Engineering the Future 110 Years of FIDIC

Foreword from the President and Chief Executive

Founded in 1913, FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, has represented the profession and business of consulting engineering with distinction for more than a century.

I am proud to hold the position of president in this 110th anniversary year and have pleasure in presenting this 110th anniversary publication. It charts the history of an organisation that has left its mark on the engineering, construction and infrastructure industry through the work of its member associations and member firms.

In the pages to follow, we demonstrate how FIDIC continues to underpin global construction and infrastructure projects and lead the change needed to achieve the sustainable infrastructure of the future. We also document FIDIC’s development from its early beginnings to its position today as a leading business organisation for national associations of consulting engineers representing over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in around 100 countries worldwide.

Anthony Barry President, FIDIC

FIDIC’s success has been due to the willingness of its representatives to volunteer and devote time, money and effort to serve the federation and the interests of consulting engineering. This continues today and without that spirit of self-sacrifice and dedication to the profession then it is unlikely that FIDIC would even exist, let alone flourish in the way it has over the 110 years of its existence. I offer my sincere thanks to the stakeholders who continue to help us thrive today.

FIDIC has driven the profession of consulting engineering forward to keep pace with world events, their effect on the industry it represents and to further the influence of engineering on society and increasingly on the planet itself. Issues like climate change, skills and capacity and digital technology are now influencing all aspects of business life and FIDIC in turn has had to adapt to deal with these challenges.

While the challenges that FIDIC and its member associations face today are ever-changing and different from those of its founding members more than a century ago, its vision remains constant – to improve people’s quality of life through the promotion of quality, integrity and sustainability in the projects and services consulting engineers deliver of a global scale.

It has been an honour for me to hold the position of chief executive since 2018 and to have led the organisation to its next phase of growth and to have navigated the global Covid-19 pandemic, which impacted people’s lives in a way we could never have imagined.

FIDIC today can proudly claim to be the global representative body for national associations of consulting engineers in the infrastructure sector, in which FIDIC members’ work contributes at least US$36 trillion to global GDP.

Our founders back in 1913 would have had no idea that the organisation would endure for more than a century, though as a far-sighted and perceptive group of industry professionals, they would have hoped that the organisation they gave birth to would represent the profession of consulting engineering with distinction on the world stage. In fact, FIDIC has done much more than that. It has made an indelible and positive mark on an industry sector that has done so much to benefit the lives of citizens in every continent around the world.

Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE Chief Executive Officer, FIDIC

We'd like to thank FIDIC's communications adviser Andy Walker for his work authoring this document and all those who have contributed to the publication with content, design and editorial support, under the leadership of Graham Pontin, the director of policy, external affairs and communications

Please turn the pages and enjoy the content which demonstrates how engineers continue to learn from the past to inspire the present and shape the future.

Growth of FIDIC 1

Growth of FIDIC

FIDIC establishment

European consulting engineers discussed the formation of a global federation following a search for independent expert consultants for the World Fair Exhibitions.

Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs Conseils, later the International Federation of Consulting Engineers was formed on 22 July 1913 in Ghent, Belgium with the founding principles of quality, integrity and sustainability.

First members were three national associations of independent consulting engineers in Europe - Belgium, France and Switzerland, supported by two additional associations, Netherlands and Germany.

The first FIDIC president was Louis Prangey from France, whose period of office ran from 1913 to 1937. His name lives on in the Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated service, presented annually to the person who has rendered significant service to the federation and/or the profession of consulting engineering.

There were 59 participants at the federation’s inaugural meeting and official delegates attended from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA.

The aim of the proposed new federation was:

To study in fellowship all questions concerning protection and development of the members’ professional interests without taking into consideration and philosophical, political or religious aspects.

To establish a link and friendly and useful relationship between consulting engineers and engineering experts possessing the necessary qualities as to competence, honour and morality.

To group associations of engineers of all languages and countries and to promote the founding of such associations where they do not yet exist.

To make known the availability of consulting engineering services to various countries to assist them in their professional work.

To generalise the application and observation of the rules of conduct that should guide true consulting engineers and engineering experts in the exercise of their profession, particularly ensuring the maintenance of dignified behaviour.

Growth of FIDIC

First World War

The first world war profoundly affected FIDIC, activities ceased and it became dormant.

FIDIC president Louis Prangey was called for military service, was awarded La Croix de Guerre and made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

Post-war re-establishment

At the end of the war, more than half of the active members of FIDIC had disappeared. Some had been killed in the war, some died and others retired.

The organisation needed to restart and once again it was the Belgians and French, represented by R E Mathot and Louis Prangey who led this. They hosted a meeting in Paris on 15 November 1921 attended by the member associations from Belgium, France, Poland, Switzerland, with an observer representing the Scandinavian associations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

During the decade, efforts were made to reach out to other associations around the world, including the USA and the UK, both of which refused to join.

First FIDIC ‘Year Book’ published

The first ‘Year Book’ of FIDIC, published in 1924, listed the FIDIC members as follows: CICB Belgium (8 members); CICF France (62 members); KIDIR Poland (16 members); ASIC Switzerland (27 members). Two-thirds of all FIDIC members at this time were located in Paris, Brussels and Warsaw.

Continued growth

In 1925 FIDIC applies for representation in the International Board of Work (Le Bureau International de Travail) established in the League of Nations.

The Dutch and Scandinavian associations come on board in 1926. A fourth congress of FIDIC in Amsterdam in 1928 saw participation with full representation from Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland, with the Scandinavian associations represented by Sweden.

Vienna congress

As FIDIC entered the 1930s, there were ten member associations affiliated to the organisation - Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Norway and Denmark. There were also eight corresponding members. These were Hungary, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Romania.

Its activities were mainly concentrated on arranging an international congress of consulting engineers every second year and also to produce an international directory of consulting engineers. Subjects discussed at the conferences gave an indication of the issues facing the profession at that time, issues which were to remain relevant for many years for the profession of consulting engineering.

Growth of FIDIC

For example, the Vienna congress in 1930 discussed how to bring about legal protection for consulting engineers, similar to that enjoyed by barristers and solicitors and also how to fight against the abusive practice of suppliers and contractors to provide consulting services and design work free of charge.

They also debated how to avoid incompetent persons acting as consulting engineers and doing harm to the profession and the need to draw up contract documents for the achievement of works as international standard documents. This could be seen as the origin of FIDIC’s standard conditions of contract.

The vexed issue of fee scales for consulting engineering work was also discussed as were ongoing efforts to attract the British and the Americans, who still steadfastly remained outside FIDIC membership.

Zurich congress

The last congress before the second world war took place in Zurich in September 1932. Widely regarded as the best organised and well prepared of all the FIDIC congresses in the early days of the organisation, it attracted a larger number of participants than previous congresses, with 119 people attending from 18 countries.

The 1932 congress lasted for six days, with two days allocated for discussion professional subjects, another two days for organisational matters such as committee meetings and the general assembly and the final two days were set aside for visits and study tours to industries. This is not dissimilar from the format of today’s FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference.

Challenging times

The period from 1933-1939 saw FIDIC enduring some challenging times, partly driven by the complicated organisational structure of the federation and also due to a number of disputes within FIDIC and the personalities engaged in its work. There was also some resentment about the French and Belgian dominance of the organisation and growing discontent over the failure to attract ACE in the UK into membership. These challenges and dissatisfaction led to demands for changes to FIDIC’s statutes and a gradual disintegration of the organisation prior to the outbreak of the second world war.

Three member associations, Denmark, Norway and Belgium, withdraw their membership and two threaten to do the same, (Switzerland and Sweden). Among the rest, interest in FIDIC successively fades away and the year book ceased publication.

1937 the federation is reorganised, with executive power invested in the president.

New statutes were formally adopted in Paris. Belgium (CICB) resigned from FIDIC, which now had seven member associations.

Louis Prangey becomes honorary president of FIDIC and Per G Hörnell is appointed new FIDIC president.

By the late 1930s FIDIC ties have grown weak and most members are no longer active. Membership associations have reduced to six (France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, and Hungary).

President P G Hörnell dies.

As the world prepares for war again, Bo M Hellström from Sweden is appointed President in 1939.

Associations in Poland and Hungary disappear. ASIC in Switzerland, ONRI in the Netherlands and SKIF in Sweden are the only three associations FIDIC can depend on.

Growth of FIDIC

FIDIC activities are restricted to those not involving expenditure until the international situation has improved. Due to the war, FIDIC lost its capital account of about FFR 36,000, as well as having property deposited in Brussels, its archives and printed matter destroyed.

Second world war

As the world prepares for war again, Bo M Hellström from Sweden is appointed president in 1939.

Associations in Poland and Hungary disappear. ASIC in Switzerland, ONRI in the Netherlands and SKIF in Sweden are the only three associations FIDIC can depend on.

FIDIC activities are restricted to those not involving expenditure until the international situation has improved. Due to the war, FIDIC lost its capital account of about FFR 36,000 and as well as having property deposited in Brussels, its archives and printed matter were destroyed.

Post-war rebuild

After the war, FIDIC needed to rebuild after the standstill years of the conflict. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that its archives had disappeared, with membership lists, minutes, committee reports, correspondence, financial papers and all printed material all vanished, as had the organisation’s funding.

However, the desire to begin international cooperation as political stability developed, helped with the reconstruction of FIDIC in the post-war years. A delegates’ meeting in Amsterdam in 1947 was a success and received positive signs from the associations in the USA and the UK about their future intentions regarding membership.

In June 1949, the UK Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE) finally joined the federation The UK member association played an important role in the post-war redevelopment and rebuilding of FIDIC, providing presidents for more than a decade. The influence of the UK and its association’s contribution to the way in which the international profession of consulting engineering took shape was considerable, especially in the areas of the professional ethos and role of the consulting engineer, the principles related to their engagement and the development of standard forms of contract for engineering works.

International expansion

In the early post-war period, the number of FIDIC member countries changed constantly and all came from Europe.Throughout the 1950s, FIDIC stepped up its international work and while membership numbers were important, it was clear that FIDIC needed to grow its influence on the world stage in order to move forward and make progress.

The organisation benefited from the massive post-war reconstruction plans which saw thousands of millions of US dollars spent across Europe on construction projects, thereby strengthening the role and influence of the engineer sector.

FIDIC published its first contract, title The Form of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction" in 1957, known as the Red Book

Growth of FIDIC 1960s

FIDIC developed strong links with the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and later the World Bank. These links, together with FIDIC attracting more non-European international associations into membership were crucial in establishing the organisation as a truly international representative body.

Paris and The Hague general assemblies

By the time of the 1955 general assembly meeting held in Paris, delegates attended from Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The executive committee was introduced and the FIDIC statutes were revised and the federation was registered as an international body headquartered in Zurich.

By 1959 and the general assembly meeting held in The Hague, Netherlands, participants included 14 member associations from four continents. The total number of members of the 14 national associations was still relatively small, comprising approximately 5,000 individual consulting engineers, of whom 1,500 were in the USA. The year 1959 also saw associations in Canada (ACEC), USA, Australia and South Africa join FIDIC and the following year Ireland was granted FIDIC membership, bringing the total number of member associations to 15.

Steady accumulation of member associations

The 1960s and 1970s saw a steady accumulation of member associations including Central Africa, Luxembourg, Colombia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Brazil, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria and Spain. At the end of the decade ASPAC was established to represent the Asia-Pacific region.

The first edition of the Plant and Design Build Contracts “Yellow Book” is published.

A limit is placed on re-election to the executive committee so members could not be in office for any consecutive period of longer than eight years. President and vice president terms of office were limited to two years.

FIDIC statutes are revised to better reflect changes in organisational needs at the time.

Executive committee instructs secretary general to establish a permanent secretariat with a full-time executive secretary. In 1967 Hans Hillebrand takes office as executive secretary of the FIDIC secretariat, based in The Hague.

Working committee on professional liability appointed.

FIDIC in numbers - 1967

FIDIC’s total budget amounts to CHF 76,000

FIDIC represented 10,000 consulting engineers (members)

Working in 5,000 consulting engineering firms

With a total of 125,000 employees

Growth of FIDIC

1970s

Continued international growth

In the early seventies, the association in Malaysia is admitted as member, the Latin American Federation of Consulting Engineers (FELAC) is founded and Colombia leaves FIDIC.

In 1972, the Association in Singapore (ACES) becomes member of FIDIC and a working committee on the role of governments in the export of consulting services is appointed.

In 1974 FIDIC moves to larger premises in the Hague and more staff are hired in response to member demands. Also this year, the Brazilian Association and the Japanese Association become members. The office of the secretary general abolished.

National associations join FIDIC

Between 1975 and 1979, eight national associations join FIDIC (Brazil, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria and Spain) and one withdraws (Malaysia).

1975 GAM held in Paris, France.

ASPAC established to represent Asia-Pacific region in 1979.

By the end of the 1970s, the FIDIC secretariat consisted of eight people, including the two directors and now publishes the International Directory of Consulting Engineers.

FIDIC’s committees have always played a key role in the organisation and the industry volunteers who run them have given freely of their time and expertise for the greater good of the industry.

The development of FIDIC over its first 75 years was somewhat uneven, interrupted by two world wars and becoming virtually becalmed as a result. It was only during the 40 years following the end of the second world war that FIDIC transitioned from being a largely European-centric organisation to becoming a worldwide international federation and the leading representative and spokesperson for consulting engineers on the international stage.

Move to Switzerland

1980s

As the organisation grew in influence, it also strengthened its secretariat and in 1982 moved its headquarters from the Hague to Switzerland, to reflect the fact that subscriptions to the federation were in Swiss Francs.

The 1980s saw further growth of the organisation under the leadership of managing directors Burt Campbell and then Marshall Gysi, both of whom played a key role in driving the organisation forward.

Growth of FIDIC 1990s

The number of member associations increased from 20 to 50 during the 1970s and 1980s, giving the organisation additional prestige and the right to act as a spokesperson for the consulting engineering profession globally. FIDIC’s expansion during this time was directed towards the newly industrialised countries and the developing countries in Africa and Asia.

In 1987 the FIDIC secretariat team consisted of five full time and two part-time employees. It seems remarkable that the relatively small staff could manage such a significant amount of work in servicing FIDIC’s executive committee and the large number of working committees and also liaising with member associations and wider stakeholders. This has been a feature of FIDIC throughout the years, with the organisation punching far above its weight and definitely being seen as much larger than the individual sum of its parts.

The 1980s saw further growth with Austria, Bangladesh, Korea, Netherlands, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Indonesia, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Zambia all joining FIDIC.

By the end of the decade, a new subscription formula was accepted by members which created a graduated scale based on reported staff numbers and discounts for developing countries. The sliding scale of subscription was aligned to the voting strength of member associations and by this time FIDIC had 50 member associations in its ranks.

The federation published the Red and Yellow books in English and French.

The FIDIC History, by Ragnar Widegren of Sweden is published in 1988.

The FIDIC White Book is published

The FIDIC White Book is published in 1990 and is translated into French and German then printed for sale. Red Book translated into Arabic.

CNEC (Mexico), HELLASCO (Greece), AHCE (Hungary), SNILPI (Italy) and IOCE are replacing IACE (Israel) which is granted membership. Yugoslavia excluded, as member association had ceased to exist and was no longer part of the present country of Yugoslavia.

Prangey Award is created

Prangey Award is created for extraordinary contributions to the goals of FIDIC. Tony Norris, the chairman of the Civil Engineering Contracts Committee, was the first recipient.

Recognition of a legacy

FIDIC’s awards programmes recognise excellence and best practice in the construction and infrastructure sector and are coveted by global industry professionals.

The Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated service to FIDIC, was named after the founding FIDIC president, Louis Prangey. The award is presented to a person who has given significant service to the federation and/or to the profession of consulting engineering and who exemplifies the objectives of FIDIC. The recipient is considered to be a role model for the consulting engineering industry. The FIDIC board makes a written nomination of a candidate for the award to the past presidents council, which then considers and advises the board on the nomination.

Growth of FIDIC

In 1993, UACE (Uganda), Techniberia (Spain) and OAI replacing CICL (Luxembourg) are granted membership. Discussions start with CNAEC, China, over possible membership of FIDIC.

The contracts committee is created

New president Ernst Hofmann (Switzerland) is elected. The contracts committee is created consolidating several committees developing various contracts. The risk management committee is established.

ISCE replaces IACE (Iran) and is granted membership in 1994. The same year. FELAC changes to FEPAC.

By 1995, all FIDIC documents are reviewed to ensure that environmental aspects are included, where necessary. New members join from Greece, Estonia, Guinee and Croatia.

In 1996, the guide to ISO 9000 quality management for consulting engineering firms prepared.

New members join

BCW (Germany), CNAEC (China) and CAVECON (Venezuela) are granted membership. Fatma Colasan (Turkey) is the first woman to be elected to the FIDIC executive committee. The FIDIC secretariat goes online and computer network installed. Spanish added as the fourth official language of FIDIC. Task Force 21 created to study the consulting industry as it enters the next millennium and to explore future of FIDIC.

The Risk Management Manual is published in 1997 and Vietnam joins FIDIC.

EC reviews structure of the secretariat. Peter Boswell is appointed as general manager.

Sale of electronic documents begins

In 1998 FIDIC starts sale of electronic documents with much success (new PDF format). A new FIDIC annual report is launched. BIMS is designed and an integrity management task force is mandated for the development of the tool. Sustainability becomes one of FIDIC's key policies.

In 1999, the Conditions of Contract for Construction (Red Book), Conditions of Contract for Plant & Design-Build (Yellow Book), The Short Form of Contract (Green Book), and Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects (Silver Book) are published for the first time in standard format. SES (Saudi Arabia) and AICO (Columbia) are granted membership. Plans are developed to re-activate regional groups ASPAC and GAMA. A task force on integrity is formed.

Prangey Award Winners in the 1990s:

K.B. Norris (UK), 1992

Mario Asin (Bolivia), 1994

C. Molineaux (USA), 1996

John B. Bowcock (United Kingdom), 1999

Christopher Seppala (France), 1999

Growth of FIDIC 2000s

Move to the World Trade Centre, Geneva

The year 2001 saw FIDIC move to a new headquarters in the World Trade Centre in Geneva, which remain the organisation’s base to the present day. 2001 was also the year when the concept of a FIDIC forum for young professionals was first discussed. The year 2003 saw Belarus and Ghana granted membership of FIDIC and also that same year, in a significant move, following various discussions and meetings with the EFCA leadership there was an agreement on forming a joint task force to come up with recommendations for future activities of EFCA and FIDIC and this was underpinned by a signed agreement between the two organisations later that year.

Wider geographical spread

In 2004, Latvia, Namibia, Philippines, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Ecuador, and Morocco joined FIDIC, giving the organisation an even wider geographical spread and expanded influence. 2005 saw Bosnia join and the annual conference that year was held in China, with a memorable gala dinner for 900 held in Great Hall of the People, organised by host MA, CNAEC, with significant support from the Beijing city government. 2006 saw Azerbaijan and Mali granted membership and eight new affiliate members recognised and FIDIC also modified its statutes to simplify election of affiliates.

Enrico Vink becomes FIDIC Managing Director in 2004.

Malawi came on board as a member association in 2007, the same year as the annual conference was held in Singapore, the venue for its 110th anniversary conference in 2023. The following year, a FIDIC associate member category was created to replace correspondents and the AECU (Ukraine) and UZACE (Uzbekistan) were elected as new associate members.

In 2009, Lebanon, Kuwait, Serbia and Sudan all became members of FIDIC and five new affiliates were recognised. The concept of a standard minimum subscription fee was introduced for the first time.

Prangey Award Winners in the 2000s:

Michael Mortimer Hawkins (Sweden), 2000

Peter L. Booen (United Kingdom), 2001

Mark Griffiths (United Kingdom), 2004

Tonny Jensen (Denmark), 2007

Axel Jaeger (Germany), 2007

Iksan van der Putte (The Netherlands), 2008

Felipe Ochoa Rosso (Mexico), 2009

Growth of FIDIC

2010s

New Affiliates recognised

In 2011, the Palestine and Mozambique associations join FIDIC and four new Affiliates were recognised in Mexico, Jordan, Spain and Iran. The same year, the UK’s Geoff French was elected as FIDIC president and the annual conference venue was moved from Tunis to Davos after the Arab Spring uprising overthrew the Tunisian government.

In 2012, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Thailand rejoined FIDIC and the Dominican Republic was admitted as an associate. That same year, there was another important development with implications for the future of the organisation as there was general agreement reached on the concept to include young professionals on all FIDIC committees, wherever possible.

FIDIC’s centenary year

FIDIC’s centenary year of 2013 saw a new collaboration agreement signed with EFCA, recognising EFCA as the voice of the industry in Europe. Three new members were elected – Mauritius, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago – and two new associates joined the fold in Moldova and Mongolia. That same year, for the first time, FIDIC training events became the major revenue earner for the federation, surpassing document sales, with subscription income now less than 30%. The centenary conference was held in Barcelona with a record attendance of 1,200 delegates from 98 countries, underlining the strength and influence of FIDIC on the global stage.

FIDIC regional groups formed

Alongside the numerical increase in national associations joining FIDIC, groups of these associations in specific geographical regions saw the need to organise together, forming what are now known as the FIDIC regional groups. Over the years and up to the present day, these groups have played a vital role in ensuring that FIDIC in those geographical areas is able to reach out to and connect with key stakeholders, including governments, international funding institutions and industry and business organisations.

The regional groups also hold regular conferences and other events that give member associations in that geography the opportunity to come together to present a more coherent representative face than they would otherwise be able to do acting alone. It is this collective strength that has been a key feature of FIDIC throughout its history and persists today, especially since the regional groups were revamped and refocused as part of FIDIC’s most recent strategic plan.

