Geneva, 2 September 2013
Solutions offered for Unsustainable Development
The Consulting Engineering industry1 will launch a new set of practical guides for use by all those involved in developing infrastructure. The launch will take place in Barcelona at the Centenary Conference of FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. Under the banner “Quality of Life – Our Responsibility”, the conference will focus in particular on urban environments where 75% of the challenges are manifested.
• A new approach to Sustainable Infrastructure is vital to our Quality of Life!!
• World economies have been seriously weakened by unsustainable development and excessive consumption.
• Humanity faces serious environmental challenges, including degraded land and soil, depleted natural resources, polluted air and water, and now, severe climate risks.
Society is looking to this industry to formulate a holistic approach on the role of cities in addressing sustainability challenges. Consulting Engineers and Architects, as key advisors in the delivery of sustainable infrastructure, have developed more sophisticated technologies to tackle innovative solutions to energy, water and transport usage in a more coordinated way.
Building on previous experience, including partnerships with some international institutions (World Bank, UNEP, ISO, EU) a new Sustainability Pack, comprising three complementary publications, is to be published by FIDIC and EFCA the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations. This pack comprises “Rethink Cities”- a white paper on societal challenges; “PSL®2013” - a tool to support owners and their partners with collaborative work on sustainability; and “PSM II” - a guideline and manual for consulting engineers implementing major sustainability issues in projects. An outline follows in Annex 1.
Annex 1 - FIDIC/EFCA Sustainability Pack
Annex 2 - EFCA/FIDIC “Rethink cities” white paper
For further information on the FIDIC/EFCA Sustainability Pack, please contact:
Jean FELIX, Chair EFCA/FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee +33 6 80 07 47 75
About FIDIC
The International Federation of Consulting Engineers was founded in Switzerland in 1913. It now represents 95 national associations and over 60,000 consulting engineering firms around the world, employing some 1.5 million professionals.
The FIDIC centenary conference in Barcelona is being organised in collaboration with the Association of Consulting Engineers Spain (Tecniberia).
About EFCA
The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations was founded in 1992, and represents 24 national associations from EU member states and EFTA countries.
1According to the EFCA/FIDIC 2013 survey “the aggregated supply and demand for engineering, architecture and research & development services in the EU27 has been estimated at € 351 billion. In turn these services facilitated a € 2,924 billion global investment in the EU in 2012”. Globally the annual investment in core infrastructure exceeds $6 billion. These figures illustrate the critical role of these industries for implementing sustainability policies in construction.