On this page:

Sustainable Development Principles Guide

Innovation & Research Focus

Training needs reviews

Worldwide Young Professionals Network for Sustainable Development

CIRIA Environmental Handbooks

Technology Strategies for Civil Engineering Exports report

Editing and Production of the Royal Academy of Engineering's Sustainable Development Principles Guide

The Guide, Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles, which was launched by the Royal Academy of Engineering on 6th September 2005, has been edited jointly by Roger Venables and Richard Dodds (both Academy Visiting Professors in Engineering Design for Sustainable Development), and was produced by Venables Consultancy's sister company Crane Environmental, together with The Royal Academy.

You can download a pdf version of the Guide from the Crane Environmental website.

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Editing the quarterly Newsletter Innovation & Research Focus

Roger Venables has been Editor of Innovation & Research Focus for more than 15 years. This involves commissioning articles from the major sponsors and editing them into regular newsletters.

IRF is distributed to about 50,000 individuals. These include all ICE Chartered Members and numerous contacts in government and industry.

For further details, see the IRF website. There, you can also register to receive the latest issue by email.

Download the latest issue of IRF here (pdf file, 2.9MB).

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Training needs reviews and development of matching training programmes

These have been undertaken for a range of organisations in or serving the construction industry, providing, for example, an independent assessment of how staff relate to the Institution of Civil Engineers and/or other institutions' membership requirements and the work and training they need to undertake to ready themselves for an appropriate application.

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Helping to develop a young professionals worldwide network for sustainable development

As part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in October 1997, this assignment, led by Jean Venables, involved supporting the Commonwealth Engineers' Council in organising a Seminar on The Role of Young Engineers in Wealth Creation and Sustainable Development, which provided a valuable opportunity for young engineers to express their views on this vital subject, and formulated a declaration that was presented to CHOGM.

Not only was the event itself useful, the particularly satisfying aspect has been that it ultimately led to the formation, in October 2001, of the International Young Professionals Foundation for Sustainable Development, which has become a major force for young professionals' actions on sustainable development. Roger Venables' first delivery of his Brunel Lecture was at the Foundation's inaugural meeting.

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Preparation of the CIRIA Environmental Handbooks

This involved researching the major environmental issues facing designers and constructors of building and civil engineering projects, designing an appropriate format, drafting the guidance and preparing camera-ready copy for printing.

The Handbooks, which have since been updated by Crane Environmental, guide construction professionals, their clients and suppliers on the environmental issues they face in the design and construction of building and civil engineering projects.

The multi-disciplinary project team led by Roger Venables included civil engineers, architects, an ecology consultant and construction and environmental lawyers, to give the broadest possible input on the wide-ranging issues covered.

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Project-managing a major study of the technology requirements for civil engineering exporting

Roger Venables acted as project manager for the £330,000 project on Technology Support for Civil Engineering Exports, led by the ICE. Sponsored by the Department of the Environment, Transport & the Regions (DETR) under the Partners in Technology Programme, the 28-month project built on the Technology Foresight activity in the construction sector, with overall objectives to:

• identify technologies that are considered critical to export success in civil engineering
• identify and promote appropriate research programmes to cultivate UK expertise in these areas
• engender a greater export promotion culture in the UK civil engineering research community, industry and professions.

The project focused on the following market areas: Transport planning & infrastructure; Water & wastewater engineering; Coastal & river engineering; Infrastructure for urban development and megacities; and Environmental improvement and sustainable development.

Although published back in autumn 1998, the report – Thriving in a Global Market: Technology Strategies for UK Civil Engineering Exports – remains highly relevant today, challenging all those involved in civil engineering exporting to examine their use of technology for delivering competitive advantage and to consider how they can invest in the appropriate part of the Innovation-Research-Development-Application spectrum to underpin the industry's future.

It also presented major challenges to the government and the research community to play their part in maintaining and developing UK technological capability as applied in civil engineering.

Use the links to download the report as pdf file (250KB) or to download a 2-page info sheet pdf file (50KB) on the project.

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