Growth of FIDIC

FIDIC regional groups:

ABCE (Brazil) readmitted as a member of FIDIC and Montenegro and Uzbekistan admitted.

Following many years of work by FIDIC and CNAEC, the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer Programme is launched in China in 2015. In the years following, 1430 consultants have been certified in respect their knowledge and understanding of the FIDIC Guide to Practice. The programme was overseen by a Board of FIDIC and CNAEC leaders under Chair, Past President Gregs Thomopulos. Steps taken to reorganise the FIDIC secretariat and the decision was made to keep the FIDIC office in Geneva. FIDIC’s Annual Conference was held in New Delhi.

First e-book tested

2012 saw the first ever FIDIC e-book tested. And the launch of a new membership strategy to involve regional groups within FIDIC. The same year, a record 18 new Affiliates were recognised. There was also general agreement reached to include Young Professionals on all FIDIC committees, wherever possible and the committee structure was also reviewed and strengthened, including succession planning. A decision was taken to to restructure the sustainability committee following merger with EFCA committee and the annual conference was held in Seoul.

In 2013, FIDIC launched a Quality Based Selection marketing strategy to highlight this key prong of FIDIC’s procurement guidance and to promote the use of QBS worldwide. A collaboration agreement was signed with EFCA, recognising EFCA as the voice of the industry in Europe and three new member associations were elected in Mauritius, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, with two new Associates elected - Moldova and Mongolia. New FIDIC president Pablo Bueno from Spain was elected and discussions continued on the establishement of possible regional offices in Asia, Middle East and Latin America. FIDIC opened its first external office in Tanzania and Samuel Mwamsamali was appointed FIDIC Africa manager.

A numbert of regional young professionals groups were successfully launched and Fatma Colasan became the first ever woman to receive FIDIC’s highest honour, the Prangey Award. FIDIC’s Centenary Conference was held in Barcelona with a record attendance of 1,200 delegates from 98 countries.

Growth of FIDIC

Annual FIDIC awards launched

In 2013, the Annual FIDIC Awards were launched and the same year, the Cyprus association joined FIDIC. 2015 saw a new FIDIC Strategic Plan launched and the arrival of the Macedonia, Ivory Coast and Kazakhstan associations as members of FIDIC. In 2016, the first FIDIC Young Professionals Awards was launched at the FIDIC annual conference in Marrakesh. The year also saw the first phase of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) Pilot Programme with China National Association of Engineering Consultants (CNAEC) and the Beijing University. The same year saw the South Sudan and Ukraine associations join FIDIC.

FIDIC modernises governance structure

In 2016 FIDIC undertook a governance survey and begun a process which culminated in the development of the FIDIC Governance Framework, changes to the FIDIC Statutes and By Laws in 2018 and 2020, replacing the FIDIC Executive Committee with a FIDIC Board, the formation of Board Committees, the development of Board policies, introducing Advisory Councils, redeveloping Working Committees and developing of a business model which would support the future growth of FIDIC.

In 2017, the Georgia, Russia and Egypt associations joined FIDIC and in 2018, Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE was appointed as the new FDIC chief executive succeeding Enrico Vink who had been the FIDIC managing director since 2004. A strategic review of FIDIC staffing and office needs was launched and the FIDIC website was upgraded to better promote the organisation to key audiences and improve communications. The FIDIC annual conference took place in Berlin and the same year, an updated suite of agreements for consultant services, the FIDIC White Book, was launched. The key decision was taken to to retain FIDIC office in Switzerland whilst seeking the most cost-effective options to deliver other services as needed.

FIDIC Contract Users' Newsletter launched

In 2019, the new FIDIC Contract Users’ Newsletter launched along with a new tunnelling and underground works contract, the Emerald Book. FIDIC also signed a contract training collaboration with King’s College London Centre of Construction Law, its first ever partnership with a leading European university and later that year FIDIC signed a ground-breaking collaboration agreement with the China International Contractors Association. The annual conference was held in Mexico City and the Uzbekistan association joined FIDIC. A number of important collaboration agreements were signed with key international representative bodies including a training agreement with the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry and agreements to use FIDIC contracts with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Also in 2019, a new FIDIC subcontract was launched for plant and design-build and the FIDIC Contracts Awards was launched at the International Contract Users’ Conference in London.

Prangey Award Winners in the 2010s:

Fatma Çölasan (Turkey), 2013

Chris Wade (United Kingdom), 2014

Philip Jenkinson (United Kingdom), 2015

Dr Nael G. Bunni (Ireland), 2018

Dr Jorge Díaz Padilla (Mexico), 2019

Growth of FIDIC 2020s

The year 2020 saw more key agreements signed with the African Development Bank signing a five-year agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts, a landmark cooperation agreement signed with China Association of International Engineering Consultants and a major translation and publication agreement with the leading Chinese multimedia and publishing group, China Machine Press. The Islamic Development Bank also signed a five-year agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts and the International Association of Dredging Companies signed a major strategic collaboration agreement with FIDIC. FIDIC Credentialing Limited also signed a major agreement with the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.

Covid-19 crisis

The FIDIC board met to coordinate a response to the Covid crisis and FIDIC issued industry guidance issued on Covid-19 working. The first issue of the CEO’s Update was launched and FIDIC’s Covid webinar series attracted record turnouts to online meetings. Despite the Covid challenges, FIDIC relaunched and revamped all its committees. The annual conference took place online for the first time due to the Covid pandemic and a new Strategic Plan for 2020-2024 was launched.

In 2021, the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors

Associations signed a major strategic collaboration agreement with FIDIC. Other major agreements signed during the year included the European Investment Bank signing a five-year cooperation agreement, the International Fund for Agricultural Development signing a five-year deal to use FIDIC contracts, the World Bank announcing that it will use the FIDIC-ITA Emerald Book for all underground works contracts and the Asian Development Bank signsing a five-year agreement to use FIDIC standard contracts.

Prangey Award Winner:

Dick Kell (Australia), 2021

FIDIC Credentialing launched

2021 also saw a new era for certification and professional development as FIDIC Credentialing was launched. The same year saw the relaunched FIDIC State of the World report focusing on the value of water. Due to the Covid pandemic, the FIDIC Contract Users’ Conference took place online and the Costa Rica association joined FIDIC.

The same year, five FIDIC standard contracts were made available in Chinese language and FIDIC North America was formed after key associations signed a collaboration agreement.

Australia’s Anthony Barry was elected as the new FIDIC president and 2021 also saw FIDIC launch the new Global Leadership Forum.

The World Wildlife Fund and FIDIC signed a three-year agreement on sustainability issues and the King’s Centre of Construction Law runs the first FIDIC university programme in Europe.

A new updated FIDIC Green Book short form contract

was also launched.

Growth of FIDIC

FIDIC launches its climate change charter

FIDIC has been motivated to outline its leadership response on the behalf of the consulting engineering community because of the urgency of the climate crisis and the scale of the changes required. This FIDIC charter sets out in basic, initial terms, how we address climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience of the built environment in the years and decades to come.

www.climatechangecharter.world

FIDIC Digital Transformation Committee launched

In 2022, FIDIC launched its new Digital Transformation Committee and the same year saw that board issue a statement on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The latest FIDIC State of the World report highlights the increasing pace of digital change and the first FIDIC Ambassadors were appointed. The new Global Leadership Forum got off to flying start with its first meeting and Michael Broadley was appointed as the first general manager of the FIDIC Academy. The annual cconference returned to a face-to face event with a sell-out event in Geneva. 2022 also saw the launch of a series of FIDIC construction contract reprints and

the publication of a new contracts guide. WSP Global chairman Chris Cole was announced as heading up the new governing senate for FIDIC Academy and the latest State of the World report highlighted the challenge of global corruption.

FIDIC Academy announce a major upgrade

In 2023, the FIDIC Future Leaders Management Course gained official CPD accreditation and the FIDIC Academy announced a major upgrade, including the appointment of global professional experts and the launch of new website. FIDIC issued new guidance to help FIDIC construction contract users navigate troubled times and a new collaboration agreement was signed with World Business Council for Sustainable Development to accelerate the transition to sustainable infrastructure.

FIDIC hosted the first Global Leadership Forum summit in Geneva and the latest FIDIC State of the World report highlighted the key role of technology and digital in achieving net zero. In 2023, work also started on a new FIDIC contract for offshore wind farm projects and FIDIC celebrated its 110th anniversary. The annual conference is held in Singapore and Catherine Karakatsanis takes over as the first ever woman president of FIDIC.

Growth of FIDIC

FIDIC today

FIDIC is transparent and accountable to its members, stakeholders and clients. Information on the deliberations of our board, committees and task groups are made available via the FIDIC website and we issue regular press releases and statements on FIDIC's work.

FIDIC is governed by a set of statutes and bylaws which have been agreed by member associations and are updated as required and ratified at the General Assembly Meetings (GAM) during the annual conference. These statutes and bylaws govern a range of issues including membership, the election of the board and the running of various committees and operations.

As FIDIC has evolved over its current corporate plan so too has its structure and governance. This structure has further been refined and as can be seen from the new structure as we enter the final stages of this corporate plan the main elements are still in place but there have been further refinements in terms of governance, committees, new services, increased industry involvement and the continued professionalisation of the secretariat operations.

FIDIC Board committees

FIDIC Advisory councils

GLF Advisory board

FIDIC Working committees

FCL Management board

FCL Certification board

Programme committees

FIDIC Credentialing Ltd

FCL Business operations

FIDIC Consulting Services (Beijing) Ltd

FIDIC Business operations

Contract & Legal services

Policy, External Affairs & Communications

Academy

Events and conferences

Corporate services

Federation services

HR and finance

FIDIC Services (UK) Ltd

Technology

Academy Senate

Academy faculty

FIDIC Board

FIDIC Secretariat

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Contracts and standards

Contracts and standards

If there is one area above all else that has helped to raise the profile and prestige of FIDIC on a global scale, it is its standard contract forms that are widely used and respected across the international construction industry. Originally known as the Standard Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction and frequently referred to as simply the FIDIC Red Book on its launch in August 1957, FIDIC contracts have now become ubiquitous and the go-to documents for anyone contemplating global construction and infrastructure projects.

The original contract became known as the FIDIC Contract and very often just FIDIC, underlining how closely linked these industry documents were (and would become) linked to FIDIC itself. The first edition of the contract was based upon an agreement between FIDIC and the European contractors association, the Fédération Internationale du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publiques (FIEEBTP) and over time the contract became more used and as a result other international associations officially approved it for use by their members. When a second edition of the contract was published, FIDIC and those organisations approving its use set up a joint committee with the FIEEBTP, one of the tasks of which was to ensure that the conditions of contract were used unchanged in international projects. In these early days (as now) clauses in FIDIC contracts were being frequently modified in overseas contracts to reduce the powers of the engineer, a move which was rightly seen as detrimental to the interests of both the contractor and the consulting engineer and also in the long run to the employer or client.

The FIDIC/FIEEBTP committee also worked with the World Bank to review the conditions of contract and this work was also instrumental in influencing the bank’s procurement guidelines, an early example of how FIDIC’s contracts have enabled the organisation to widen its influence on the international stage for the benefit of its members and the wider industry.

While FIDIC has addressed a whole range of professional issues affecting consulting engineers over many years. It is known among clients, international finance institutions, lawyers and contractors for its work in in preparing and publishing standard forms of contract. These are often referred to as the FIDIC Rainbow suite, due to the different colours of the various FIDIC contracts – the Red Book, Yellow Book, Orange Book, Green Book and so on. Of particular importance for the wider consulting engineering profession are the forms of contract with clients or each other. These include the White Book Model Services Agreement between Client and Consultant, the Joint Venture (Consortium Agreement) and the Sub-Consultancy Agreement for use when one firm of consulting engineers is acting as a sub-consultant to another.

To assist users of the contracts, FIDIC has also published a series of guides to the contracts. One of the objectives of the guides is to indicate what the contract drafting committees intended in preparing the documents, though in the event of any dispute, the ultimate interpretation of individual clauses in a specific contract is determined by the courts or by arbitration.

The first edition of the FIDIC Red Book published in 1957 drew heavily on the conditions of contract published by the UK Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). The reason for this was that in the years shortly after the second world war, when a number of international projects were carried out financed by the international financial institutions such as the World Bank, consultants in many countries were using the ICE form, departing from it only where it was considered essential because of the international character of the work. When FIDIC came to produce the first Red Book then it was natural that they should use the work already done as a basis. As a result, FIDIC documents tend to be orientated towards a common law approach to contractual matters, although consultants and contractors from countries more used to a civil law environment do not appear to have had much difficulty in using the FIDIC forms.

Contracts and standards

FIDIC documents have proved enduring and popular with client organisations, the international financing institutions and contractors. Today, many of the multilateral development banks have mandated the use of FIDIC as part of their standard bidding documents and this trend is growing on a global basis. In preparing its contracts, FIDIC has always tried to consult widely with those sectors likely to be involved with the use of its documents and has welcomed the active participation and input of organisations like the World Bank and contractors’ organisations during the course of the contract drafting process.

FIDIC contracts are widely seen as taking a fair and equitable approach to project risk and this is undoubtedly one of the reasons for their success down the years. FIDIC has always been keenly aware of the need to ensure fairness in contracts entered into between its clients and the contracting and manufacturing industries. It is in the interests of all sections of the engineering industry that contractors and manufacturers should be given a fair and just reward for the works they carry out and the goods they supply. In the long run, no one in the industry gains if conditions of contract are such that contractors and manufacturers are driven out of business. Therefore, it is fundamental to all FIDIC contracts that here should be a fair allocation of risk and responsibilities between the parties to a contract. This has guided the development of all new contracts down the years and is a key principle which has been welcomed by users across the world.

The question of payment has also been a key item included in FIDIC contracts. FIDIC has also tried to ensure that contractors and manufacturers are aware of payment terms, especially when they can expect to receive their money for the work carried out. In these days when cashflow is critical, it is essential for all parties to a contract to be sure that they will receive payment when it is due.

FIDIC contracts have also highlighted the key role of the engineer in ensuring that projects are properly executed. The prime role of the engineer is enshrined in FIDIC contracts and is underlined by the importance of the engineer’s integrity and independence as well as the necessity for them to be highly qualified and capable of acting as an unbiased resolver of disputes on site or during the contract. The role of the engineer has been a matter of some discussion over the years, particularly as they have been paid by the employer, leading to some to suggest that they will always put the employer’s interests before those of the contractor.

The FIDIC contracts committee has played and continues to play a very important role overseeing the production of new contracts which have sought to keep up to date with the changing requirements of the industry. Members of the committee comprise leading legal and contractual experts and engineers who ensure that the contracts are developed in a way that meets the needs of the industry and the various stakeholders that will use them.

It is no accident that FIDIC contracts have been endorsed by most of the major international funding institutions worldwide. They recognise that the contracts provide users with a fair and equitable approach, especially in the area of risk, which is one of the reasons that they are so well-regarded across the global industry.

Contracts and standards

Expert task groups working under the direction of the FIDIC contracts committee also reach out to the industry and all new contracts are reviewed by ‘friendly’ reviewers before any new document is launched into the market. This ensures that new editions of contracts are the best that they can be and once launched they are then subject to a rigorous testing and feedback process so that they can be amended as required to take account of the experience of those who use them in the field. This is another reason why FIDIC’s contracts are so highly regarded across the global industry and why they are able to respond to a changing industry.

Looking to the future, what will maintain FIDIC’s leading position will be the continuing work of its contracts committee under the guidance of the FIDIC board in ensuring that future contracts take account of a changing industry and also the development and organisation of FIDIC’s contract user community which is so important in ensuring that these leading industry documents keep pace with the changing and evolving needs of engineering, construction and infrastructure sector.

Building FIDIC’s contract user community

Many thousands of FIDIC contracts are sold every year and used on global construction contracts of all sizes all across the world. While the repeat purchases of these contracts would be proof enough of their popularity in the industry, FIDIC does not rest on its laurels and takes nothing for granted in assuming that this situation will continue in perpetuity. In recent years, the organisation has made great efforts to engage its contract user community to ensure that it receives the best possible feedback on the use of its contracts but also so that FIDIC can communicate key messages and updates to this very important stakeholder grouping.

Over many years, FIDIC has organised regular contract users’ conferences to bring together this community and this work has grown and developed over the recent period. Despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic, the past few years have seen the profile of FIDIC contracts grow, with more opportunities for users to connect than ever before.

The profile of FIDIC contracts is on the increase, with increasing numbers of clients and funding bodies seeing these industry standard documents as their contract of choice in challenging times. As we can see above, FIDIC’s standard construction contracts were already highly regarded across the global industry, with clients and users alike attracted by the fair and balanced approach they take, especially in the area of project risk. However, the recent period has seen these contracts increasingly becoming the benchmark for global construction projects, a position that has been boosted further by the number of organisations that have signed licence agreements with FIDIC to use its contracts on their projects.

FIDIC contracts are an integral and important component of infrastructure delivery globally. They are a pivotal link between clients and contractors. FIDIC recognises their importance and invests heavily in the FIDIC contracts ecosystem. This includes the great work that the FIDIC Contracts Committee does in addressing the contracts themselves, the services our contracts services team provides, the FIDIC Academy’s role in delivering training and the work of FIDIC Credentialing certifying individuals who work in this space

FIDIC contracts will continue to be a vital contribution to the global infrastructure industry and we will continue to drive hard to ensure it remains the gold standard in international contracting.

Contracts and standards

A key strength of FIDIC contracts is that they are responsive to users’ demands and that they keep up to date with the latest industry and business developments. During the pandemic, FIDIC was quick to respond by issuing key guidance to users outlining the provisions in FIDIC’s various general conditions of contract which might be relevant regarding likely scenarios that were arising as a consequence of the challenges raised by the Covid crisis. This guidance was well received and appreciated by users across the global industry.

FIDIC has also sought to build its contract community by organising more training and holding a number of regional and international contract users’ conferences to give users the opportunity to hear about the latest developments from experts in the contracts and legal arena. FIDIC has taken the organisation and delivery of these events in-house to improve their effectiveness and to bring the organisation closer to the end users of the contracts and to ensure that feedback is more quickly channelled into FIDIC to help drive continuous improvement.

Recent years have also seen FIDIC look to raise the profile of its contract user community. In 2019 a new FIDIC Contract Users’ Newsletter was launched and also the same year the first FIDIC Contract Users’ Awards were held to recognise excellence in the use of FIDIC contract forms for project delivery and showcase examples of good practice through collaboration from across the world. Both the newsletter and the awards continue to thrive and are expected to grow over the coming years.

Alongside these events, FIDIC has also been building up its Official Contract Users’ LinkedIn group to provide a platform where members can be the first to hear of the latest FIDIC contract users’ news, events, training and offers and to provide a forum where they can compare experiences with other contract users on the most common challenges facing the industry. The group and the contract users’ conferences provide a valuable conduit into FIDIC to help brainstorm ideas, creativity and innovation for the future development of FIDIC contracts.

Contracts and standards

FIDIC Golden Principles

In a bid to safeguard the integrity of FIDIC contracts and to ensure that the clients and the public are not mislead about what is and what isn’t a bone fide FIDIC contract document, in 2019 FIDIC launched its Golden Principles. The principles outline the essence of a FIDIC contract and articulate those essential characteristics of FIDIC’s general conditions that should not be amended if it is to be recognised as a FIDIC contract.

More and more frequently, FIDIC had been experiencing applications of ‘FIDIC contracts’ where significant changes to the general conditions are made by means of replacing, changing or omitting parts of the wording through the particular conditions. Some of the replacements and changes introduced were found to be substantial and of such extent, that the final contract or agreement no longer represents the FIDIC principles, and thus were jeopardising the FIDIC brand and misleading tenderers and the public.

The FIDIC contracts committee set up a special task group to identify which contractual principles of each form of contract FIDIC considers to be inviolable and sacrosanct. These principles are referred to as the FIDIC Golden Principles.

The FIDIC Golden Principles were launched at the FIDIC Asia Pacific Contract Users’ Conference in Hong Kong in June 2019. The 12-page guide, The FIDIC Golden Principles (First Edition 2019), outlines the five Golden Principles and explains in detail the reasoning behind them.

Each of the five Golden Principles (GPs) are explained in the guide. In order to promote acceptance and understanding: -

• the GPs are formulated at a conceptual level to encapsulate the essence of a FIDIC contract;

• each GP expresses a single, readily understood and generally accepted concept;

• the GPs are limited to the minimum number necessary for completeness.

The guide makes the point that minor additions or grammatical changes to the wording of a general conditions sub-clause that do not alter the intent are not a breach of the GPs. However, such cosmetic changes should only be made for good reasons, the guide advises.

The Golden Principles

GP1: The duties, rights, obligations, roles and responsibilities of all the contract participants must be generally as implied in the General Conditions, and appropriate to the requirements of the project.

GP2: The Particular Conditions must be drafted clearly and unambiguously.

GP3: The Particular Conditions must not change the balance of risk/reward allocation provided for in the General Conditions.

GP4: All time periods specified in the contract for contract participants to perform their obligations must be of reasonable duration.

GP5: All formal disputes must be referred to a Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board (or a Dispute Adjudication Board, if applicable) for a provisionally binding decision as a condition precedent to arbitration.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110 3

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Committee Chair’s thoughts

Tracey Ryan, Chair of the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee and Managing Director of Aurecon (New Zealand)

The partnerships that FIDIC is building and has built in the area of sustainability are crucial as we know that it is only through better collaboration can we tackle and address the climate crisis. New relationships like the one we have forged with the WWF are also really important in that regard too. The issues we need to address around decarbonising our economy and the ongoing impacts around climate change are global issues and the infrastructure sector has such an important role in addressing these systemic challenges. Now more than ever before we see sustainability’s importance in everything that we do and the challenge going forward will be to integrate our work around sustainability across all of the other areas of FIDIC’s operations. The days of looking at sustainability in isolation are long gone.

