesson the recession is teaching is the need for flexibility. Young people need to take a pragmatic approach and take a position where they can get one, with the hope of building experience and moving into their first choice field later on.

ICEhighways Jobs has a specialist section for all graduate positions. If you have graduate opportunities to fill, please talk directly to Stephanie Convery on t: 0207 665 2467.

Slower declines in permanent and temporary staff appointments in May

2009-06-09T08:50:00.001+01:00

The latest job market information from the KPMG Report on Jobs shows that job market deteriorated at a slower pace in May, as the rates of decline in placements and billings eased further.

Contractions in permanent placements and temporary billings continues to ease
Candidate availability continues to rise at a strong rate
Further reductions in average pay for both permanent and temporarystaff

Read the latest KPMG Report.

ICEhighways Jobs is experiencing a rapid rise in the volume of contract and temporary vacancies across all engineering sectors, with vacancies being filled rapidly due to the increase in availability of qualified engineering staff.

If you would like to see your contract positions on the site,please contact Paul Taylor on t: 0207 665 2454 to discuss further.

Make sure you're surviving the recession

2009-06-09T08:46:00.001+01:00

With the Government in turmoil over the expenses row, it might appear they have taken their eye off the ball in supporting organisations andindividuals throughout this recession. The economic crisis rumbles on, despite some positive signs that consumer confidence is increasing, the value of the pound is rising and house prices appear to have stabilised.

However, there is sensible advice available to help you as an individual and as an organisation survive, and even benefit, from the downturn.

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) has compiled a list of the top 10 tips to beat the recession. Whilst listing one of the most obvious - if you don’t look after your clients, someone else will - there are some key hints and tips on how to maximise your telesales operation and how to sell when times are tough for recruiters.

Top 10 Tips to beat the recession.

ICEhighways Jobs: Specialist jobs for highways and transport sector

2009-06-08T11:49:00.002+01:00

Following on from the success of ICErecruit, Thomas Telford E-business has continued looking at feedback from recruiters and, in response, has developed a dedicated site for specialist highways and transport jobs.

The key benefit of ICEhighways Jobs for recruiters is the specialist nature of the vacancies: you can now load up an array of transport jobs under very specific categories, which then enables candidates to narrow down their search criteria to find niche jobs.

Why not take a look at the new site and register as a recruiter. Even if you do not have any immediate vacancies to load onto the site, you can still take a look around the site and receive regular newsletter updates.

If you wish to discuss advertising availability with us, please contact Paul Taylor on t: 0207 665 2454.

ICEhighways Jobs is the official highways and transport jobs site of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)