| Civil engineering
Writing in the New Civil Engineer, Richard Coackley, Chair of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Reservoirs Committee, said that such specialist engineers provide a vital and prestigious role in reservoir design, safety and management. They require specific technical and practical hands-on experience of reservoirs, as well as standard professional engineering qualifications. The review will develop proposals to secure the long-term supply of suitably qualified and experienced engineers to join official reservoir safety engineer panels, enabling them to carry out construction, inspecting, and supervising engineer roles in the UK. Efforts will focus on increasing the number of engineers on such panels in the short to medium term over the next five years, whilst also addressing the retention of reservoir engineers within the sector, civil engineering companies, other employers, and as self-employed engineers. The aim is to consider the attractiveness of the reservoir engineering specialism – for individuals and the commercial market, identifying measures that could be taken to improve and promote this within civil engineering, and to new entrants in the sector. A call for evidence was published in May 2022 and work on the proposals will continue over the next few years. Early findings suggests that the supply of All-Reservoir Panel Engineers (ARPEs) to carry out the Inspecting and Construction Engineer role is the most pressing challenge facing the sector. Practical barriers can hold back engineers from
progressing through to the All Reservoir Panel of Engineers, and can include difficulty in acquiring sufficient work experience in specific areas, and the high cost of training and development. Although the experience of working alongside an ARPE is an important part of the development pathway to this role, it can be hard for a business to meet the costs
of junior staff shadowing their senior colleagues within the fees available. There appears to be the expectation that potential ARPEs dedicate a significant proportion of their free time and annual leave to pursuing their professional development. Some fear that such a situation contributes to the poor diversity record of the sector. There is concern about the “extremely low diversity of membership of the reservoir panels” and the review will look into how this can be improved. Currently only 15 of 167 panels engineers are female. Such figures on gender balance are described as being “extremely stark and are very poor even in the context of the wider engineering sector which has struggled for many years with this issue”. It is thought that tackling the sector’s lack of diversity in the medium term could make a significant contribution to both the numbers of panel engineers available and the overall attractiveness of the sector to potential new entrants.
Looking to the future Robert Mair, Chair of the review into the future supply
of reservoir engineers, said that he acknowledges that “this is not a new issue” and he knows that many in the sector have “thought deeply about this subject over many years”.
“I am also conscious,” he continued, “that while the formal output from this review will be a report and set of recommendations for ministers, many of the potential solutions we have identified require coordinated action by a number of parties, including asset owners, engineering consultancy businesses, regulators, the administrations in the four nations of the UK, ICE, the British Dam Society and academia. I hope that this consultation process can itself help to build a sector wide evidence base and consensus for action.” ●
References
Spotlight. Reservoir panel engineer shortage by Richard
Coackley. 25 MAY 2022.
www.newcivilengineer. com/ice/spotlight- reservoir-panel-engineer-
shortage-25-05-2022
Improving the future supply of Reservoir Panel Engineers Call for Evidence. Institution of Civil Engineers. 3 May 2022.
Below: Damflask reservoir in England
www.waterpowermagazine.com | March 2023 | 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