What makes FIDIC special is its significant global reach, its network and the influential role it can play in the industry make FIDIC a special organisation. Engineers play an often-pioneering role addressing the key issues we face as a society, as humanity, and FIDIC brings all of that together through a powerful global network and strong voice that can bring influence to bear to drive change and a policy level. Through its member association network, we can share learnings and best practice across the globe, raising the bar for the entire sector, so it’s a vital role that the organisation plays in our industry.

My message for FIDIC to mark its anniversary is keep looking to the future. FIDIC has done so much over the last 110 years but we now face a future that looks very different from the past, so FIDIC needs to reflect that in all areas of its work. This includes work around inclusivity and diversity which is so important in creating an organisation and an industry that better reflects the society we work in, so FIDIC needs to continue to keep evolving. Yes, celebrate the past, but always look to the future. The past we inherit, the future we build!

Advisory Council Chair’s thoughts

Dr Michele Kruger,

Chair of the FIDIC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC) and Function General Manager: Water and Environment, SMEC

As we celebrate 110 years,, it’s actually shocking to think we have never had a female president in all these years. Luckily, this year we are celebrating that Catherine Karakatsanis will start her tenure in September as the first female president of FIDIC! This is the culmination of a long road which started off as a diversity and inclusion task team, an idea started at the 2016 FIDIC conference in Marrakesh and which graduated to an advisory council where I serve as an advisor to the FIDIC board. An amazing journey showing how important this topic is to FIDIC.

A large amount of research is done by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC), in a response to an instruction from the FIDIC board in how can we improve diversity and inclusion in all elements of FIDIC, resulting in a report that guided the board on how other companies are succeeding. Now there is ample diversity in all committees, representing not only gender and race, but all geographies represented by FIDIC. The DEIAC has developed a Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines, KPIs, research and surveys and is currently working hard to expand our work for even further to see how exclusion created by geography, language, culture or neurotypical versus neurodiverse colleagues can be overcome, something that can be seen during online meetings. By developing inclusionary guidelines, we can enhance inclusion across FIDIC as well as improve business processes for the wider industry.

I have had the honour of being part of the FIDIC family from 2007, where I did the Future Leaders Management Course and joined the FIDIC Young Professionals Forum. All through my career, FIDIC was the once constant in my life as I moved companies, allowing me to live my passion to improve conditions for people in the consulting engineering sector, by serving on FIDIC committees and councils. I really do feel like part of the family and each time I see the FIDIC staff or my friends in the consulting engineering sector at the conferences, it feels like coming home to family for Christmas! FIDIC has been greatly rewarding in my life and it’s been an honour to serve as a volunteer all this time.

Thank you for all you do for me and everyone in the consulting engineering sector! Thank you for being a beacon of light in a sector that draws a lot of negativity, such as corruption. Your pillars of Quality, Integrity and Sustainability serve as inspiration and a protection by association. It gives guidance on how to make us, our companies and our planet better.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Advisory Council Chair’s thoughts

Rodrigo Juárez, Chair of the FIDIC Future Leaders Advisory Council (FLAC) and Consultant, FOA Consulting

Historically, young professionals and future leaders have not always been heard, either because we are too young, because we lack experience, or because we haven´t seen or lived long enough to know how things are done and why they must be done in a certain way. Many years ago, young engineers wouldn’t even have a say in any decisions in their companies.

However, this has changed, and now we see more young engineers in leadership positions, which is extremely encouraging. The work that FIDIC has done in empowering the younger generations has been tremendous. In 2004, the FIDIC FLAC was established to provide future leaders with the opportunity to participate actively in FIDIC and to develop the next generation of consulting engineering industry leaders by providing future leaders with a platform to influence strategies, policies and initiatives. Every year we see that the initiatives we have are being well received and creating impact. This has been a great accomplishment, as the FLAC has total freedom to innovate, discuss and suggest publications, webinars or initiatives that are often pushing the limits to discuss topics that might be uncomfortable or not widely discussed - and this is because FIDIC constantly encourages it. From participating in the committees, to the board meetings and almost every event that FIDIC has, future leaders have a real voice in the future direction of the organisation.

It’s the sense of familiarity and community it generates that makes FIDIC special. Being part of an organisation such as FIDIC makes you feel part of a big family that not only allows us to create professional networks and learn from the most experienced professionals in our industry, but it also allows us to make long-lasting friends and relationships that go beyond a standard form of contract (pun intended!).

For anyone that has participated in any training programme, webinar or conference, you will know what I mean. FIDIC is an organisation that makes you feel like your individual voice in the consulting engineering industry makes a difference and it is easy to forget that over 100 countries and over a million engineering professionals are represented by FIDIC. This is why I consider it such a special organisation, which has been creating a long-lasting impact in our industry.

Not many organisations are able to celebrate their 110th anniversary and being part of this anniversary is special. FIDIC is a testament to how consulting engineers work together to improve our industry and it shows how collaborative approaches add significantly more value than individual efforts.

On behalf of myself and each of the members of the FIDIC Future Leaders Advisory Council, we firstly want to thank and congratulate everyone at FIDIC, including the staff, for the huge efforts they make to guarantee that the organisation performs smoothly, always delivering outstanding results that exceed expectations meeting after meeting, event after event. Secondly, we would like to congratulate the volunteers that dedicate their time and effort to make FIDIC what it is. We should be proud of all the contributions we make. As future leaders, we constantly reflect on what has been done and what we must do for the future generations. So, on behalf of everyone at the Future Leaders Advisory Council, congratulations to FIDIC - and let´s keep working together for another 110 years of greater success!

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Contracts Committee Chair’s thoughts

Vincent Leloup, Chair of the FIDIC Contracts Committee and managing partner, Exequatur

FIDIC contracts have served the international construction industry for almost 70 years since the release of the first FIDIC form of contract back in 1957. They progressively became the leading international standard in the administration of a construction project, promoting a fair and balanced risk allocation within the construction team and have been successfully used across the world in a wide diversity of contexts (jurisdictions, financing – public and private –, types of infrastructure and building works).

By reflecting international best practice, they provided users around the world with an invaluable neutral support in negotiating and implementing their construction contracts, contributing to deliver sustainable projects at best value for money. FIDIC did not however only act as repository of best practices, and rather has been, and continues to be, at the forefront of innovations in the field. Two clear examples in this respect are the introduction of dispute boards in FIDIC contracts as early as 1996 and the recent wide range of innovations brought by the 2021 Green Book

I am pleased to see that, far from resting on its laurels of international leader in the field, FIDIC has further nailed its full commitment to assist an ever-changing world in facing its growing challenges by embarking over recent years in a massive programme of development of contract solutions – collaborative contracting, net zero provisions, brownfield projects, PPP projects, wind farm projects, to name a few.

Its unique role of promoter of best and innovative practices, ethics and sustainability, which therefore upholds the interests of societies at large, is what makes FIDIC special for me. Without forgetting FIDIC’s impressive capacity to club together so many expert volunteer resources from all over the world, channelling their skills, experience and enthusiasm to contribute to the greater good!

Looking to the future, keep on leading the way and federating talents and assisting the world in facing its many challenges. And consider going one step further into the digitalisation of FIDIC contracts services towards the industry.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Digital Transformation Committee Chair's thoughts

Stacy Sinclair, Chair of the FIDIC Digital

Transformation Committee

and Partner and Head of Technology and Innovation at Fenwick Elliott

At the heart of digital transformation and technology is ‘opportunity’ - opportunity to enable the outcomes and solutions we desperately need to achieve a sustainable and successful built environment. We are already seeing transformation throughout the whole lifecycle of projects, from finance and procurement to design, construction and use, re-use or demolition. FIDIC’s work and the work of the Digital Transformation Committee is fundamental in promoting and realising this opportunity, not only for its members, but also the global engineering and infrastructure community. It is critical that FIDIC develops, drives and disseminates thought leadership and guidance on these game-changing technologies that are creating a paradigm shift and shaping the future of our industry.

FIDIC is a special organisation because its passion and dedication to quality, integrity and sustainability can be seen shining through in each of its workstreams, committees and initiatives. These values are embodied throughout and it is infectious, creating a very special environment to work within. FIDIC’s ability to connect and collaborate with organisations and industries in jurisdictions globally is fundamental for the success of digital and green transformations, as well as the transformation and progression of the professions generally. FIDIC is in a unique position to promote global change, which takes a very special organisation indeed.

So, happy birthday FIDIC! Your commitment and devotion to driving the best in the industry is greatly appreciated and highly regarded. Thank you for all of your energies and efforts and we look forward to the next 110 years!

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Regional Group comment

Abe Thela, President of FIDIC Africa and Director, Nyeleti Consulting

To achieve important collaboration, I believe that the best perspective to have is that of the necessary architecture upon which a global organisation such FIDIC has been developed over the 110 years of its existence. Whereas initially, FIDIC was a body which focused on direct country membership, with associations in the Africa region each developing over time, some having only celebrated some 50 and others 70 years of being in existence, the formation of a regional body such as FIDIC Africa only materialised 30 years ago. The opportunity for regional collaboration has provided a better opportunity for such interrelationships within the region and globally notwithstanding the fact that each country has their unique dynamics.

There are always common issues in this global village we live in and the need for such synergies will only increase over time. Capacity building is one of the key areas of focus FIDIC Africa has been focusing on and in a global environment, where there is a current shortage of engineering practitioners, FIDIC should be encouraging all its MAs and regions to have the same focus of organic capacity building or as some global consulting firms are doing, creating global resource pools in different locations, instead of cannibalising each other’s resources.

What makes FIDIC special is that it has the luxury of having a global reach and is subsequently able to create synergies with global project funding agencies, who need to be assured that the projects they invest in globally are optimally utilised in the process of infrastructure delivery. Standardised contracting regimes, consulting engineering companies, the members of FIDIC member associations, globally being held to a high standard of integrity and quality delivery, all driven through FIDIC, are just some of the aspects that make it a special organisation.

FIDIC Africa would like to pledge its commitment and support to broadening the foundation on which FIDIC was built. We will do so by growing a broader base of member associations from the African diaspora, so that indeed FIDIC will be increasingly recognised as that truly global Federation of International Consulting Engineers, recognised not only by project funders, but also by public and private sector owners of infrastructure.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Regional Group comment

Over the past year the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) and FIDIC have further strengthened their cooperation through the FIDIC Europe board, provided for in the current FIDIC-EFCA agreement under which EFCA represents FIDIC members associations across Europe.

As the only European federation representing consulting engineering firms in the EU policy-making process, EFCA provides a vital service to the sector. We scrutinise proposals for new regulation and revisions to existing laws impacting the firms based in and operating in the EU. The reach of this legislation is much wider than EU firms, because any firm operating within the EU borders is also affected, regardless of where in the world it is headquartered. Moreover, many countries outside the EU seek to align with its policies, because they represent the best standards for a modern and sustainable built environment and a huge collective effort, from 27 member states, to solve the biggest challenges of our lifetime, including the climate emergency.

We expect that our work will be ever more important in future, as the recent crises in energy supply, climate impact and pandemics will require more action at European level. Amongst many other lobbying actions, we are also involved in several expert groups managed by the European Commission. These include an Advisory Group on the Digitalisation of SMEs and a group that is reviewing standard contract clauses on cloud computing. EFCA has also been working closely with the European Commission on action aimed at a sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine, which will help the country to rebuild according to standards and regulation, that will support its bid for accession to the EU. It has also developed a Sustainable Infrastructure Procurement Toolkit with European Contractors following European standards, that can be considered as a benchmark not only for European Development Banks but also multilateral financing Institutions.

EFCA and FIDIC are important partners working in different but complementary levels, that promote a strong, innovative, sustainable and successful global consulting engineering sector. FIDIC is the umbrella federation, representing the industry globally, and EFCA is the regional federation, representing consulting engineers in Europe. European consulting engineering firms are some of the most international worldwide. They use FIDIC contracts and dispute advisory support in countries with weak regulatory frameworks and benefit from the training and other support offered by FIDIC. On the other hand, FIDIC benefits from European knowledge and expertise developed in an ambitious and forward-thinking regulatory environment that is often used as a benchmark worldwide.

Working through the FIDIC Europe board, we see this relationship evolving in a balanced and positive way for both federations, each working at their own level, collaborating, and contributing to each other’s goals. EFCA is fully supportive of FIDIC’s regional strategy and will strive to have a stronger representation in Europe and to share a European voice. Stronger regions in FIDIC will result in a stronger FIDIC, making it more effective in pursuing its global objectives.

FIDIC represents and advocates on behalf of the industry globally, striking a balance of different regions, and providing support to the development of disadvantaged nations that are lacking the conditions for quality infrastructure development. This purpose means that FIDIC can bring the industry forward globally while respecting the cultural and socioeconomic situation of each region. Congratulations on 110 years of promoting quality infrastructure globally that serves people’s needs!

Inés Ferguson, President of the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) and Director of Business Development at TYPSA

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Thoughts from FIDIC Academy

Chris Cole, Senate Chancellor, FIDIC Academy and Chairman of the Board at WSP Global Inc.

The work of the FIDIC Academy, which provides training and capacity building to drive excellence in quality and best practice for the global consulting engineering and infrastructure industry, is vital in delivering appropriate and cost-effective capacity to companies across the sector. Providing these services to the industry is a key strategic objective for FIDIC and the FIDIC Academy senate, which I chair, is focused on realising its mission of being the world’s leading centre for contract, best business practice learning and development within the consulting engineering and wider infrastructure industry.

I am delighted and fortunate to be able to work with my fellow senate members, all key industry professionals drawn from across the FIDIC ecosystem, who are therefore well placed to advise on the industry’s capacity building needs. Working with our senate members and the wider professional consulting firm industry leaders, I know that we will ensure that we deliver what the market needs.

One of the things that makes FIDIC a special and unique organisation is that, because of its global reach, it can bring together industry experts on an international scale and get them to apply their expertise and share their knowledge for the common benefit of the whole industry. The organisation has been applying this global approach for more than a century and I look forward to this continuing in the training and capacity building arena in the years to come.

My message to FIDIC on its 110th anniversary is to say congratulations on a landmark birthday and let us together redouble our efforts to stimulate talent and developing future leaders to provide engineers and fellow professionals with the skills required to compete in a global marketplace. The future of our industry is in all our hands!

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Thoughts from FIDIC Credentialing

Sir Vivian Ramsey KC, Chair of the Management Board, FIDIC Credentialing

Since its inception in 2019, FIDIC Credentialing (FCL) has offered certification and professional development services to a range of professionals and infrastructure industry experts wishing to broaden their scope of knowledge and expertise. FCL’s certification services to individuals working in the global infrastructure industry include examining and certifying consulting engineers, contract managers, future leaders, FIDIC trainers and dispute adjudicators.

FCL ensures that comprehensive evaluation programmes are available throughout the year to industry professionals. Our dedicated team of experts and practitioners have hands-on experience in their respective fields of expertise and are committed to providing learning solutions at all levels using up-to-date tools and learning platforms.

Because of FIDIC’s global reach it is able to bring together experts from around the world and from many professional disciplines to use their experience and knowledge to assist FCL in its endeavours. This type of assistance is something that FIDIC has been doing for more than a century and I congratulate the organisation for its excellent work on the occasion of its 110th anniversary.

FCL's certification programmes and examinations are delivered internationally and are recognised by the global infrastructure industry. In this way, we are providing capacity-building initiatives and promoting high levels of professional competence to meet international standards and provide professional career development opportunities to international practitioners.

FCL has seen very encouraging growth as it intensifies its business development activities to promote its five FIDIC certification programmes in the global arena. I am confident that FCL will continue to go from strength to strength, establishing the gold standard for professional qualifications. As FIDIC reaches its 110th anniversary, I am sure that it will continue to build on its success in serving the global industry with distinction and in representing over a million consulting engineer professionals in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Regional Group comment

Fidic Asia Pacific (FAP) is trying to achieve knowledge sharing amongst member associations by organising technical webinars and technical training. The objective is to share knowledge, experiences and best practices within the region. This enables them to leverage each other's expertise and learn from successful projects or initiatives.

FAP is trying to spread the message on climate change and related issues amongst MAs. Another important objective is to manage networking and partnerships. Regional events and initiatives create opportunities for professionals to connect, exchange ideas and explore potential collaborations. These partnerships can lead to joint ventures, knowledge transfer, and resource sharing, fostering innovation and growth in the industry. FAP has formed a Future Leaders Forum comprising about 20 members in the executive committee with a young woman chair from Sri Lanka.

FIDIC is renowned for its development and promotion of industry standards and best practices in consulting engineering. The organisation has created widely recognised contract templates, such as the FIDIC Red, Yellow and Silver Books, which provide a framework for fair and balanced contractual relationships. FIDIC also brings together consulting engineering associations from around the world, representing professionals in the field. This global representation allows for diverse perspectives, experiences and expertise to be shared, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the consulting engineering industry on a global scale.

FIDIC has taken a special interest for the development of young professionals. An independent forum known as Future Leaders Forum has been formed. This concept has been adopted by all MAs.

On FIDIC's 110th anniversary, as president of FIDIC Asia Pacific, I would like to extend my congratulations and convey my appreciation for the organisation’s remarkable contribution to the consulting engineering profession. Throughout its rich history, FIDIC has consistently demonstrated its commitment to excellence, integrity, and global collaboration, making it a beacon of inspiration for professionals in the industry.

As FIDIC embarks on its 110th year, I encourage the organisation to continue its mission with even greater vigour and ambition. Embrace the opportunities presented by emerging technologies, sustainability and evolving global challenges – like climate change and its mitigation through engineering. May FIDIC’s legacy continue to inspire generations of consulting engineers and may the organisation’s future endeavours lead to even greater advancements and positive impacts on the profession and society as a whole. Happy 110th anniversary, FIDIC!

Sudhir Dhawan, President of FIDIC Asia-Pacific

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Thoughts from the FIDIC North America

Linda Bauer Darr, President and Chief Executive, American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and FIDIC North America

FIDIC member associations of any given region hold a special bond amongst their global peers. We often share members, who maintain offices across borders, collaborate on projects and ideas and serve as reliable trading partners.

The engineering industry is arguably one of the most valuable to society, designing the roads, bridges, healthcare and educational institutions we all rely on. As the world continues to evolve and priorities shift, the engineering industry stands at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement. Bringing together the national engineering organisations of countries large and small, each with their own unique economic, cultural and geographic identities provides each member, and the member companies we serve essential resources and connections through this one-of-a-kind global network. FIDIC’s ability to do this make it a special organisation.

So, best wishes on this momentous occasion. The members of the American Council of Engineering Companies congratulate our friends at FIDIC for this remarkable milestone. Its longevity and continued importance are a testament to the wonderful industry that it represents.

Thoughts on FIDIC at 110

Committee chair’s comment

Richard Stump, Chair of the FIDIC Integrity Management Committee and vice president of RS&H

FIDIC has a justifiably proud record of highlighting and campaigning on the issue of integrity in the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector. Indeed, alongside quality and sustainability, integrity is one of FIDIC’s ‘three pillars’ that underpin everything it does.

The organisation has been energetically promoting integrity within the industry for years. FIDIC strongly believes that a formal, coordinated and systematic approach towards the management of integrity issues works better than sporadic efforts developed by individuals and individual companies. Combating corruption requires a concerted effort by all parties involved in the project lifecycle - clients, contractors, owners, government procurement groups, and funding agencies alike – to promote positive actions as well as assisting in the prevention of corrupt activity.

FIDIC uses the term “integrity management” purposely. We advocate ethical integrity to fight corruption. The strongest action a firm can take is to develop and to maintain an integrated management system. FIDIC’s dedicated integrity management committee (IMC) oversees our crucial work in this area. This work includes outreach and coordination with corruption-fighting international and local organisations, developing guidelines and processes for better understanding and ‘managing’ risks of corruption and education on integrity issues.

Like with other areas of FIDIC’s activity, we are able to bring the industry together around integrity matters and reach out to influential organisations. FIDIC’s global footprint and well-earned reputation for combatting the scourge of corruption over many years provides us with a platform to be a leader in the fight against corruption.

Our ability to unite the industry is just one of the things that make FIDIC such a special organisation. Celebrating 110 years of history represents an excellent milestone to highlight the important work that FIDIC does on the issue of integrity - and the importance of continuing this work. Corruption has no place in the infrastructure sector or anywhere else in the built environment. The work of FIDIC’s integrity management committee will continue to play a key role in rooting it out.

4

Challenges and opportunities

Challenges and opportunities

2030: Tomorrow's challenges

The development of the current Sustainable Development Goals is an evolution and improvement on the Millennium Development Goals following their expiration in 2015.

The Sustainable Development Goals (of which there are 17 compares to the eight Millennium Development Goals) are a call to action. According to the United Nations, the SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.

The 17 goals are all interconnected and to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. In September 2015, the UN general assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Building on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, the new agenda emphasises a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all. The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world are highlighted below:

Infrastructure needed to deliver these goals

Integrity

Source: United Nations (Annotated by FIDIC)

Infrastructure needed

Each of the above goals have several sub-targets and within them nations have made commitments which will be backed by national policy measures which aim to meet these goals.

As can be seen from the annotation above to the SDGs, FIDIC sees a significant degree of interaction with its own objectives and the activities of its members, consulting engineering firms and their services and projects. To deliver a sustainable world to future generations will require engineers to lead with integrity in all aspects of the SDGs.

Challenges and opportunities

Globalisation

The infrastructure sector is becoming increasingly globalised, as companies operate in new markets, outsource engineering work to lower-cost countries etc. Alongside the shift in economic powers, globalisation will be an opportunity but a challenge going forward.

Politics and global change

Meeting net zero will require international cooperation and coordination. This then needs to filter down into concrete national and local policies that drive real change. Different countries have different interests and priorities, but engagement will be key.

Society

Meeting the SDGs and net zero is more than just reducing carbon emissions, it will also be about convincing society that it is achievable, as people will want to and benefit from living in such a manner and that economies, wages and quality of life will not be adversely affected.

Leadership

As we approach the SDGs and net zero, many shortcomings will become clear, engineers are likely to be called upon to provide leadership through such challenges. The sector needs to stand and provide that leadership now to avoid a last-minute cliff-edge outcome.

Finance

The scale of the financial challenge to meet net zero is significant and the scale of this challenge is multiples of current infrastructure expenditure. The sector will need to engage with both public and private financing and new methods of raising net zero-related expenditure.

Employment

As we move towards net zero and new technologies and innovations take place, there will inevitably be a change in the employment mix of economies including the infrastructure sector. We need to embrace such change and ensure we can reskill and provide security to those affected.

Mitigation

We are currently projected to be on a pathway that would not meet the Paris Agreement. Such a pathway will require the infrastructure sector to not only provide projects that aim to meet net zero but also mitigate for the affects of climate change and the costs of such change.

Diversity, equality and inclusion

It is not enough that we meet the challenges of emission reduction, as outlined in the SDGs it is important that the path on which we travel improves diversity, equality and inclusion not only within our sector but also across society as a whole.

Harmonisation

With increasing use of open data and API exchanges, harmonisation of such information structures allows for innovation and failure to use such information and change will make meeting the SDGs and net zero impossible.

Joint R&D

With challenges the scale of the SDGs and net zero, companies are increasingly working together to develop baseline common technologies. This is the evolution of an industry reacting to a digital disruption and with a greater need to innovate to stay relevant within an evolving sector.

Understanding development trajectories

The approach of various departments, regions, nations and sectors is based on many factors including maturity, access to the internet, regulations, interconnectivity etc. We will have to account for these differences to achieve optimal outcomes.

Today's challenges are tomorrow's opportunities

The world is mobile and more remote

There are an increasing number of portable digital devices that can measure more parameters than ever before. Working patterns post Covid have also changed and the infrastructure sector will need to embrace such changes and design for them.

Regulation needs to keep up

The infrastructure sector is subject to a wide range of regulations, which can at times make it difficult to innovate and get projects approved and completed. The time pressure and challenge we face in reaching net zero means regulation will need to become proactive.

Cyber security and personal data

These are increasingly important not only to end consumers but also to corporates where digital breaches represent a significant and systemic risk to the business and its legal/ regulatory operations.

Customers are no longer just your client

With new technologies and devices, consumers are increasingly happy to use and engage with data and them! This has created opportunities to connect to customers but also for measuring and monitoring the efficiency and quality of infrastructure.

AI, Big data, the internet of things and BIM

There is an increasing trend not only to collect data but also using it intelligently with AI. A combination of BIM, data from various projects experiences, sustainability etc will align with the automation of simpler tasks and the development of new tools.

The skills of the future

What skills will the infrastructure sector need in the future, with the development of net zero sustainability and soft skills likely to become more important? It is vital we not only attract talent into the sector but also upskill existing employees.

Visualisation

Technical skills

Digital skills (traditional)

Sustainability skills Carbon accounting

Civil engineering

Verbal communication

Event management

Softer / transferable skills

Accountancy

Political / policy

Social behaviour / nudge theory

Bidding and marketing

Nature based engineering

Decommissioning

Social media

Social engineering

Data security Learnability

Machine learning and coding

Written communication

Mechanical engineering

Electrical engineering

Challenges and opportunities

2050: Net zero

Following the latest IPCC AR 6 report, it is becoming increasingly clear that not only is meeting the SDGs important, but efforts may need to go significantly beyond the 2030 targets. This is where the commitments to net zero are increasingly important.

So, what is net zero? The IPCC27 defines net zero as:

Net zero CO2 emissions - Net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are achieved when anthropogeni c CO2 emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic CO2 removals over a specified period. Net zero CO2 emissions are also referred to as carbon neutrality.

Net zero emissions - Net zero emissions are achieved when anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specified period. Where multiple greenhouse gases are involved, the quantification of net zero emissions depends on the climate metric chosen to compare emissions of different gases (such as global warming potential, global temperature change potential and others, as well as the chosen time horizon).

2060: Net Resource

It is time for the world to get behind a new and ambitious target that works with the net zero target to create a complimentary 2060 Net Resource target. Resources can be considered to be biotic or non-biotic; this includes everything from rare minerals (non-living) to the fish (living) and food stocks we consume. Managing our natural resources is moving towards a truly circular economy and this focus needs to not only happen as part of net zero targets but will have to be sustainable beyond.

Net Resource - Resources should be used and continue to be used in a way where the use, creation and/or need of materials, products and services are designed to eliminate waste in the first place and generate minimal detrimental effect on the need for additional resources in the future. Therefore, ensuring sustainability for future generations with no overall waste due to the underutilisation.

The truth is if we are to be truly sustainable, we need to have targets that interact with each other, that are informed well in advance, can be flexible and engage all stakeholders from policy makers, investors and the industry all the way to the individual household members.

Global relationships 5

Global relationships

FIDIC has always sought to maintain good relationships with key global stakeholders. The importance of the organisation’s lobbying and advocacy role cannot be overstated and is perhaps one of the key reasons why its member associations are part of FIDIC, as it can advocate and campaign on issues for the greater good of the industry. Over the years, FIDIC’s ‘honest broker’ role has also been much valued by key stakeholders, including many of the major international funding organisations, who have enjoyed close relationships with the federation for many years.

FIDIC has developed these relationships via its standing committees, working party and task group work and also by ensuring that key stakeholders attend FIDIC’s annual conferences and other events. As we saw in the previous chapter, FIDIC’s contracts have been a vital part of raising the organisation’s profile in the global industry and have also played a crucial role in enabling FIDIC to deepen its relationships with key stakeholders.

Given that there isn’t a single region of the world where FIDIC does not have a member association, this has meant that governments, client bodies, key funders and other important players in the global infrastructure sector have also looked to engage with FIDIC and sought its opinion on the key business and industry issues of the day. FIDIC’s member associations have also played a key role in building that collective strength as is outlined in the next section of this publication.

Over recent decades, FIDIC has developed into a very powerful lobbying voice for consulting engineers. It now has regular dialogue and engagement with many UN agencies, all the major international financial institutions and multilateral development banks regarding their procedures, contract documentation and project procurement. FIDIC representatives participate regularly in pan-industry meetings and workshops and the networking strength of FIDIC’s member associations amplifies that effort around the world.

In recent years, the work that FIDIC has undertaken with the multilateral development banks (MDBs) has been particularly successful, with the organisation achieving a position where all of the major MDBs have signed agreements to use the key FIDIC standard construction contracts for projects they finance, with the documents being used as part of the banks’ standard bidding documents. These contracts cover a wide range of international construction and infrastructure work and the MDBs’ continued use of FIDIC documents is a significant vote of confidence for FIDIC contracts from the international funding organisation community.

Since 2018, under the leadership of a new chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE and a keener more strategic focus on industry collaboration, FIDIC has placed additional importance on engaging with key funders and other influential organisations with a number of strategic agreements, MoUs and partnerships signed which will help to increase the profile and influence of FIDIC and its members and in particular the use of its construction contracts. In the past four years alone, these include the signing of a contract training collaboration with King’s College London Centre of Construction Law, a ground-breaking collaboration agreement with China International Contractors Association, a contract training collaboration agreement with Philippines Department of Trade and Industry, an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the bank to use FIDIC contracts, similar agreements with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Asian Development Bank.

Global relationships

Also in China, FIDIC signed a landmark cooperation agreement with China Association of International Engineering Consultants and also a major translation and publication agreement with leading Chinese multimedia and publishing group, China Machine Press. The International Association of Dredging Companies also signed a major strategic collaboration agreement with FIDIC and similar agreements were also signed with the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors Associations and the European Investment Bank.

The Maldives National Association of Construction Industry has also signed a major training collaboration agreement with FIDIC and FIDIC Credentialing Limited signed a major agreement with the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation. In addition, the World Wildlife Fund and FIDIC have signed three-year agreement on sustainability issues and in the same arena FIDIC signed a collaboration agreement with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to accelerate the industry’s transition to sustainable infrastructure.

Another key part of strengthening and enhancing FIDIC’s global relationships has also been the role played by FIDIC’s annual conferences. These events are regularly attended by many leading stakeholders from the international industry, including key funders and investors, politicians and key opinion formers and influencers. FIDIC has invested more time and effort in its annual conferences in recent years so that they are more representative of the key business issues and developments being discussed not only by FIDIC’s members but also by those who influence the sector and have the power to impact on it by their actions. The rebranding of FIDIC’s annual showcase event as a ‘Global Infrastructure Conference’ should help build the importance of this annual international gathering of the industry and ensure that FIDIC is able to attract even greater numbers of key stakeholders to the event in future.

A further important part of FIDIC’s global outreach is the role played by FIDIC’s regional geographical groups of member associations. Communication and engagement with these groups has improved over the recent period as a new regionalisation agenda has helped to empower FIDIC’s geographical regions around the world as well as their member associations. FIDIC has a global footprint and it is important that it is seen to act in a global way and the regional groups - in Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and South America – are playing and will undoubtedly play an increasingly important and influential role for FIDIC going forward.

In 2022, FIDIC created the Global Leadership Forum, an elite membership group to convene c-suite leaders in the global infrastructure sector to find solutions to global challenges. Governed by a dedicated advisory board, the forum hosts an annual summit and think thank programme which prepares guidance notes and reports on the most critical issues facing the global infrastructure sector.

6

Member associations and associates

Member associations and associates

As a membership organisation representing national member associations (MAs) of consulting engineers in almost 100 countries worldwide and with those MAs collectively representing over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms, FIDIC can proudly boast that the buildings and infrastructure sector in which its members work contributes around US$36trillion to global GDP. This figure is likely to be an underestimate and in any case is growing all the time as more and more construction and infrastructure work is undertaken across the world.

FIDIC’s member associations are the lifeblood of the organisation. They are made up of member firms of consulting engineering and other consultancy businesses in their own countries and provide FIDIC with a range of expert professionals to sit on the FIDIC board, its standing committees and working groups and also key individuals to represent FIDIC on other important industry and sector groups. FIDIC’s member associations have within their membership all of the leading consulting engineering firms operating in the world today. These companies will typically be members of more than one national member association and play a key role in the work of these MAs. The vast majority of this work is done on a voluntary basis, once again underlining the high regard in which the FIDIC family is held and demonstrating the willingness of the engineering consultancy sector to go the extra mile in representing the wider industry for the greater good.

FIDIC’s near-100 national member associations differ in size and scale with some, like the giant American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), representing around 6,000 firms employing more than 600,000 staff and others like the Association of Consulting Engineers Botswana with just 45 firms in membership. Of course, the needs and capabilities of the different FIDIC member associations are different too and it is always a challenge for FIDIC to develop, provide and maintain a service offering to keep all its members satisfied. That it has been able to do this down the years is a testament to the links that FIDIC has built with its members and also the active involvement that has been encouraged with those MAs via a series of initiatives, events and meetings, including the FIDIC annual conference, that have been held to involve them in FIDIC’s work.

A key role of FIDIC since its inception has been to share best practice among its member associations so that they can learn from each other in the way that they relate to their member firms and how they can best represent the industry in their own countries. This knowledge sharing role of FIDIC is a key benefit of membership for FIDIC MAs and in recent years this has been bolstered by the work of two important groupings within the organisation – the FIDIC membership committee and the directors and secretaries’ advisory council. This latter group also provides a space for the leaders of FIDIC’s global member associations to provide insight to the FIDIC board on policy matters and industry trends and to facilitate collaboration, share information and promote development of MAs’ capacity and capability. The directors and secretaries’ advisory council also helps to ensure that the collective voice of FIDIC’s MAs is heard by the board and is a vital conduit between FIDIC and its primary stakeholders – its member associations. Over recent years, the council has been particularly helpful with FIDIC’s efforts to revise its statutes and bylaws, address diversity, improve the annual conference and with many other critical activities.

Also in recent years, FIDIC has made it more of a priority to raise the profile of its member associations and their work through initiatives like the FIDIC Member Association Excellence Awards. Launched in 2020, the awards recognise individuals, teams, campaigns, initiatives, publications and events and celebrate excellence in how FIDIC’s global member associations serve their member firms and other stakeholders. The awards, now in their fourth year, showcase, reward and highlight the achievements and successes of FIDIC’s global member associations and 2023 saw the highest number of entries ever in the awards.

As well as raising the profile of FIDIC MAs through awards programmes, the federation is also keen to promote the work of its members via its many communications channels, including social media. Improving member engagement is also high on the agenda for FIDIC going forward and it is something that has been exercising the minds of the board and the leadership of the organisation for some time. The appointment of a new FIDIC chief operating officer, with a key part of that role to grow strategic member engagement, highlights the importance that FIDIC places on its MAs and communicating better with them at all levels. Improving and enhancing the dialogue between FIDIC and its global member associations will ensure that this ‘lifeblood of the organisation’ will continue to benefit FIDIC and the wider industry over the years ahead.

Member associations and associates

Albania

Albanian Association of Consulting Engineers - aace.al

Australia

Consult Australia consultaustralia.com.au

Austria

Austrian Consultants Association ACA aca.co.at

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Association of Consulting Engineers - bacenetbd.org

Belgium

Organisation des Bureaux d’Ingenieurs-Conseils, d’Ingenierie et de Consultance - ori.be

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Association of Consulting Engineers of Bosnia and Herzegowina - uki.ba

Botswana Association of Consulting Engineers Botswana - aceb.org.bw

Brazil

Associação Brasileira de Consultores de Engenharia - abceconsultoria.org.br

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Association of Consulting Engineers and Architects bacea-bg.org/

Canada

Association of Consulting Engineering Companies, Canada - acec.ca

China

China National Association of Engineering Consultants cnaec.org.cn

China, Hong Kong

Association of Consulting Engineers of Hong Kong, China - acehk.org.hk

China, Taiwan Chinese Association of Engineering Consultants caec.org.tw

Colombia

Cámara Colombiana de la Infraestructura (CCI) infraestructura.org.co

Costa Rica

Cámara de Consultores en Arquitectura e Ingeniería camaraconsultorescr.org

Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica cfia.or.cr

Croatia Association of Consulting Companies in Construction sinisa.radakovic@exstructa.hr

Cyprus

Cyprus Association of Civil Engineers (CYACE) spolmik.org

Czech Republic

Czech Association of Consulting Engineer - cace.cz

Côte d’Ivoire

Chambre Nationale des Ingénieurs Conseils et Experts du Génie Civil chanie.org

Denmark Foreningen af Rådgivende Ingeniører frinet.dk

Egypt

Egyptian Consulting Engineering Association sherif.wassef@wassefdesigngroup. com

Finland

Finnish Association of Consulting Firms skolry.fi

France

CINOV/SYNTEC-Ingénierie - cinov.fr syntec-ingenierie.fr

Georgia Georgian Association of Consulting Engineers - aceg.ge

Germany

Verband Beratender Ingenieure vbi.de

Ghana Ghana Consulting Engineers Association gcea.org.gh

Greece

Hellenic Association of Consulting Firms - segm.gr

Hungary

Association of Hungarian Consulting Engineers and Architects - tmsz.org

Iceland

Félag Rádgjafarverkfrædinga - frv.is

India

Consulting Engineers Association of India - ceai.org.in

Indonesia

Indonesian National Association of Consultants inkindo-dki.org

Ireland

Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland - acei.ie

Islamic Republic of Iran

Iranian Society of Consulting Engineers irsce.org

Israel

Israeli Organization of Consulting Engineers and Architects - iocea.org.il

Italy

INARSIND/OICE inarsind.it/oice.it

Japan

Engineering and Consulting Firms Association, Japan ecfa.or.jp

Jordan

Jordan Architects and Consulting Engineers Council - jea.org.jo

regional groups 5

members 92

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan National Association of Professional Engineers and Consultants - knapec.kz

Kenya Association of Consulting Engineers of Kenya - acek.co.ke

Latvia

Latvian Association of Consulting Engineers - lika.lv

Lebanon

Lebanese Association of Consulting Engineers - oea.org.lb

Lithuania

Lithuanian Association of Consulting Companies - lacc.lt

Luxembourg

Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-conseils, d’Ingénierie et de Consultance - oai.lu

Malaysia

Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia - acem.com.my

Maldives

Riyan Private Limited riyan.com.mv

Mali

Ordre Ingenieurs Conseils Du Mali (OICM) - oicm.ml

Mauritius

Association of Consulting Engineers, Mauritius sootam.vyyaassconsulting@orange. mu

Mexico

Cámara Nacional de Empresas de Consultoría de México - cnec.org.mx

Moldova

Association of Consulting Engineers in Republic of Moldova (ARMIC) armic.md

Mongolia

Mongolian Road Association - mra.mn

Morocco

Fédération Marocaine du Conseil et de l’Ingénierie - fmci.ma

Mozambique

Associaçao de Empresas Moçambicanas de Consultoria (AEMC) aemc.org.mz

Nepal

Society of Consulting Architectural and Engineering Firms, Nepal scaef.org.np

Netherlands

NLingenieurs - nlingenieurs.nl

New Zealand

The Association of Consulting and Engineering New Zealand Incorporated acenz.org.nz

Nigeria

Association for Consulting Engineering in Nigeria - acen.org.ng

Norway Rådgivende Ingeniørers Forening rif.no

Pakistan Association of Consulting Engineers Pakistan - acep.org.pk

Palestine, State of Engineers Association - paleng.org

Peru

Asociación Peruana de Consultoría (APC) - apcperu.org

Philippines Council of Engineering Consultants of the Philippines - cecophil.org

spanning continents 5

million 1.2

engineering professionals

Poland

Stowarzyszenie Inzynierów Doradców i Rzeczoznawców (SIDIR) - sidir.pl

Portugal

Associação Portuguesa de Projectistas e Consultores appconsultores.org.pt

Republic of Korea

Korea Engineering and Consulting Association - kenca.org

Republic of North Macedonia

Association of Consulting Engineers of Macedonia - acem.org.mk

Romania

Romanian Association of Consulting Engineers (ARIC) - aric.org.ro

Russian Federation RAEC / NACEC nacec.ru/

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Council of Engineers saudieng.sa

Serbia

Association of Consulting Engineers in Serbia - aces.rs

Singapore

Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore - aces.org.sg

Slovakia

Slovak Association of Consulting Engineers - sace.sk

Slovenia

National Association of Consulting Engineers of Slovenia - gzs.si

South Africa Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) - cesa.co.za

Spain

Asociación española de empresas de Ingeniería, Consultoría y Servicios Tecnológicos (TECNIBERIA) tecniberia.es

Sri Lanka

Association of Consulting Engineers, Sri Lanka - acesl.org

Sudan

Sudanese Engineering and Architecture Consultancy Association siham.mahjoub@newtech-consulting.ae

Suriname

Orde van Raadgevende Ingenieurs in Suriname - sunecon@sr.net

Sweden

Innovationsföretagen - The Federation of Swedish Innovation Companies innovationsforetagen.se

Switzerland

Union Suisse des Ingénieurs-Conseils usic.ch

Thailand

Consulting Engineers Association of Thailand (CEAT) - ceat.or.th

Trinidad and Tobago

Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry - jcc.org.tt

Turkey

Association of Turkish Consulting Engineers and Architects tmmmb.org.tr

Uganda

Uganda Association of Consulting Engineers - uace.or.ug

Ukraine

Association of Engineers-Consultants of Ukraine - aecu.org.ua

United Arab Emirates

Society of Engineers - UAE soeuae.ae

United Kingdom

Association of Consultancy and Engineering - acenet.co.uk

40,000

Representing firms

United Republic of Tanzania

Association of Consulting Engineers Tanzania - acet.or.tz

United States of America

American Council of Engineering Companies - acec.org

Uzbekistan

Association of Consulting Engineers of Uzbekistan - uzace.uz

Vietnam

Vietnam Engineering Consultant Association - vecas.org.vn

Zambia

Association of Consulting Engineers of Zambia - acez.co.zm

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Association of Consulting Engineers - zace.co.zw

7

Annual conferences –The world’s global meeting place

Annual conferences –

The world’s global meeting place

One of FIDIC’s most important activities throughout the organisation’s history have been its annual conferences, which have become an important meeting point for the global industry. These events have developed over the years and, as well as panel sessions dealing with key issues facing the industry, they also include the formal statutory general assembly meeting, reports from the various FIDIC committees, meetings of senior representatives from member associations, gatherings of FIDIC’s past presidents, forums dealing with specific areas of interest and also a special programme for accompanying persons, social events and a gala dinner.

Over recent years, the conference has become much more of a business-focused gathering, addressing current key issues facing the industry and involving high-profile speakers, including politicians and representatives of international funding organisations and other global influencers. These days, the annual conferences have been reframed as the FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference and are all themed around topical issues of the day that face the industry. Speakers are drawn from all parts of the industry and also those who influence the sector, including politicians, funders, financiers, lawyers and leading blue-sky thinkers who have something to say about infrastructure and the role it plays in improving the quality of life of global citizens. As a result, FIDIC’s annual conferences are now increasingly being seen as must-attend events for the global industry and a key meeting place for all those involved in the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector.

As the list below shows, FIDIC’s conferences have mainly been held in Europe, but with 26 of the 73 events held since 1950 taking place outside of Europe, the federation has been keen to take its flagship event around the globe as befits an international organisation. In 2018, in order to ensure a more cost-effective approach to the event and to enable better participation from members and other stakeholders, including FIDIC staff, the FIDIC board took the decision to hold future annual conferences in Geneva every other year with the intervening year having the event located somewhere else in the world. The 2023 event is held in Singapore the home of the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore and is the third time that the south-east Asian city state has hosted the event.

International Infrastructure Conference Mexico City, Mexico, 2019

FIDIC Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony Geneva, Switzerland, 2022

Annual conferences –

The world’s global meeting place

The world’s global meeting place

North America

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

Canada Edmonton 1998 Ottawa 1976

Québec 2008

Hawaii Honolulu 2000

USA San Francisco 1980 Washington 1967, 1989

Mexico Acapulco 2002 Mexico City 2019

The Empire State Building, New York, USA

South America

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

Brazil Rio de Janeiro 1984, 2014

Africa

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

Morocco Marrakesh 2016

South Africa Cape Town 1974, 1996

The Shard, London, United Kingdom

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, USA

CN Tower, Toronto, Canada

Great Pyramid of Giza, Giza, Egypt Machu Picchu, Cusco Region, Peru

Europe

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

Austria Vienna 1985

Belgium

Brussels 1953, 1970

Denmark Copenhagen 1952, 1965, 1979, 2004

Finland Helsinki 1962, 1977

France Paris 1955, 1964, 1975, 2003

Germany Berlin 2018

Essen 1957

Munich 1993

Wiesbaden 1968

Hungary Budapest 2006

Ireland Dublin 1966, 1988

Italy

Netherlands

Norway

Florence 1983

Amsterdam 1973

The Hague 1959, 1999

Oslo 1958, 1969, 1990

Spain Barcelona 2013

Madrid 1992

Sweden Stockholm 1960, 1972

Switzerland

Berne 1981

Davos 2011

Geneva 2022

Lausanne 1987

Montreux 2001

Zurich 1954, 1961

United Kingdom Edinburgh 1997

London 1950. 1956, 1963, 1978, 2009

Online conference due to Covid-1920, 2021

Asia

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

China Beijing 2005

India New Delhi 2010

Indonesia Jakarta 2017

Japan Tokyo 1991

Singapore Singapore 1982, 2007, 2023

South

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

Oceania

COUNTRY CITY YEAR(S)

Australia Sydney 1971, 1994

New Zealand Auckland 1986

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Burj Al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Reichstag, Berlin, Germany

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

FIDIC’s presidents 8

FIDIC’s presidents

When Catherine Karakatsanis takes over as FIDIC president from Anthony Barry after the 2023 FIDIC annual conference in Singapore, she will be the 35th person to hold the position. The role of president is naturally an important one in an organisation with such an illustrious history and the profile of the position has grown in recent years as FIDIC has become a more proactive organisation in the global industry. Many of those who have occupied the role of FIDIC president over the years have been influential industry figures in their own right, often running large consulting engineering companies with turnovers running into the multimillions.

Reflecting the Eurocentric origins of FIDIC, 20 of the organisation’s total of 35 presidents have come from Europe. Despite being relatively late joiners of FIDIC, the countries that have supplied the most presidents are the United Kingdom with six, closely followed by the USA with five. Australia has provided three presidents and when Catherine Karakatsanis takes over in September 2023, she will be the third president of FIDIC from Canada.

Not only do the FIDIC presidents play an important role during their term of office, but they also remain involved in the organisation via the yearly past presidents’ meeting which takes place during FIDIC’s annual conference. They also form part of the judging panel for the FIDIC Project Awards. Successive FIDIC managing directors and chief executives will also testify of the value of the wise counsel provided by the presidents, both during their periods in office and also after they have handed over the baton to their successors. Past presidents are often present at FIDIC’s annual events and their unique community is a source of unrivalled advice and industry knowledge that FIDIC can tap into as and when the need arises.

Pen portraits of all the FIDIC presidents since the organisation was formed are listed below.

List of FIDIC presidents from 1913 to 2023

2023-2025 Catherine Karakatsanis (Canada)

Currently chief operating officer of Morrison Hershfield Group, she has a long history of working in the consulting engineering industry. Graduated in Engineering Science focused in Civil Engineering from Western University, she is responsible for the domestic and international operations overseeing over 900 professional at Morrison Hershfield, which has 26 offices in North America. She has been consistently recognised for her business and engineering contributions including receiving Engineers Canada’s highest individual engineering distinction the ‘Gold Medal’ in 2019, inducted as a fellow in to the Canadian Academy of Engineering, inducted in to ‘Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women’s Hall of Fame’, awarded the ‘Engineering Medal of Management’ and the rank of ‘Companion’ by Professional Engineers Ontario; among others. She also served as president and chair of Engineers Canada.

2021-2023 Anthony Barry (Australia)

Fifteen years a Group Director of Aurecon, former chairman and director of a number of subsidiary companies in the Aurecon Group and a current director of the Viridian Financial Group. Previously Chief Executive Asia Pacific and Aurecon’s managing director for Asia and led elements of the business in the region. With more than 40 years of experience in consulting engineering, he has expertise in civil engineering and infrastructure projects. A former president of Consult Australia, Tony has also been listed a number of times by Engineers Australia among the 100 most influential engineers in the country. In recognition of the part he played in the rescue and recovery from the Granville Train Disaster in 1977, he received an Outstanding Service Medal from the New South Wales Government.

FIDIC’s presidents

2019-2021 William Howard (USA)

A former executive vice president of CDM Smith, a global consulting, engineering and construction company with over 100 offices around the world and former president of the firm's Asia Pacific-Middle East Services Group. Served previously as the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) liaison to FIDIC and also served on FIDIC's strategic planning committee and chaired the planning committee for FIDIC's conference in Budapest Hungary and presented many papers at FIDIC conferences. He also co-chaired the FIDIC programme committee for the centenary conference in Barcelona in 2013.

FIDIC represents member associations and their firms which have diverse global needs. To be the president of such an organisation is humbling and exciting.

The most dramatic highlight was the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this challenge, we accomplished a lot. We were able to do so because we had a road map (FIDIC’s Strategic Plan), talented volunteers and a top-notch secretariat. Some of the accomplishments during my tenure included the establishment of a Global Leadership Forum and modifications to our annual conference, both of which were designed to attract more firms’ leaders and more diverse professionals to FIDIC.

We synchronised the terms of reference of our committees, created some new ones and dramatically improved the diversity of committee membership. We rapidly developed and implemented a Covid-19 response plan which included guidance documents, webinars, remote town hall meetings, committee action plans and other activities. In so doing, we reached over 20,000 professionals in about 150 countries. FIDIC is more well known and understood now, largely because of our remote activities during the pandemic.

We dramatically improved the value of our training programmes via establishment of the FIDIC Academy, FIDIC Credentialing Limited (FCL) and the completion of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) pilot programme in China. We also advanced our State of the World initiative, regionalisation concept, zero tolerance policy toward corruption and drafted a Climate Change Charter which has been implemented during Tony Barry’s term as president.

The biggest issue I faced during my time as president was everything related to the Covid-19 pandemic. We saw the need to produce guidance documents rapidly and share them via webinars and other communications tools with our member associations, firm leaders, clients, international funding agencies, construction contractors, law firms and others working in the infrastructure space. Also, in my opinion, we saw a somewhat dramatic improvement in the recognition of the risks associated with climate change and that the engineering community can and should provide leadership in continuing to develop mitigation strategies. We also saw more entities developing zero tolerance policies regarding corruption. More entities are getting fed up with this insidious problem.

For me FIDIC is special because, while we have always tried to represent the best interests of our member associations and the firms who make up the MAs, we are learning more about their diverse needs. We are committed to understanding them better, learning together and working with them to develop value-added programmes cost effectively with minimal ‘wheel reinvention’. We are also committed to constantly improving our dialogue with our colleagues who provide diverse services in the infrastructure space. None of this is easy, but it sure is exciting!!!

Congratulations on 110 years of outstanding service! In the future, continue to build on successful programmes wherever they may be and have an adjustable road map for everyone to use as a guide. I also want to congratulate Tony Barry for a terrific two-year term as president and wish Catherine Karakatsanis all the best during her term as president. Finally, I thank everyone I interacted with during my presidency. All of you helped me give something back to a profession which has been so good to me and my family.

FIDIC’s presidents

2017-2019 Alain Bentéjac (France)

In a highly decorated career, Alain was co-chairman of ARTELIA, the result of the merger between COTEBA and SOGREAH, two firms specialised in engineering and project management in the fields of construction, water, the environment, urban development and public transport systems. He was also a former president of Syntec-Ingenierie, the largest French trade association in the field of engineering consultancy. Previously held a number of French governmental roles including director of the cabinet of the French deputy minister for foreign trade where he was in charge of defining and implementing the foreign trade policy of the French government and was a former advisor to the French minister for industry and foreign trade and also a deputy director at the DREE (Direction des Relations Economiques Extérieures) where he was involved with the management of foreign trade relations of the French Ministry for Economy and Finance.

It was obviously a great honour for me to take over as president, but also a logical outcome after six years of participation in the FIDIC board and two years of vice-presidency. It was also in a way an honour for my country, France. Indeed, since the founder and first president of FIDIC in 1913, Louis Prangey, there has been no other Frenchman in this prestigious role.

My term of office was marked in particular by a major change at the head of the secretariat, with the retirement of Enrico Vink and the appointment of Dr Nelson Ogunshakin as FIDIC chief executive. With the support of the other members of the board, I had to manage the selection process for the new leader as well as the entire transition. I think I can say that all of this change took place under good conditions and for the benefit of FIDIC.

During my presidency of FIDIC, from 2017 to 2019, the consulting and engineering industry faced many challenges, but the three main ones in my opinion were sustainability, digitalisation and the scarcity of human resources, of engineers in particular. These challenges are still at the heart of the concerns of firms in our industry today.

FIDIC is not just a large international organisation representing an industry which is important for the economy and society as a whole, which is already essential. Our federation is also justifiably well known and widely respected for the legal standards it produces and constantly updates - the famous FIDIC Contacts - which serve as a reference for many construction and infrastructure project across the globe. This double mission makes FIDIC all the more special in my view.

ince its foundation by three European countries 110 years ago, FIDIC has grown considerably, diversified and strengthened. Our federation is now a recognised and respected organisation, which plays a very useful role for the leaders of consulting and engineering firms by helping them to define their strategy in an increasingly complex and uncertain environment. I hope that this role of ‘compass’ will be strengthened even more in the years to come.

FIDIC’s presidents

2015-2017 Jaewan Lee (Republic of Korea)

A former chairman and CEO of Sekwang Engineering Consultants Co, he was a visiting professor of Yonsei University, president of Korea Maritime Foundation and chairman of Korea Engineering & Consulting Association (KENCA). He holds a DHERS (Ph.D Equivalent) in transport, a DESS in transport and logistics from the University of Paris, a CES in Transport and Infrastructure from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris and a BSc in Civil Engineering from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He was a former director of port development division at the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and also worked for the United Nations ESCAP in Bangkok as senior transport expert. Also a former chair of the Korea Marine Business Association, chair of Ulsan Port Authority and chair of Korea Coastal Management Association.

Ten years ago in 2013, at the historic FIDIC centenary conference in Barcelona, I was elected as the first Asian vice president of FIDIC and two years later, at the Dubai Conference, I became the very first Asian president.

Being elected FIDIC president is an honour and privilege for anyone in this industry but to make history as the very first Asian president was a very rewarding and humbling experience for me. It was an historic step forward for FIDIC and I was proud to bring diversity into the FIDIC board and presidency.

During my two-year tenure between 2015 and 2017, the board worked diligently on various initiatives to ensure a sustainable future for FIDIC. We worked on a new strategic plan, that included more effective ways to lead our industry, our federation and our membership and also developed a FIDIC corporate governance framework to assist the board and the secretariat execute their responsibilities more proficiently. The purpose of this framework was to strengthen corporate governance as the foundation of sustainable growth and development.

In 2016, we launched our very first Young Professionals Awards at the FIDIC Conference in Marrakesh, which has allowed us to celebrate the achievements of our future leaders to this day. Also, in the same year, we completed the first phase of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer (FCCE) Pilot Programme with CNAEC and the Beijing University which became a catalyst to further FIDIC education, training and certifications in other parts of the world.

My friends and colleagues at FIDIC have given me the opportunity to represent the consulting engineering industry across the globe and bring much-needed changes to this beloved organisation. While not always successful in achieving my expectations for FIDIC or myself, I hope I have helped to promote and demonstrate the proposition that there is strength in diversity within our organisation and that working together to advocate for the industry results in better outcomes for our member associations and our community as a whole.

Many things have changed over the past 110 years in FIDIC, but what remains constant is the commitment, dedication and time that our members invest in advancing the global consulting engineering industry and best practices and their efforts to give back to our profession.

As FIDIC celebrates its 110-year anniversary, we should also in turn celebrate our members, as FIDIC is the epitome of a truly member-driven organisation. It has been a great pleasure to work with members that care so deeply about improving and elevating our profession and I look forward to seeing what we can collectively achieve in the years ahead.

FIDIC’s presidents

2013-2015 Pablo Bueno (Spain)

Pablo Bueno is the president and CEO of TYPSA Group, a leading firm of consulting engineers and architects with its roots in Spain, which under his leadership has achieved worldwide expansion. Always an enthusiastic and eminent member of professional and business associations, he became a member of the FIDIC executive committee in 2007 before becoming president in 2013. He was also vice president of the European Federation of Consulting Engineers (EFCA) as well as president of TECNIBERIA, the Spanish Association of Engineering, Consulting and Technological Service Companies. He is also currently a patron of several relevant foundations and a member of various professional institutions. His contribution to engineering and the community has been acknowledged by a number of awards, including the European CEO of the Year Award 2015 by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering UK and the Medal of Honour 2015 of the Spanish Professional Association of Civil Engineers, the highest honour awarded by the association.

Being elected FIDIC president in Barcelona in 2013 in its 100th anniversary was a great honour and a huge responsibility. Our multitasking FIDIC managing director Enrico Vink led and coordinated a secretariat of four people. They were times of maximum austerity, when we very carefully measured the focus of our efforts. The very nature of FIDIC was under debate with many believing that it should be transformed into a federation of regional associations. The singular case of EU countries, with a common market and legislation, caused some associations to demand that EFCA be the sole EU member of FIDIC with the consequent fee reduction. Other medium-sized countries also considered themselves aggrieved, but with goodwill and the perspective of what was truly important, new fee schemes and consensus solutions were reached and still endure today.

I remember with satisfaction my effort to include in the FIDIC White Book the option of a DAB/Adjudicator, which was finally included in the latest versions of our contract model. I also recall lengthy meetings and discussions with the contractor associations to secure their endorsement for our client/consultant contract model as a reasonable framework for them to use when hiring our services. I also remember how they urged FIDIC involvement in assessing the fairness of construction contracts they encountered. To address this, I introduced and named the ‘Golden Principles’ we had to develop to be able to judge with simplicity whether particular contract conditions violated or not the FIDIC spirit.

I am particularly proud to have launched the annual FIDIC Awards, recognising and highlighting the achievements of our profession. I believe that these annual awards, instituted during my presidency, should be one of the fundamental axes of our annual conference.

Today FIDIC is larger and stronger on many fronts, however, it must always keep in mind that it represents engineering consulting companies and has to support them in the many challenges our sector faces. The ways of contracting our services do not always favour excellence, with conditions that tend to be abusive, expensive insurance, bonds and guarantees at first request, enormous lack of legal guarantees, the oligopoly of software companies or the need to define open-source digital delivery standards.

As we celebrate this year the organisation’s 110th anniversary, I feel that today’s FIDIC has the potential to improve the environment in which our companies operate and thereby facilitate our mission, which is none other than to improve people’s quality of life on a global scale.

FIDIC’s presidents

2011-2013 Geoff French (UK)

Geoff French was chairman of Scott Wilson for eight years until its acquisition by URS in 2010. A civil engineering graduate who joined Scott Wilson in 1968, following the transition from partnership to limited company in 1995 he was appointed as managing director, initially of the business in the UK and then chairman in 2002 and oversaw the highly successful flotation in March 2006. He was elected to the executive committee of FIDIC in 2005 and became president in October 2011. He is also a past chairman of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering in the UK and former vice president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Apart from working throughout the UK, he spent time overseas on behalf of Scott Wilson working in Botswana, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Mauritius Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the UAE and Vietnam. His focus was mainly on transport planning, design and management.

I have to admit that when I graduated from the University of Southampton in 1968 I had never heard of FIDIC. Fortunately, I joined Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners who had projects both in the UK and in many other countries. In my first 15 years after graduation I both lived and worked in London, Botswana, Plymouth, Hong Kong and Baghdad and in 1985 I was made a partner of the firm. By this time, I had heard of FIDIC, but it mostly seemed to be an annual meeting of senior members of the consultants in the UK and Europe.

In 2005 I was persuaded by Nelson Ogunshakin, then the chief executive of the UK Association for Consultancy and Engineering, to stand for election to the FIDIC executive committee and, perhaps to our surprise, I was elected. I was immediately asked to become part of FIDIC’s contracts committee. The FIDIC contracts were well known and understood to be fair to all parties to a contract and the next challenge was to improve them, so all the main organisations such as the World Bank made more use of them and this has been very successful.

In 2009 FIDIC widened its publications by instigating its first State of the World report, The Status of the World’s Infrastructure. Many different authors contributed to this report, which was edited and polished by myself and my wife, Annie. Many other State of the World reports have followed.

I was very proud to become first the vice-president of FIDIC in 2009 and then the president from 2011 to 2013, especially as that was the time when FIDIC was significantly improving the services that it offered.

The many highlights of my terms of office related to the people that I met and the visits to projects that were being delivered. The helicopter trip around Hong Kong remains one of my best memories, seeing the huge developments just on the Chinese side of the border.

The key industry issues encountered include the need to ensure that the FIDIC range of contracts remain fair to all the parties involved.

FIDIC is an amazing organisation. It has developed from very small beginnings in 1913, slowly at first but, more recently, with an increased need for prompt action in addressing the challenges we all face. All of the many people that have been part of FIDIC have done a great job. The challenge now is that we need FIDIC to do an even greater job of keeping our planet, the one planet we have, fit for future generations.

FIDIC’s presidents

2009-2011 Gregs Thomopulos (USA)

Graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and the University of California, Berkeley with a master’s degree in structural engineering. Joined Stanley Consultants, a global consulting engineering company, at the company’s headquarters in Iowa, USA with subsequent assignments in Lagos, Nigeria, Monrovia, Liberia and Kampala, Uganda. Held the positions of VP and head of international operations; president and CEO and chairman of the board during a career that spanned 51 years with the organisation. He is a past chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and has received numerous awards and recognitions including the University of Kansas Distinguished Engineering Service Award, ASCE’s Outstanding Project and Leaders (OPAL) Award in Management. He is passionate about ethics and integrity in global infrastructure and has made several presentations to engineering students and professional engineers worldwide.

Being elected president of FIDIC was the highlight of my professional career as a leader in the engineering profession. There is no greater feeling of fulfillment than being selected by your peers to lead a global organisation like FIDIC and it meant a lot to me personally and professionally. As the first person of colour elected as president of FIDIC, I never forgot that I was paving the way for other persons of colour to hold this position in the future.

There were many highlights which included visiting many countries and meeting the leaders and members of the various member associations, participating in the conferences of the FIDIC regional groups – EFCA, GAMA (Group of African Member Associations), ASPAC, etc. The annual meetings we had with the multilateral development banks (World Bank, Asia Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc) provided opportunities to promote FIDIC, especially the need to procure engineering services on the basis of Quality Based Selection (QBS). During my term as president, I continued the initiative started by my predecessors, Richard Kell, Jorge Padilla and John Boyd, for the successful development of the MDB versions of FIDIC contracts which the World Bank paid for use on projects financed by them and their initiatives in China that led to the successful pilot version of the FIDIC Certified Consulting Engineer programme.

During my term in office one of the challenges I faced was that the relationship between EFCA and FIDIC was strained and we faced the possibility of EFCA member firms having to choose between being members of FIDIC or of EFCA, but not both. Together with the president of EFCA at the time, Panos Panagopoulos, we appointed a task force consisting of members of both organisations to work an amicable agreement to maintain both organisations, with EFCA member associations remaining members of both EFCA and FIDIC. We also faced the issue of engineering services being procured on the basis of cost and while our advocacy of the advantages of QBS did not fully meet our objectives, the MDBs adopted a modified procurement method - QCBS (Quality and Cost Based Selection). FIDIC also actively advocated sustainability and capacity building during my term.

FIDIC is the only type of organisation in the world that has the global visibility and credibility in the engineering industry to influence better outcomes. FIDIC’s contracts that are used in many countries paved the way for global contractors to operated in developing countries with knowledge of the attendant risks, which would have made it difficult if they had to deal with the contracts of individual countries.

FIDIC is a much different and better organisation today that it was during my term as president. It has leveraged its brand name to advantage in undertaking many activities that used to be outsourced to third parties. My message is simple – “Keep up the good work”!

FIDIC’s presidents

2007-2009 John Boyd (Canada)

John Boyd has been involved in international consulting engineering work for nearly 40 years. He was a member of the FIDIC executive committee from 2002 before becoming president from 2007-2009 and was also a member of FIDIC’s sustainable development committee. He was a key contributor to the initial Project Sustainability Management Guidelines (2004), intended to help consulting companies to incorporate sustainability management into their projects and was the author of the revised and expanded second version. He has also presented courses on sustainability in more than ten countries and also taught a Masters level course on sustainability for engineers at the University of Toronto.

As an incoming board member in 2002, I was assigned the overall direction of the FIDIC sustainability committee. We mapped a way forward that would provide a list of indicators that could be used to measure the sustainability of projects by producing a document that in effect translated the existing UN sustainability objectives into issues that would be recognised as integral aspects of engineering projects regardless of the project type. In effect, it was a recipe for generating a set of project indicators for any type of engineering project beginning with the UN objectives of the time.

We took the show on the road. Working with the committee chair, I personally gave 15 one-to-three-day training seminars on the subject all over the world. It soon became apparent that the list of issues to be considered could be drastically shortened from the initial 42 to a streamlined six. When I look at the sequence of FIDIC sustainability interests I think we went through a number of stages. The first stage was to develop an understanding of sustainability in the context of engineering. Then we tried to translate it into engineering practice, then persuade our clients to include it in project objectives, then integrate the national and international activities into a form consistent with consulting engineering and finally absorb it into corporate business practices (that is where we are today). In my opinion it will only really get the attention it deserves once it becomes a matter of engineering ethics.

The second matter that occupied a good deal of my time as president was FIDIC structure and organisation. FIDIC provided the international forum and the member associations provided the national one, but the regional arena was also a key area for cooperation and it was rather helter-skelter as seen from the FIDIC perspective. There was informal and sporadic cooperation between the three north American MAs, an active African organisation (GAMA), nothing in the Middle East, a European organisation (EFCA) that really didn’t see itself as integral to FIDIC and an Asian group TCDPAP that was determined to be separate from FIDIC. When I look back, I think the only thing I succeeded in doing was raising the visibility of the regional groups.

The third matter was FIDIC role in education. I worked on furthering the then draft agreement with China to run FIDIC courses systematically in that country but was frustrated by the decision by the Chinese government to disallow any form of FIDIC certification. Their attitude changed by the end of my term, thanks to some experience with bad engineering and under Gregs Thomopulos’s presidency a deal was struck that let to my involvement as a director of the FCCE pilot project and ten years (and 18 visits) of involvement.

When I became the FIDIC president I was surprised by the amount of involvement that took place at what I would call the level of international diplomacy. Our member associations led me frequently into contact with individuals at a very senior level in their governments (occasionally with the presidential level) because there was a desire to use FIDIC practices and documents (especially the contracts) and FIDIC international meetings as an approach to improving local practices and showcasing their industry. It was exhausting and stimulating and enormously satisfying.

FIDC has a key role going forward as the international representative of the people who build (engineer) the human environment. Our world is no longer a natural construct, but an engineered one and that fact brings an enormous responsibility to our practitioners. We need to be bold in our assertions, clear in our messaging and, above all, focussed on the human impacts of our activities.

FIDIC’s presidents

2005-2007 Jorge Diaz Padilla (Mexico)

The first and to date only FIDIC president from Latin America. Started his consulting company, Systec, which was involved in many leading engineering projects, including auditing the quality of housing financed by the National Housing Agency of Mexico and restoring the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City. As president and CEO of Systec, he was involved with Mexico’s association of consulting firms, Cámara Nacional de Empresas de Consultoría (CNEC) and then also FIDIC. At FIDIC’s Mexico annual conference in 2019 he received the prestigious Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated service to FIDIC. A former chair of the FIDIC integrity management committee, he was also a member of the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum at the time of his death in 2022.

Remembering former FIDIC president Jorge Díaz Padilla: 1946-2022

In November 2022, FIDIC announced that former president Dr Jorge Díaz Padilla had died at the age of 76. Jorge was much respected and loved and made a significant impact during his time as FIDIC president and it is right that he is remembered in this annual report.

Born in Mexico City in 1946, civil engineer Jorge was president of FIDIC from 2005-2007 and was the first and to date only president from Latin America since the organisation’s foundation in 1913. In 1974 he started his consulting company, Systec, which was involved in many leading engineering projects, including auditing the quality of housing financed by the National Housing Agency of Mexico and restoring the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City.

As president and CEO of Systec, Jorge became involved with Mexico’s association of consulting firms, Cámara Nacional de Empresas de Consultoría (CNEC) and also FIDIC where he was elected to a two-year presidential term in 2005.

At FIDIC’s Mexico annual conference in 2019, Jorge received the prestigious Louis Prangey Award, the highest recognition for dedicated service to FIDIC. He represented FIDIC at many different levels, including the board, was also a former chair of the FIDIC integrity management committee and a member of the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum at the time of his death.

Jorge was well known globally throughout FIDIC and worked in the consulting engineering and construction industries and passionately promoted FIDIC principles and activities for more than 40 years. He played a key role in making FIDIC better known in Mexico and Latin America, was the ambassador of FIMS (FIDIC Integrity Management Systems) and a recognised promoter of FIDIC principles in Latin America and around the world.

Jorge also actively participated in the FIDIC past presidents council and was also a valued member of the FIDIC Project Awards jury since 2013. Widely recognised as an expert in project troubleshooting and an authority in project information systems, Jorge also participated as an expert witness during arbitrations, was a specialist in construction contracts and a FIDIC certified trainer in contracts and alternative dispute resolution.

Commenting on his death on behalf of the FIDIC president and board, FIDIC CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE said: “The death of Jorge Díaz Padilla is a sad loss to his family and the consulting engineering industry in Mexico and globally. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and to his colleagues in Mexico and around the world who knew and worked with him. The entire FIDIC ecosystem and the wider industry we represent has lost a passionate and enthusiastic advocate and we are all poorer as we mourn his sad loss today. May his soul rest in perfect peace.”

Jorge Díaz Padilla

14.9.46 – 28.11.22

FIDIC’s presidents

2003-2005 Richard (‘Dick’) Kell (Australia)

A civil engineer and graduate from the University of Sydney, he joined consulting civil engineers McMillan & Britton and worked on bridge and building structures and project management. His involvement in the Sarawak (Malaysia) Bridges Project commencing in 1964 launched his long career on projects with his firm outside Australia, principally in the Asia/Pacific Region, one of the first Australian engineers to do so. Was managing director of McMillan Britton & Kell which later merged with Queensland firm Cardno & Davies and he then became chairman of Cardno Group, helping to grow the firm while continuing to manage major engineering projects. Dick was chairman throughout Cardno’s successful stock market listing following an IPO. He later worked as a consultant to the firm on international work. Dick directed many infrastructure engineering projects in Australia and in PNG, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and Vietnam. He is also a past president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Australia and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1998 for services to Australia in Engineering, particularly Bridge Engineering and International Affairs.

I was elected as FIDIC president in 2003 at the general assembly meeting in Paris and finished my term at the Beijing GAM in 2005. I look back on my term as FIDIC president as a wonderful privilege and pleasure. I had served under two remarkable presidents in Wayne Bowes and Eigil Petersen and then on becoming president I was blessed with outstanding people on the executive committee with me. What gave me most pleasure was meeting with my fellow consulting engineers globally, the ‘FIDIC Family’. I was made welcome by FIDIC MAs in more than 40 countries, both developed and developing, as well as regional groups, at meetings and conferences across the globe. Anne and I count ourselves fortunate to have formed so many FIDIC “friends for life”.

I was also so fortunate in my term to have been involved in the initiation of four activities (outlined below) which were the highlights of my term and remain fundamental to FIDIC today.

I was president at the start of the FCCE programme with the China National Association of Engineering Consultants (CNAEC) and fostered the FIDIC/CNAEC relationship via the Beijing 2005 conference and the Shanghai EXPO, but the presidents who followed me are to be credited for the subsequent impressive developments.

The Young Professionals Management Training Programme (now Future Leaders Management Course) was initiated at my mid-term conference in Copenhagen and I promoted it strongly as president. For this initiative I credit Steen Frederiksen and the Danish Association. I have been a YP mentor and am pleased the course has been refreshed, as it is one of the best things FIDIC does.

John Boyd presented sustainability to me in 2003 and together (John leading) we managed to get the issue of sustainability accepted as one of FIDIC’s key focus areas.

The agreement reached with the multilateral development banks on the FIDIC contracts and the creation of the MDB version of the FIDIC General Conditions (Pink Book) was my major achievement for FIDIC and the infrastructure industry globally. This development confirmed FIDIC as the leader on infrastructure contracts and training in the developing world. Initiated by Eigil Petersen, on becoming president I took over and negotiated the MDB agreement and changes to the Red Book to create the MDB version with the heads of MDBs HOPs, involving numerous visits to the World Bank in Washington DC. I signed the agreement with the bank’s VP James Adams and I am pleased to note that the FIDIC agreement with the MDBs continues to this day. One change was the inclusion in the GCs of the HIV-AIDS prevention provisions taken from the South African CIC standard. FIDIC’s action in this way has saved lives and avoided much misery.

Significant issues for FIDIC in my time as president included the dominance of price rather than quality in selection, corruption in the infrastructure industry and the promotion of FIDIC best practice contracts and standards as a way of addressing this scourge - and also the looming threat of climate change. Perhaps not much has changed! FIDIC is a unique and powerful organisation for good in the industry because of the many outstanding people who give their time and intellect so willingly and because it is a global and multicultural family where all are equal, whether from a multinational firm or a one-man band. FIDIC has grown and adopted developing technology and social media remarkably well, but that was to be expected!

FIDIC’s presidents

2001-2003 Eigil Steen Pedersen (Denmark)

Graduated in civil engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (1961) and holds an AMP diploma from INSEAD, France (1987). After two years military service he joined the Danish firm of consulting engineers, Chr. Ostenfeld & W. Jonson, now COWI, with a staff of around 3,500 in 2003. His professional experience has been developed mainly within civil engineering and especially bridge structures and foundation engineering. He has managed many major projects in Denmark and overseas, especially in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. He served on the COWI board and the board of the COWI Foundation. A former vice president of FRI, the Danish FIDIC member association (1986 to 1990), he has also acted as specialist consultant on engineering studies to the Danish Minister of Education, was a member of the executive committee of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences and also a member of the advisory board of Danske Bank.

I was honoured to be elected by the general assembly meeting onto the executive committee (EC) and later, after two years collaboration in the EC, by my EC colleagues to be nominated to president. It provided me with a platform for top level contact with member associations and their membership as well as major client groups, the international finance institutions and other important participants in the planning, financing and development of infrastructure.

There were of course many highlights. They include the development of a series of comprehensive documents on business integrity management, the planning and development of the FIDIC Tsinghua CNTC Training Centre including initial training events, the initial planning of the Young Professionals Training Programme, the negotiations with the World Bank on the use of the FIDIC Contract for Works in a modified version for use by the bank, negotiations with major member associations, who indicated a wish to withdraw from FIDIC, the restructuring of rules for subscriptions and the nomination of delegates and last but not least, the moving of the FIDIC office to Geneva.

The introduction of FIDIC documents to member associations, including seminars was one of the challenges I faced during my time as president. The special focus on ‘fast movers’ such as China, Vietnam and India was challenging as was our ongoing contacts universities and other relevant bodies on our industry’s future needs.

FIDIC was from the start created to strengthen the position of private firms in competition with universities and in-house units. From its inception in 1913 until today it has acted as the spokesperson for the industry, a sector that spans one-person firms all the way up to large companies with more than 100,000 employees and with national or regional associations in between. Most experts in organisation will deem this an impossible creature – and yet it has survived for 110 years, albeit with many attempts to dissolve.

During my term as president, I had many discussions with opponents and most of them ended with the conclusion that if we did not have an organisation like FIDIC then we would soon have to invent one. What makes it so special? I believe that the combination of achieving a commercially viable entity, combined with strong stands on ethical issues, has given FIDIC a unique global position, whose knowledge and aspirations are highly sought after at national level as well as globally.

The biggest challenge, for FIDIC all the way down to the individual firms, now and in the foreseeable future, is the lack of human resources. Educated and qualified staff are in short supply globally and FIDIC must take a lead position to remedy the situation. Our work in this area must be intensified and we need to collaborate with our main ‘supplier’, the universities, on an even greater scale in the future.

FIDIC’s presidents

1999-2001 Wayne Bowes (Canada)

Wayne Bowes is a Civil Engineer, graduated from University of Waterloo (1962) and Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S.C.E. 1964). He is Director, Vice President (Transportation Division) and Chief Transit Planning Engineer of Delcan, Ottawa. He is a past Chairman of ACEC/Canada; Fellow, Institute of Transportation Engineers; Director, Transportation Association of Canada. Wayne is Chairman of FIDIC's Quality Management Committee.

My first exposure to a FIDIC meeting was as chair of ACEC visiting a FIDIC meeting in Japan and representing Canada. It was at this meeting that executive committee member Ron Triffo asked me to take on the task of developing and promoting quality management within the consulting industry to align with the current efforts of ISO and their ISO 9000 programme. I knew Ron very well as he previously worked with me in the same firm. I was impressed with my exposure to FIDIC activities and agreed to take on the task as this was Ron’s last year on the EC. I subsequently developed material on QM, which was presented to a FIDIC meeting in Spain the next year, which I could not attend. However, I was nominated to be a member of the EC and attended the following year’s conference in Germany, where I was elected. I continued the promotion of QM for the rest of my years in FIDIC, among other issues pertinent to FIDIC’s interests.

It was a great honour to accept the responsibility to lead FIDIC as it felt like the culmination of a level of commitment to our industry, as I had previously served as president of Alberta’s consulting engineering industry, then chair of ACEC in Canada. This was possible because by the time I was elected as head of FIDIC I was familiar with the very competent staff of the secretariat under the leadership of Marshall Gysi, including Peter Boswell and the very talented members of the various standing committees. With this talent, it meant that as a team we could certainly expect significant progress on FIDIC issues.

It should come as no surprise that one of my highlights was the development of a Quality Management programme, patterned on ISO 9001 format but reflective of the needs of our industry. It also spawned the initial development of BIMS, the business integrity management system under the leadership of Filipe Ochoa of Mexico.

There was also some pride in welcoming China to membership. The support and great input from Eigil Peterson and Stan Kowagughi during this process and in the establishment of the training programme at Tsinghua University was instrumental to the success of the venture. Also, the embrace of the critical issues related to the environment was also a major effort for FIDIC and significant energy was directed to this.

Another key development was the improved relationship with the multilateral development banks and the progress in the upgrading the various contract documents and the digital marketing of these and other services assisted by Peter Boswell.

To me, one thing that makes FIDIC special is the ability to assist in capacity building of our industry across the world. This is critically important when we see the demands of society increase in response to the climate and other environmental issues affecting us on a global scale. The capability of all countries to act together to mitigate these demands requires all countries to have the professional capabilities to act locally, assisted by the efforts of FIDIC.

My message to FIDIC on its 110th anniversary is: continue its capacity building efforts, continue to promote close cooperation with the multilateral development banks, continue to promote Quality Based Selection in procurement and continue consultations with industry leaders in developing and adapting new approaches to global challenges.

FIDIC’s presidents

1997-1999 Steyn Laubscher (South Africa)

South African mechanical engineer, Bachelor of Science in Engineering cum laude, University Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, 1964. Postgraduate, Harvard University, 1990. Design. engineer, Watson Edwards, Inc., Pretoria, 1965-1968; senior engineer, Watson Edwards, Inc., Cape Town, 1969-1973; director, Watson Edwards, Inc., Cape Town, 1973-1983; managing director, Watson Edwards, Inc., Cape Town, since 1984. Chairman WEVS Projects, Johannesburg, Republic South Africa, since 1986. Board directors WEVO Pty Ltd, Johannesburg, since 1974, WEVO Investments, Johannesburg, since 1979. Former president of the South African Association Consulting Engineers.

1995-1997 William D Lewis (USA)

1993-1995 Ernst Hofmann (Switzerland)

1993-1995 Gordon Coates (United Kingdom)

1989-1991 Steven Gentry (New Zealand)

A partner in the consulting practice of W G Morrison and Partners, eventually becoming chair of its successor Kingston Morrison. A keen advocate of seeking full recognition of the independent consulting engineer, he was a former chair of ACE New Zealand and a regular and active attendee at FIDIC conferences. He was the first New Zealander to be elected to FIDIC’s executive committee and involved in the development of FIDIC policy statements. Key documents produced under his presidency included the Client/Consultant Model Services Agreement (White Book) and Professional Liability Insurance – A Primer. Fondly remembered as FIDIC’s ‘environmental president’ as at the 1990 Oslo annual conference, FIDIC adopted its Environment Policy Statement.

1987-1989 Sven-Erik Frick-Meijer (Sweden)

A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he was employed by VBB where he became a partner. He worked on water power projects in Sweden and also spent three years in Egypt as site representative for the salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples. He was also the project manager for many different projects in Saudi Arabia.

1986-1988 Gordon Eldridge (United Kingdom)

Graduated in engineering from the University of London, he was indented to John Cochrane and Sons, contractors, building a Scottish hydro-electric scheme. He joined Binnie & partners where he became a partner and was responsible for water supply and coastal protection schemes in the UK and for hydro-electric and irrigation schemes in Pakistan and Peru.

1984-1986 Peter Miller (Australia)

A graduate civil engineer from Sidney University, after working in the aircraft industry, he founded the consulting firm that became Miller Milston Ferris where he was a consulting engineer in building structures, including design and supervision.

FIDIC’s presidents

1982-1984 Wilson Binger (USA)

Graduated in civil engineering from Harvard University, he was an engineer in design and supervision of construction and major civil engineering projects in the USA and South America, including Panama Canal projects. He was an engineer at Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton on transportation and hydro-electric projects where he became a partner and later chairman.

1980-1982 Kjell Grinde (Norway)

A graduate civil engineer from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim, he was managing director of Norconsult, established by ten Norwegian consulting firms for the export of consultancy services. Its main area of activity was assisting the international development institutions.

1978-1980 Hein Frijlink (Netherlands)

A graduate civil engineer from Delft Technological University, he was an engineer at Delft Hydraulics Laboratory and then joined Netherlands Engineering Consultants, a group of closely cooperating consulting firms for exporting their services. He became deputy director and later managing director and then chairman.

1976-1978

Hans Büchi (Switzerland)

A graduate engineer from Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, he was an assistant engineer in Paris and spent a year at Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners in London. He worked as an engineer on several hydroelectric and irrigation projects in Spain, Argentina and Uruguay and on his return to Switzerland in in 1946, he entered his father’s firm Hydraulik AG which he later took over then passed on to his own son in 1983. He was a consulting engineer for water power plants, foundations, tunnels and highways.

1974-1976 Bengt Olsen (Sweden)

A graduate civil engineer from Chalmers Institute of Technology in Gothenburg, he joined Kjessler & Mannerstrale where he became a partner and later managing director. He was a consulting engineer in traffic engineering and design and construction of highway projects in Sweden and overseas.

1972-1974 Robert Fitt (United Kingdom)

Graduated in engineering from the City and Guilds College and practised structural and general covil engineering design and construction, including with the Sudan government on irrigation development and with Mott Hay & Anderson on the Mersey Tunnel and London Underground Railway. He joined Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners as a senior engineer where he became a partner and was a consulting engineer for economic surveys, irrigation, water supply and hydro-electric projects, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and South America.

1970-1972 William Moore (USA)

Graduated in engineering from the California Institute of Technology, he worked for several years for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey before he co-founded the consulting engineering firm Dames & Moore with Trent R Dames, which specialised in geotechnical and related applied earth sciences, providing information to support the evaluation of alternative foundation designs. In addition to engineering consulting, he had a deep interest in public policy decisions and how engineers could contribute to the making of those decisions.

FIDIC’s presidents

1966-1970 Soren Rasmussen (Denmark)

A graduate civil engineer from Denmark’s Technological Highschool, he founded his own consulting engineering firm and advised on structural engineering.

1963-1966 Reginald Mountain (United Kingdom)

Educated at Northampton Engineering Day College, he was an assistant at Kennedy & Donkin where he became a partner. He authored many papers on electricity generation, transmission and utilisation.

1955-1963 Julian Tritton (United Kingdom)

Educated at Kings College University of London and was an assistant to his father’s firm, Rendel, Palmer and Tritton (RPT). As district locomotive superintendent of Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway, he followed his father as a partner of RPT in chanrge of the firm’s railway and marine department, where he advised many railways internationally on the design and construction of steam, diesel and gas turbine locomotives and also port trusts on harbour craft, dredgers and tugs.

1950-1955 Robert Naef (Switzerland)

A graduate engineer from Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, he founded his own consulting engineering firm and consulted on various reinforced concrete and steel structures.

1938-1950 Bo M Hellström (Sweden)

A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he was a partner of VBB and was a consulting engineer for waterpower projects in Sweden and overseas. He also advised on the design and construction of waterways and harbours and hydrological investigations, mostly in Africa.

1917-1938 Per G Hornell (Sweden)

A graduate civil engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he later became a professor, he was a partner of VBB and a consulting engineer for waterpower projects and water supply and sewerage in Sweden, Russia, China and other international countries.

1913-1937 Louis Prangey (France)

He graduated in the 1870s from Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris in mechanical engineering. He was a consulting engineer in industrial management and an expert at Courts of Law. Prangey was one of the founders and first president of the French Chamber of Consulting Engineers and also one of the founders and the first president of FIDIC. His name lives on through the annual FIDIC Prangey Award which is given to recognise outstanding achievement.

9

FIDIC staff team and secretariat executives

FIDIC staff team and

secretariat executives

FIDIC secretariat executives from 1957 to present day

1957 Henk Rusting, Secretary General (Netherlands)

1961 J A Stoop, Executive Secretary (Netherlands)

1967 Hans Hillebrand, Executive Secretary (Netherlands)

1977 Hans Hillebrand, Managing Director (Netherlands)

1980 Burt Campbell, Managing Director

1987 Marshall Gysi, Managing Director (Switzerland)

2001 Daniel Ivarsson, Managing Director (Sweden)

2004 Enrico Vink, Manging Director (New Zealand)

2018 Nelson Ogunshakin, Chief Executive (UK)

FIDIC staff team and secretariat executives

Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE Chief Executive Officer, nogunshakin@fidic.org

Italo Goyzueta, Federation Operations Director, igoyzueta@fidic.org

Silvia Fossati, Training Manager sfossati@fidic.org

Graham Pontin, Director of Policy, External Affairs and Communications, gpontin@fidic.org

Oro Cohen, Assistant, Federation Services, ocohen@fidic.org

Michael Broadley, General Manager, FIDIC Academy, mbroadley@fidic.org

Eric Chiang, Chief Operations Officer, echiang@fidic.org

Daduna Kokhreidze, General Counsel, dkokhreidze@fidic.org

Nadia Van Der Waltova, Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Executive, nvanderwaltova@fidic.org

Folake Idowu, Senior Corporate Development Executive, fidowu@fidic.org

Maria-Blanca Trabazos, Accountant and HR, mbtrabazos@fidic.org

Christophe Sisto, Design and Publications Manager, csisto@fidic.org

Ieva Liaugaude, International Client Manager, iliaugaude@fidic.org

Estelle Trabazos, Accountant Assistant, etrabazos@fidic.org

Ulrike Schiefer, Office Manager, uschiefer@fidic.org

Chanel Holder, Digital Marketing and Communications Executive, cholder@fidic.org

Thanos Totsikas, General Manager FCL, ttotsikas@fidic.org

Beatriz Bertomeu, Conference and Events Executive, bbertomeu@fidic.org

Lee Ann Davis, FCL Certification Assistant, ldavis@fidic.org

Wendy Lasebikan, Advisor - Legal and Compliance, wlasebikan@fidic.org

Moyosore Saka, Contracts Assistant, msaka@fidic.org

Ayo Fagbohun, Business Development Manager, afagbohun@fidic.org

Basma Eissa, Policy Analyst Executive, beissa@fidic.org

Chrystal Udenweze, Academy Coordinator, cudenweze@fidic.org

Emily Jones, FCL Certification Coordinator, ejones@fidic.org

Ruijie Zhang, General Manager FCS, zhangrj@fidic.org

Samuel Mwamsamali, Regional Manager, smwamsamali@fidic.org

10

Remaining relevant in changing times

Remaining relevant in changing times

Throughout its long and illustrious history, FIDIC has had to contend with the vagaries of changing market, business and political conditions that have affected the environment in which consulting engineering companies work.

FIDIC’s role against the backdrop of all these changes has been to represent the global industry in a way that keeps pace with current and future challenges.

Representation and advocacy has always been a key role of FIDIC since its inception and the fact that the organisation has been listened to by governments, politicians, funding organisations and other industry bodies is a testament to the work of its many industry volunteers and representatives and the dedicated work of its board and the full time staff of FIDIC.

FIDIC has been able to respond to change as a result of the work of its many standing committees and working groups which have ensured that the organisation remains at the cutting edge of the latest industry developments and ab le to dispense advice and guidance to the wider sector through the hands-on experience of professional practitioners. FIDIC has been able to attract key individuals and experts to contribute to its work precisely because it is seen as a genuine representative of the global industry and also because the issues on which it has taken a stand or campaigned on have been tested through being reviewed by those who face those issues on a daily basis.

There is also something to be said for the willingness of professional engineers and other consultants to give of their time and expertise for the greater good of the industry. This spirit of self-sacrifice and wanting to ‘give something back’ is also a key reason why, at times of crisis, the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector have often been amongst the first groups of professionals to respond to disasters by offering their services to relieve the suffering of displaced peoples around the globe.

FIDIC has played a key role in representing the industry’s interests since its formation. From advocating for the key role of consulting engineers in the post-war reconstruction following the two world wars, to forging links with the new international funding organisations as the world economy boomed in the 1960s and beyond, FIDIC has been crucial in ensuring that it members and the wider industry were able to be seen as key players by those holding the purse strings and making spending decisions.

Any organisation that has been around for more than a century could not have lasted without continuing to be relevant during the various industry and business changes that have faced the organisation and its members over its 110-year existence. As has already been outlined, FIDIC has had to endure world wars and the seismic changes to society in the aftermath of those wars and the fact that the organisation has emerged from those events intact and ultimately strengthened is a testament to FIDIC’s resilience and the strength it derives from its member associations.

The world will always need quality infrastructure and consulting engineers, supported by other key professionals working in the global construction sector, play a key role in delivering it. As the world has changed so FIDIC has changed too, adapting to the latest industry, business, societal and technological developments in a way that keeps the organisation relevant and in touch, despite the significant challenge of change it has to deal with. Its membership has been a key part of meeting those challenges, together with the Trojan efforts of FIDIC’s volunteers who have given of their time and expertise so generously down the years. Because they are hands-on practitioners who are part of the industry, their involvement has enabled FIDIC to respond well to the challenge of change. FIDIC’s extensive network of committees and working groups has been crucial in keeping the organisation at the cutting edge of industry change and their efforts have in turn relayed the implications of these developments back to its member associations and the wider industry.

Remaining relevant in changing times

FIDIC is a unique organisation in that it is able to bring together all the key players in the sector it represents and then engage with those stakeholders who influence the business they are involved with. Those FIDIC leaders down the years who have guided the organisation through challenging times are owed a debt of gratitude by the industry today because without their input and the vibrant, effective and relevant FIDIC that they built, the industry would be in different place to the influential one it finds itself in 2023.

Over the years, FIDIC has prided itself on being flexible and agile in the face of change and that approach has stood it in good stead for more than a century. Many a speaker at FIDIC conferences down the years has highlighted the mantra, “The only constant in our industry is change”, but that has proved to be the case and through all that change the organisation has remained as a standard bearer for the consulting engineering industry and for working in a professional and ethical way for the benefit of the society that it serves.

In 2018, FIDIC appointed Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE as its new chief executive to succeed the retiring managing director Enrico Vink. The appointment of Nelson, a chartered engineer with more than 35 years of experience in professional consultancy, contracting and lobbying and representation gained in the UK and global arena, was a key moment in FIDIC’s history. He was previously responsible for the transformation and repositioning of FIDIC’s UK member association ACE and his remit on arriving at FIDIC was to be a “change agent” to help the organisation deal with the challenges of a changing industry and put the organisation on an even firmer footing for the future.

As the then FIDIC president Alain Bentéjac said at the time of the appointment: “The global consulting engineering industry is experiencing unprecedented major structural changes combined with emerging market drivers. Nelson has successfully positioned ACE at the top table in the UK where it has been able to influence government, investor, developer and stakeholder decisions on infrastructure, ensuring a sustainable future for our industry. The entire FIDIC executive committee (board) is looking forward, with eagerness, to work with Nelson and achieve a similar transformation within FIDIC to secure our future strategic goals and objectives.”

As a well-established global brand with diverse expectations from its stakeholders, FIDIC urgently needed to respond to the emerging challenges facing the global consulting engineering industry. Those included the challenges associated with the emergence of China’s economy, climate change, price volatility in the oil and energy markets, urbanisation of cities, embracing digital technological innovation, market consolidation and blurring of boundaries and also growing economic and political instability across the globe.

Nelson outlined his approach from the start. “My priority, as a change agent, will be to take a root and branch review of FIDIC’s activities, initially focusing on its core activities and deliver them very well. In the medium to long term, I will work with the executive committee to establish appropriate strategic objectives, effective governance structures, services proposition, closer membership engagement and the implementation of operational efficiencies to ensure we are responsive to the ever-changing market dynamics,” he said.

This proved to be the case and the period following his appointment saw FIDIC work more closely with its executive committee (which became a board), member associations and wider stakeholders to re-engineer the FIDIC organisation to ensure it was fit for the future. This process included investing strategically to prepare the ground for the organisation to move forward, conducting a strategic review of staffing and office, the restructuring the staff team and bringing in new resources. New staff were hired and resources increased in FIDIC’s events and conferences, communications and policy capability. Communications were further improved with a revamped website and FIDIC’s IT systems were also strengthened. The important strategic decision to keep the FIDIC HQ office location in Switzerland was made while at the same time FIDIC looked to expand its commercial operations outside Switzerland. All of these steps enabled FIDIC to provide a better and more agile service to its member associations and committees, working groups and the wider industry.

Remaining relevant in changing times

Improving the organisation’s communications was identified as a key priority for FIDIC and some big strides forward were taken. As well as the updated website, a regular CEO’s Update was launched to member associations to keep FIDIC’s primary audience well informed about its activities. FIDIC also improved the communication of its activities with more frequent press releases and news articles about FIDIC and also the launch of a new FIDIC Contract Users Newsletter, to play a key role in bringing together this very important community.

FIDIC also recognised the need to strengthen its relationships with several multilateral funding agencies and looked to influence international procurement terms by gaining endorsement for the use of FIDIC’s suite of standard contracts. Important agreements were signed with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank. All this provided the industry with a consistent procurement approach on development bank-funded projects across the world, benefiting funders, clients and consultancy firms in equal measure.

FIDIC also took some significant strategic steps forward in China, strengthening its position with its member association CNAC and signing strategic MoUs with the China International Contractors Association, the largest contractors’ association in the world, and the China Cost Engineering Association, the country’s cost engineering and quantity surveying association. Both were important steps in strengthening FIDIC’s ties with a key market and would prove hugely significant for the future.

The board also identified training and capacity building as a key part of FIDIC’s business and took the decision to set up FIDIC Credentialing, a separate subsidiary business to qualify accredited professionals to be an adjudicator, trainers, contract managers and certified engineers. The FIDIC board believed strongly that the organisation needed to position FIDIC in the capacity building space and creating the new business was a new investment and an opportunity for FIDIC to increase its influence beyond Switzerland and to help fulfil the need for training around the world.

This launch of FIDIC Credentialing Ltd (FCL) and the opening of the FIDIC Consulting Services (FCS) office in Beijing were significant steps for the organisation. In offering certification and professional development services to a range of professionals working in the global infrastructure industry, the launch of FCL heralded a new era for credentialing for the construction and infrastructure sector and would help drive improvement in project delivery using FIDIC systems and contracts.

In another key milestone, FIDIC also set up the Geneva-based FIDIC Academy in 2021 to provide training and capacity building to drive excellence in quality and best practice for the consulting engineering industry, as well as stimulating talent and developing future leaders to provide engineers with the skills required to compete in a global marketplace. In 2023, the FIDIC Academy announced a significant upgrading of its output, the rebranding of courses, the appointment of a team of global professional advisors and the launch of a new FIDIC Academy standalone website to enable even better promotion of its courses and training to the wider industry.

Despite these positive steps, nothing can be taken for granted and this was no better illustrated than when the global Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020 and challenged the industry like never before. Like many organisations and businesses across the world, FIDIC had to adapt to a new way of working during the two-year pandemic, shifting the majority of its activities and events online and holding many virtual meetings, webinars and conferences.

Remaining relevant in changing times

When the pandemic hit, FIDIC acted early and identified the need to produce guidance documents rapidly and share them via webinars and other communications tools with member associations, company leaders, clients, international funding agencies, construction contractors, law firms and many others working in the infrastructure space.

The Covid-19 crisis did of course affect every aspect of life and business on a global scale and FIDIC responded well to this unprecedented challenge. That it did so with enormous fortitude and no little innovation was a source of great pride and thanks are due to the FIDIC board for its leadership and direction, the FIDIC staff for their dedication throughout the pandemic and to members and stakeholders for their ongoing support.

A key part of FIDIC’s response to the crisis was the organisation, at very short notice, of an extremely successful Covid-19 webinar series. In just ten weeks, 18 events attracted more than 9,000 attendees from 150 countries across the globe to listen to international line-ups of expert speakers from all parts of the engineering, construction and infrastructure industry. This was a magnificent effort and particular note should be made of the support provided by FIDIC board members under the leadership of the then president Bill Howard, who participated in all 18 webinars plus three additional webinars delivered by FIDIC Future Leaders.

FIDIC’s contracts committee, risk liability and quality committee and the business practice committee also stepped up to the plate by rapidly responding with the production of appropriate guidance notes to support the industry in dealing with the impact of Covid-19 on project delivery across the world. In total, during 2020 FIDIC had more than 15,000 people who registered to take part in its webinars, which represented an amazing reach for FIDIC into the industry.

They say that in times of adversity, organisations and individuals show their true metal and during the pandemic years we certainly saw that at FIDIC and indeed across the industry. In extremely challenging times, FIDIC found a way to increase its profile, be more visible and enhance its influence in the global construction, engineering and infrastructure sector. The way that the whole FIDIC organisation pulled together for the greater good during that period bodes extremely well for the future and the challenges that the industry now faces in a post-Covid world.

During the pandemic period, it is no exaggeration to say that FIDIC had never been more visible in the industry as a result of the events it organised and its increased communications outreach, which enabled the organisation to engage more stakeholders than ever before. During the pandemic, FIDIC effectively became a virtual organisation and the investment that the organisation had made in technology and its digital platforms over previous years leading up to Covid really paid off, enabling FIDIC to be productive in an increasingly online environment. Of course, this way of working has continued and, in many ways, become the ‘new normal’ and FIDIC has continued to invest in the latest technologies and communications techniques to spread its message even further.

The agility and initiative that FIDIC showed during the pandemic period has undoubtedly stood the organisation in good stead for the future and the organisation emerged from it stronger and more capable of meeting future challenges, which have come thick and fast whether these be geopolitical in origin like the war in the Ukraine or the linked global energy crisis and rising inflation which have placed increased pressure on the global industry. As ever, FIDIC responded to these events with speed and fortitude, producing valuable and much-needed guidance for the industry and promoting it to stakeholders around the globe.

In many ways, the pandemic response showed just how valuable and influential an organisation FIDIC has become and as it faces up to the future, it can do so with some confidence that it is in good shape to deal with whatever comes its way, something that we shall explore in the next section of this publication.

11

Thanking the FIDIC board at 110

Thanking the FIDIC board at 110

FIDIC Board

Martina Hess Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (Zambia)

Alfredo Ingletti Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria Integrata Spa (Italy)

José Joaquín Ortiz García Chairman of the Board, Joyco SAS BIC (Colombia)

Chantal Dagnaud President, Institutions & Stratégies SAS, France

Catherine Karakatsanis Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc. (Canada)

Anthony Barry Senior Consultant, Aurecon (Australia)

Sarwono Hardjomuljadi FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott MacDonald Indonesia (Indonesia)

James N. Mwangi CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)

Manish Kothari President and CEO, Sheladia Associates, Inc. (United States)

Luis Villarroya President, EPTISA (Spain)

Thanking the FIDIC board at 110

Risk & Audit Committee (RAC)

Luis Villarroya

President, EPTISA (Spain)

Sarwono Hardjomuljadi

FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott MacDonald Indonesia (Indonesia)

James N. Mwangi

CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)

Martina Hess

Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (Zambia)

Alfredo Ingletti

Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria Integrata Spa (Italy)

FIDIC Board Committees

Governance Committee (GC)

Catherine Karakatsanis

Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc. (Canada)

James N. Mwangi

CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)

Martina Hess

Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (Zambia)

Manish Kothari

President and CEO, Sheladia Associates, Inc. (United States)

FIDIC Past President Council

William Howard (United States)

Alain Bentéjac (France)

Jae-Wan Lee (Republic of Korea)

Pablo Bueno (Spain)

Geoffrey French (United Kingdom)

Gregs Thomopulos (United States)

John Boyd (Canada)

Richard A. Kell (Australia)

Engel Steen Peterson (Denmark)

Wayne Bowes (Canada)

Operations Oversight Committee (OOC)

Nomination Committee (NC)

James N. Mwangi

CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)

Sarwono Hardjomuljadi

FIDIC Contract Specialist, Mott MacDonald Indonesia (Indonesia)

Chantal Dagnaud

President, Institutions & Stratégies SAS, France

Martina Hess

Director CES Zambia, CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (Zambia)

Alfredo Ingletti

Chairman, 3TI Progetti Italia Ingegneria Integrata Spa (Italy)

Anthony Barry Senior Consultant, Aurecon (Australia)

Catherine Karakatsanis

Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc. (Canada)

Luis Villarroya

President, EPTISA (Spain)

James N. Mwangi CEO, Kurrent Technologies (Kenya)

Thanking all our volunteers 12

Thanking all our volunteers

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DEIAC)

Michele Kruger (Chair) Advisor to the Minister of Water and Sanitation and Head of Advisory, Water, SMEC, South Africa

Katharine Mottley

Vice President, Tax and Regulatory Affairs, American Council of Engineering Companies, USA

Joost Merema

Project manager, PRO6 Managers, Netherlands

Gloria Kemigisha Mwebaze

Structural Engineer, American Tower, Uganda

FIDIC Advisory Councils

Future Leaders Advisory Council (FLAC)

Rodrigo Juarez (Chair) Consultant , FOA Consulting, Mexico

Artur Henrique de Morais Brito (Vice Chair)

Project Manager, TPF Engenharia, Brasil

Michael Walker Manager, Regional Infrastructure, Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd., Canada

Mads Brandt Rasmussen

Associate Project Director/Lead Consultant, COWI A/S, Denmark

Charlotte Downes

Programme Director, The Diversity Agenda, New Zealand

Dirk Smith

Technical Directot, Aurecon, Australia

Tina Albrechtsen

Director, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Ramboll, Denmark

Scott Motley

Head of Programme, Project and Cost Management, AECOM, UK

Claudia Ackermann

Director, HR and strategy , GOPA, Germany

LaToya Ouna

Structural Engineer and Construction Contracts Specialist, AR-Engineering, Kenya

Koray Ates

Deputy Tender Manager, Yüksel Proje A Ş., Turkey

Yasuaki Wadasaki Engineer, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., Japan

Gloria Kemigisha Mwebaze

Civil/Structural Engineer, NSSF / NUDIEL, Uganda

Directors and Secretaries Advisory Council (DNSAC)

Chris Campbell (Chair) CEO, SESA, South Africa

Helen Davidson (Vice Chair) CEO, ACENZ, New Zealand

John Gamble (Vice Chair) CEO, ACEC Canada, Canada

Mario Marti CEO, USIC, Switzerland

Stephen Marcos Jones

CEO , ACE UK, UK

Helena Soimakallio

Managing Director / CEO, SKOL, Finland

Jonathan Cartledge

CEO , Consult Australia, Australia

Chituwa Sinkala Chulu

CEO , ACEZ, Zambia

Noé Becerra Álvarez

CEO , CNEC, Mexico

Linda Bauer Darr, CEO ACEC, USA

Edmond Mirzakhanian

Managing Director, SAT Consulting Engineers, Islamic Republic of Iran

Yoshi Yamashita

Senior Adviser, ECFAJ, Japan

Prashant Kapila

Managing Director, Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited, India

Thanking all our volunteers

Senate Chancellor

Chris Cole

Chairman of the Board, WSP Global Inc.

Senate Members

Nelson Ogunshakin

Chief Executive, FIDIC - International Federation of Consulting Engineers

Catherine Karakatsanis

Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc.

Stephane Giraud

Founder & CEO, Plan J Consulting

Christopher Seppälä Partner, White & Case LLP

José Joaquín Ortiz García Board Member, Joyco

Anne Kerr

Managing Director Greater China and Global Head, Mott MacDonald

Kourosh Kayvani Partner, HKA

Daduna Kokhreidze

General Counsel, FIDIC - International Federation of Consulting Engineers

Discipline Heads

Michele Kruger

Function General Manager (Water Infrastructure), SMEC

Andrea Reed

Managing Director, Pederson Read Consulting Electrical Engineers

Nino Tsaturova

Head of Legal, Intelligent Solution – LLC

Abdel Hafiz Abdel Moniem General Manager, Alliance Engineering Co

Javier Sánchez Llopes

Operations Director, Driver Trett

Prashant Kapila

Managing Director, Intercontinental Consultants & Technocrats

Liam Hayes

Chief People Officer, Aurecon

Adam Bialachowski

CEO, B-Act Quantum Vintage

Michael Walker

Municipal Infrastructure Manager, Associated Engineering

Joanne Carmichael

Director, Cities, Planning and Design, Global Transport Planning Skills Leader, Arup

Harriett Hindmarsh

Chief Marketing Officer, AECOM

Dilek Macit

Assistant Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization

Tom Smith

Global Director, Property & Buildings, WSP

Julianna Fox

Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer / General Counsel Global Legal Operations, WSP

Jeshika (Ramchund) Moonsamy Principal Engineer Infrastructure Development, Climate & Sustainability, Mott MacDonald

Nita Rabadia

Leadership Coach & Mentor

Clare B Marshall Partner, 2MPy

Thea Weeks

Committee Member, Coalition of Women in Africa for Peace and Sustainable Development

Thanking all our volunteers

Contracts Committee

International Financial Institutions Committee

Suraj Rana (Chair)

MD, DT Global UK, DT Global, UK

Cristina Ginés Pallarés

Business Development Director Europe, SENER, Ingeniería y Sistemas, S.A., Spain

Johnny Ojeil Director Transport Planning, Ramboll, UK

Juan Carlos Sierra CNEC, President , Mexico

Khalid Saleem Country Leader, Arup, Indonesia

Membership Committee

Enni Soetanto (Chair)

Managing Director of PT. Mott MacDonald Indonesia, PT. Mott MacDonald Indonesia, Indonesia

Kiran Kumar Kapila (Vice Chair) Chairman & Managing Director, ICT, India

Amr Abdel Jalil (Vice Chair) Contracts Manager, Parsons International, Kuwait

Business Practice Leadership Committee

Manuel Perez (Chair)

CEO, WSP, Spain

Neil Harvey Director, Arup, Vietnam

Asifa Samji

EVP, Chief People & Inclusion Officer, Stantec, Canada

Mads Brandt Rasmussen

Associate Project and Market Director , COWI, Denmark

Libby Paholski

Functional General Manager, SMEC, Australia

Nora Fung

Senior Counsel, Legal Group, Arup, UK

Patrick Wambulwa

Chairman, Tertiary Consulting Engineers, Kenya

Vera Monika Masurat

Senior Consultant, GOPA, Germany

Vincent Leloup (Chair)

Founding and Managing Partner , Exequatur, France

Mahmoud Abu Hussein (Vice Chair) Procurement and Contracts Manager, Dolphin Energy Limited , United Arab Emirates

Adriana Spassova (Vice Chair) Civil Engineer, Founder and Partner of EQE Control, Bulgaria

Husni Madi

Founder, Chief Executive Officer Shura Construction Management

Ali Jaber

Senior Project Manager, Millennium Development International, Lebanon

Aziz Karavdic

CEO, AIK Inžinjering d.o.o. Banovići, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Yassin Dullaur

Director, Yas Consulting Engineer, Mauritius

FIDIC Committee

Members

Zanda Zariņa Strategic Development Manager, Jurisconsultus SIA, Latvia

Bryan Chin

VP Building and Places, AECOM, Singapore

Olu Soluade

Director, AOS Consulting, South Africa

Lars Ostenfeld

Executive Director, Ramboll, Denmark

Sustainable Development Committee

Tracy Ryan (Chair)

Managing Director, Aurecon, New Zealand

Natalie Muir (Vice Chair) Manager - South East Queensland, Cardno, Australia

Robert Spencer (Vice Chair)

AECOM, Director, Sustainable Development, Aecom, United Kingdom

Idriss Kathrada

Associate Director, Novasirhe , France

Sudhir Dhawan

CEO, AETHER Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India

Thanking all our volunteers

Kiri Parr

Director, Kirri Parr Ltd , Australia

Deryl L. Earsom

Deputy General Counsel, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., USA

Peter Collie

Barrister, 3PB Barristers , United Kingdom

Koray Ates

Deputy Tender Manager, Yüksel Proje A.Ş., Turkey

Jafar Khan

Regional Head of Legal, Mott MacDonald, United Arab Emirates

Digital Transformation Committee

Stacy Sinclair (Chair) Partner | Head of Technology & Innovation, Fenwick Elliott, UK

Yoshihiro Katsuhama (Vice Chair) Acting General Manager, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., Japan

Bram Mommers Global Technology Officer, Arcadis, Netherlands

Marcial Rivera Head, Process Engineering Department, CFIA (One of our Costa Rican MAs), Costa Rica

Gianluca Genova

Head of IDALab, Basler & Hofmann AG, Switzerland

Fabian Sommer

Project Manager, Head of Section, Lombardi, Switzerland

Tony Scott

CEO and CIO for NeuralRays AI Ltd, NeuralRays AI, UK

Andrew Maher Group Managing Principal, Aurecongroup, Australia

Jiangbo Dong

Senior Expert of Design Institute, China Mobile Group Design Institute Co., Ltd., China

Babak Banijamali

Deputy Managing Director, Darya-Bandar Consulting Engineers (DBC), Iran

Maria Rozpide

Director of the Environmental Consultancy and Assessment Department TYPSA, TYPSA Group, Spain

Feng Tian General Manager, Chelbi Engineering Consultants, Inc. , China

Anders Persson

Director of public affairs, Federation of Swedish Innovation Companies , Sweden

Stéphanie Groen

Partner, Low Carbon Economy Transition South & East Asia, ERM, Singapore

Integrity Management Committee

Richard Stump (Chair) Vice President, RS&H, USA

Juliana Fox (Vice Chair) WSP, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Canada

Lyndon White (Vice Chair) ADR Practitioner, Corporate and Contracts Advisor, Dial Before You Dispute Pty Ltd, Australia

John Ritchie

Consultant, Independent Consultant, Canada

Ahmed Stifi

Compliance Officer, Ingérop, Germany

Pawel Samborski

Advocate, Baker McKenzie, Poland

Jai-young Bang

CEO, Young International Co., Ltd, Korea, South

Yinghua Ma

Director of international cooperation and exchange center, CCCC Highway Consultants CO., Ltd, China

Thanking all our volunteers

FCL Management Board

Sir Vivian Ramsey (Chair)

Chair of FCL Management board & International judge, Singapore International Commercial Court, Singapore

Luis Villaroya

President of EPTISA & FIDIC Board VP, Spain

Gregs Thomopulos

Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), USA

Nelson Ogunshakin FIDIC CEO, Switzerland

Grace Bema

Partner at Brian Colquhoun Hugh O’Donnell & Partners (BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe

John Uff

Emeritus Professor of Engineering Law at King's College, London, UK

Madam Dan Yang

Director General of the Facilities and Administration Services

Department at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China

Contract Manager Programme Committee

Ron Watermeyer

Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Bayo Adeola

Vice Chair of FCL Certification board & Chairman of CPMS, Nigeria

Salvador Castro

Founder, SPCastro & Associates Inc & FIDIC Certified Trainer, Philippines

Patrizia Palmitessa-Savric

Director and Head of Contracts and Dispute Resolution at Ginder Palmitessa & FIDIC Certified Adjudicator & Trainer, Botswana

Cyril Chern

Barrister & Abritrator, Ireland

Consulting Professional Programme Committee

Michele Kruger

Functional General Manage at SMEC & Chair of FIDIC's Diversity and Inclusion Council, South Africa

Hu Zhangxi

Vice President, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering & FIDIC Certified Trainer, China

Tian Feng

General Manager, CHELBI Engineering Consultants Inc & FIDIC Certified Trainer, China

Jomanah Al-Btoush

Project Management Specialist, USAID, Jordan

Cosmin Tobolcea

Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania

FCL Management Board and Committees

Consulting Engineer Programme Committee

Cosmin Tobolcea

Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania

Tian Feng

General Manager, CHELBI Engineering Consultants Inc & FIDIC Certified Trainer, China

Ron Watermeyer

Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Hu Zhangxi

Vice President, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering & FIDIC Certified Trainer, China

Thanking all our volunteers

FCL Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee

Luis Villaroya

President of EPTISA & FIDIC Board VP, Spain

Gregs Thomopulos

Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), USA

Nelson Ogunshakin

FIDIC CEO, Switzerland

FCL Nominations Committee

Grace Bema

Partner at Brian Colquhoun Hugh O’Donnell & Partners (BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe

Gregs Thomopulos

Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), USA

Nelson Ogunshakin

FIDIC CEO, Switzerland

FCL Challenges and Appeals Committee

Luis Villaroya

President of EPTISA & FIDIC Board VP, Spain

Gregs Thomopulos

Former Chairman of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), USA

Nelson Ogunshakin

FIDIC CEO, Switzerland

Grace Bema

Partner at Brian Colquhoun Hugh O’Donnell & Partners (BCHOD Consulting Engineers), Zimbabwe

Adjudicator Programme Committee

Lindy Patterson (Chair)

Barrister (KC) at 39 Essex Chambers & Chair of the FCL Adjudicator Programme, UK

Henry Musonda

Projects Director at KM Associates & FIDIC Certified Adjudicator, Zambia

Stephane Giraud

Founder & CEO of Plan J Consulting, and Chair of FIDIC's Capacity Building Committee, France

Qingkang Dai

Attorney at Beijing DHH Law Firm (Nanjing) Office, & Associate

Professor at Southeast University, Nanjin, China

Cagdas Bayrak

Construction lawyer & & FIDIC Certified Adjudicator, Qatar

FCL Certification Board

John Uff (Chair)

Chair of FCL Certification board & Emeritus

Professor of Engineering Law at King's College

London, UK

Bayo Adeola (Vice Chair)

Vice Chair of FCL Certification board & Chairman of CPMS, Nigeria

Lindy Patterson

Barrister (KC) at 39 Essex Chambers, UK

Stephane Giraud

Founder & CEO of Plan J Consulting, and Chair of FIDIC's Capacity Building Committee, France

Ron Watermeyer

Founder, Infrastructure Options (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Cosmin Tobolcea

Founder & General Manager of PROTOBY, Romania

Michele Kruger

Functional General Manage at SMEC & Chair of FIDIC's Diversity and Inclusion Council, South Africa

Thanking all our volunteers

Global Leadership Forum Advisory Board

Anthony Barry (FIDIC president)

Senior Consultant, Aurecon, Australia

Catherine Karakatsanis (FIDIC vice president)

Chief Operating Officer, Morrison Hershfield Group Inc., Canada

Luis Villarroya (FIDIC vice president)

President, EPTISA, Spain

Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE (FIDIC CEO) Switzerland

Jose Aparicio

Managing Director / VP Generation Latin America, Siemens Energy, Mexico

Anthony Bouchard

President and COO, CDM Smith, United States

Alan Brookes

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board, Arcadis, United Kingdom

William Cox

Chief Executive Officer, Aurecon, Australia

Robin Greenleaf

Executive Vice President, Architectural Engineers, Inc., United States

Michael Haigh

Former Chief Executive, Mott MacDonald, United Kingdom

Jim Johnson

Director, Arup, United Kingdom

Chris Lewis

Global Head of Infrastructure, EY, United Kingdom

Mark Naysmith

CEO, UK & EMEA, WSP, United Kingdom

Malani Padayachee-Saman

CEO, MPAMOT (Pty) Ltd., South Africa

Nandita Parshad

Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), United Kingdom

Lara Poloni

Global President, AECOM, Australia

Fang Qiuchen

Chairman, CHINCA, China

Susan Reisbord

Executive Vice President, Environmental Services, Cardno, United States

Fidel Saenz de Ormijana

Chief Technical Officer, Ferrovial Construction, Spain

Jens-Peter Saul

Group CEO, Ramboll Group, Denmark

Fuat Savas

Managing Director//Co-head, Infrastructure Finance & Advisory, J.P. Morgan, United States

André Schneider

CEO, Genève Aéroport, Switzerland

Looking to the future 13

Looking to the future

FIDIC’s CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE offers some closing thoughts on where FIDIC finds itself today as it faces up to future challenges in a changing industry.

In its 110th anniversary year, FIDIC finds itself in a stronger position than it has ever been in its history. We occupy an increasingly influential place in the engineering, construction and infrastructure industry and our member associations and their member firms are playing a leading role in helping to plan, shape and build the global infrastructure the world depends on to support and sustain quality of life and prosperity into the future.

As the global representative body for national associations of consulting engineers, FIDIC now represents over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in around 100 countries worldwide. With the buildings and infrastructure sector in which FIDIC members work contributing at least – and probably a lot more – than US$36trillion to global GDP, our sector is clearly a crucial one for the world economy. As a result, FIDIC’s responsibilities in representing the sector are greater than they have ever been and we are responding to that by improving and expanding the range of our work to keep pace with an ever-changing industry landscape and new challenges.

Over recent years, FIDIC has looked to professionalise its approach to put the organisation on a firmer footing to face future challenges. We have done this and are now able to look forward with a sense of real optimism about the future, especially given the way we responded to the pandemic, continuing to work in an agile and flexible way to ensure that FIDIC delivered on behalf of members and the wider global industry. FIDIC’s response to the Covid pandemic, followed by the impact of the war in Ukraine, global energy crisis, rising inflation and a potential global recession, has resulted in the organisation adopting technology-based delivery of services to members and stakeholders. A new business model, coupled with hybrid working, is now the new normal and offers us a clear way forward for the future. As a result, FIDIC faces the future in better shape than it has ever been before.

Its committees and advisory councils, all newly revamped and refocused, continue to do important work, reaching out to key stakeholders and developing plans and strategies to address the key issues facing the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector. We have also taken steps to take more control of FIDIC’s key activities and events, with the bringing in-house of the organisation of our Official FIDIC Contract Users’ Conferences, thus beginning the process of bringing this contract users community closer to FIDIC and putting them at the centre of these important events for the industry.

A key priority for FIDIC is the diversity and inclusion agenda. We have put steps in place to ensure that our board and committees better represent the industry and some key steps forward have been taken in this area. Backed up by a revitalised and modernised governance structure, which is now working throughout the organisation, FIDIC is much better placed to deal with the challenge of change. There is still a road to travel on diversity - and not just in the area of gender, as we need to be aware of geography too – but I sense a growing confidence throughout the organisation that the measures that we have put in place will see further strides forward in the future. The appointment of Catherine Karakatsanis as the first woman as FIDIC president in 2023 is obviously an important milestone in this regard, but rest assured that there will be no resting on laurels in this crucial area.

Communications remain super-important for FIDIC as we strive to do more and make an even greater impact. The monthly CEO’s Update issued to all members and stakeholders during the year keeps key audiences informed and updated on a regular basis and further steps are underway to improve FIDIC’s communications and marketing output and impact. In addition to improvements to the FIDIC website and YouTube output, our online news and information platform Infrastructure Global is also carving out a niche in the market and FIDIC’s social media is thriving and vibrant.

As always, FIDIC remains focused on delivering on behalf of its member associations. In everything that we do we are constantly thinking about how we can leverage our advocacy for the benefit of our MAs, whether they are large, medium or small. FIDIC’s smaller MAs need specific assistance and that is why we are taking steps to improve and enhance the collectivising of the experience and knowledge of our wider group of MAs and committees to ensure that outputs are tailored and designed for use by all members. The increased resources developed over the last two years, which now form part of an expanded FIDIC Body of

DR NELSON OGUNSHAKIN OBE Chief Executive Officer, FIDIC

Looking to the future

Knowledge, in terms of webinars delivered, State of the World reports, briefing notes and bulletins produced, are all available on the FIDIC website or YouTube for download by MAs for use at national level. The pandemic and the post-Covid period have seen many changes in the leaderships of a number of member associations and FIDIC is taking steps to ensure that we are able to assist these new leaders by reaching out to them to ensure that everyone can learn from the collective experience within the FIDIC organisation.

Financially, FIDIC faces the future in a relatively healthy position. This is thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in the organisation, but given the future challenges ahead, we cannot rest on our laurels. We are continuing to invest in our training, via the FIDIC Academy, our conference platform which will help to deliver even more successful future events, as well as developing new contracts and standards and improving FIDIC’s publications sales platform to ensure that we can reduce our dependence on subscription income and thereby provide better value to members and stakeholders. A new FIDIC Strategic Plan will also help keep the organisation on track beyond 2024 as we look to build and run an organisation that is connected, effective, efficient and proactive in engaging with all its key stakeholders.

When considering the next strategic plan there will be challenges on the horizon that were less of a consideration in 2020. For example, artificial intelligence could significantly change the way that MAs and the sector works, the industry is no longer operating in a low-interest rate environment, the SDGs will need to be delivered in only six years and net zero will be a far more important driver of project development and investment. It is important that FIDIC continues to understand these challenges and develops with the same conviction and determination that has helped deliver the current plan.

FIDIC is proud to be a global organisation that brings people, businesses and cultures together. Indeed, it’s embedded in our DNA as an organisation. Leadership is also critical and our recently created FIDIC Global Leadership Forum will enable us to be even better connected with important large firms internationally so that we can feed this knowledge and influence back into our MAs so we can leverage that collective experience on behalf of the global industry.

So, FIDIC is better positioned than ever before to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges facing the global industry. Through our work, connections and people, we have the potential to make a real difference to those we represent. FIDIC aspires to be the go-to organisation for the global engineering, construction and infrastructure sector and this will continue to be the organisation’s aim as we rise to new challenges to provide the leadership and vibrant network that the industry needs in the years ahead.

With a professional and growing staff team, driving better and more effective stakeholder engagement, strong and effective leadership at all levels, a more diverse and inclusive approach and more effective communications, FIDIC finds itself positioned as a forward-looking and dynamic global organisation that is well equipped to face the challenges of the next 110 yearsand beyond!

14

Conclusion from the president

Conclusion from the president

There is no better way to conclude this book, than to hear the reflections of Anthony ‘Tony’ Barry, president, as he hands over the baton in our anniversary year.

I don’t think I am understating it when I say I love FIDIC and I love the consulting industry. It has provided me with the most wonderful career opportunities for 40 years. I first volunteered for my first Consult Australia committee in 1988 and was its president from 2004 – 2006. That was a great opportunity, also in the midst of a very serious professional indemnity insurance crisis.

Volunteering has been a big part of my life and it has helped shape me as a leader.

So to become FIDIC president is a great opportunity to work with so many great people, to hear their ideas and garner their thinking and guide and influence the direction of FIDIC, the industry and infrastructure itself. It is on the one hand a great honour and on the other a great responsibility.

It has also been a wonderful opportunity to represent FIDIC and our industry at so many virtual and in person events, to share FIDIC’s story and its thinking and to participate in so many discussions focussed on global good.

It has meant a huge amount of work and a lot of sacrifice by my wife, May, dealing with me and all the late nights on FIDIC calls. However, it has also been really heartening to meet and work with so many outstanding people in our industry and our global partners and stakeholders. It is a wonderful human experience.

It is hard to talk about my term of office in isolation. I have spent eight years on the board, in various roles and my presidency has been the culmination of that journey for me. Much of the hard work put in over those years by me and many others has come to fruition in a very satisfying way.

In the first four years, during the presidencies of Jaewan Lee and Alain Bentejac, we put in place our 2016 Strategic Plan, a new governance framework and amended statutes and appointed Dr Nelson Ogunshakin as chief executive. We began the work which resulted in setting up FIDIC Credentialing.

Past president Bill Howard led the development of our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and no sooner had we laid the foundation for it, the Covid pandemic was with us. While a very dangerous situation for the world and FIDIC, our response and that of industry was magnificent. FIDIC stepped up, put out guides for business and for contracts, conducted webinars, engaged on social media and continued to work feverishly to support the industry. We began to execute our 2020 strategy, change our statutes further and build our new business model, review our working committee terms of reference, all the while working from wherever we were. Despite personal difficulties and bereavements Bill’s leadership never wavered. That was inspirational.

In the past two years, my focus has been on continuing to execute our strategy and the major highlights have been seeing the FIDIC organisational model in place, the FIDIC team strengthened significantly, the FIDIC Academy coming to fruition, industry leaders coming together in the Global Leadership Forum and the success of FIDIC Credentialing. The expansion of the FIDIC President’s List has been fantastic. Lastly, it is an absolute pleasure and a great highlight to see Catherine Karakatsanis being elected as president-elect, soon to be our first female FIDIC president.

But there have been so many others including: publication of the Climate Change Charter in 2021, seeing the relationships and collaboration with the multilateral banks flourish and expand, the 2022 Diversity and Inclusion Policy, realising the 2022 reprint and the translations of the FIDIC Contracts, the publication of the FIDIC Contract Guide and seeing work commence on the collaborative, PPP and turnkey contracts.

ANTHONY ‘TONY’ BARRY President, FIDIC, 2021-2023

Conclusion from the president

All of this would not have been possible without a great Board, an outstanding FIDIC CEO and wonderful staff and volunteers. They are so good.

Covid has continued to be a challenge for FIDIC in a practical and financial sense as it has been for MAs, firms and their clients. It has required a considerable degree of foresight, agility and commitment by so many in the FIDIC family to handle change and manage risk, to see opportunities and the take them. It has significantly changed what we do and how we do it. It is a great credit to all as to how they have handled the situation.

Wars and conflicts have also been challenging, of course most notably for those invaded and those caught up in conflicts, but also for FIDIC, our MAs, the firms and their people. While heart-breaking to see and to speak with those affected, it is also heartening to see the compassion, support and commitment of so many in our industry towards them, their situation and their future.

From a global perspective, the impact on climate of infrastructure and the services supported by it has become very real to me, to FIDIC, to the Global Leadership Forum and the responsibility to lead the world to solutions that will reduce carbon emissions is immense. Our world has made little progress and many initiatives need to be proven and accelerated if we are to avoid very serious consequences of climate change. War and conflict further exacerbates the challenge. This has been a very major focus during my presidency.

The different needs of countries and their MAs require very different responses from FIDIC. At the same time, country and regional self-interest is never far away. Developing FIDIC‘s regional strategy has been challenging but success is important if we are to develop capability and capacity in the places and at a price point which is locally relevant and in doing so avoid economic colonisation.

FIDIC is somewhat unique. It has two strong elements to its purposes, one to be the peak body in the industry and the second to provide leadership, platforms and support across the world for sustainable infrastructure, so desperately needed to enable people everywhere to live their best lives and achieve their full potential.

The two working together give the industry an avenue for expression and contribution to a better world. The contribution over many decades by industry volunteers have built an industry and organisational culture and FIDIC’s reputation, its brand if you like, which is respected the world over. In many ways, FIDIC is the go-to organisation for infrastructure policy and advice.

FIDIC is much more than a board and a secretariat, it is an industry community with a culture built on three very wholesome principles, values or pillars: quality, integrity and sustainability.

On its 110th anniversary, I would like to extend my personal gratitude and great respect to the thousands of volunteers and staff who have made FIDIC what it is today. It is a great organisation and achieves a great deal for our industry and our world. It plays well above its weight because of the generosity of spirit, the commitment and the very great skill of volunteers and staff alike.

I urge everybody in the industry to continue generosity of spirit and contribution. It is vital to our world, the regions and our industry. It is crucial that our board have the best directors we can find, that our CEO and staff are high performing and that our volunteers are the best the industry can provide. Great leadership, wonderful people, a supportive culture and working environment is a recipe for success.

Looking forward, 2024 will see a new Strategic Plan published and I am confident FIDIC will adapt and change as it needs to in addressing the challenges of the years and decades ahead.

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