FIDIC Future leaders.. leading the way

FIDIC Future leaders.. leading the way FIDIC Annual Conference publication

September 2020

Contents Foreword from Future Leaders Committee Chair .................................................................................. 2 Social Distancing on the Construction Site ............................................................................................. 4 Covid-19 and the transportation fundamentals ..................................................................................... 6 CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) .................................................................. 8 Dispute Adjudication and Avoidance Boards: A public interest .......................................................... 10 The New Normal in Consulting Engineering: Drone Technology ......................................................... 12 Infrastructure development and consulting engineering in the new normal� – the future leaders perspective............................................................................................................................................ 14 Understanding the Collapse of Kampala City Buildings ....................................................................... 17 The necessity of exploring new alternatives on dispute resolutions in the Mexican Construction Industry ................................................................................................................................................. 20 Redefining the role of Future Leaders through Ctrl+Alt+Delete .......................................................... 22 Exploring the Future of AEC Industry, digital Transformation between the Past and the Future........ 24 The Future of The Consulting Engineer Industry through futures studies, Covid 19 lessons learned . 27 The impact of Covid-19 on the implementation of construction contracts and dispute resolution procedures in China .............................................................................................................................. 30 About FIDIC ........................................................................................................................................... 34

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Foreword from Future Leaders Committee Chair I would like to begin by thanking you for attending the FIDIC online conference on 11 and 14 September 2020, and the FIDIC Future Leaders Symposium on September 10th, which for the first time was run as an online event.

Cosmin Tobolcea Chair FIDIC Future Leaders

As we all know, the world changed dramatically with the emergence of the Covid19 pandemic and things may never be the same. In just ten weeks, FIDIC organized 21 events (18 FIDIC Covid-19 webinars + 3 FIDIC Future Leader webinars) which attracted more than 9,000 attendees from 150 countries across the globe to engage with an international line-up of expert speakers from all parts of the project process and supply chain from promoters and clients to engineering, construction and the wider infrastructure industry.

I am pleased that Future Leaders remained very active during the pandemic and recently completed three successful webinars focused on, among other things, expanding their activities to other MAs. We are therefore continuing to develop and ensure that our presence is effective, tangible and provide a real opportunity for FLs, even during these tough times, to unify their voice and to be an active part in FIDIC and the industry.

As a leadership committee, the Future Leaders Committee (FLC), is a working Committee of FIDIC appointed by the FIDIC Board that was formed to develop communication and networking opportunities for all FLs involved in the FIDIC community.

For the fourth year, FIDIC Future Leaders Committee (FLC) is glad to issue its FLs booklet, which again for the first time will be a fully electronic booklet (ebooklet). The theme ‘New Normal in the World of Infrastructure and Consulting Engineering’’ provides an opportunity for the future of the sector to share their thoughts, ideas, priorities, diversity and efforts, through different articles from all over the world. The booklet reflects and is based on their experience in these new times, first in consulting firms' own internal operations and second on how digital transformation is allowing consulting firms to operate in a more agile manner.

The development of this e-booklet has resulted in the authors exploring: How we react and what decisions we make will most likely shape our industry and future of our companies in the new normal? How will this pandemic change our industry? Could this be the time to revise and rethink certain partnerships? What lessons could be learnt from other industries? Covid-19 Impact on Infrastructure Development and Consulting Engineering?

Our industry has changed in ways that we cannot even fully comprehend yet. It is difficult to know what the new world will look like after this crisis but we certainly know that it won't be the same as before. Emergencies, such as this one, not only show the world clearly as it is but also highlight its weaknesses and can spur innovation that would otherwise have not taken place. The Covid-19 pandemic is a massive stress test for society and organizations.

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Like all good stress tests, it has showcased what is solid and resilient and has exposed clearly whatever was weak and likely broken. The challenge is not only to fix what is broken but to reimagine what the "New Normal" should look like.

I and all of those involved in the FL programme and committee hope that you will enjoy reading our e-booklet and find the insights it provides interesting and valuable.

To that end, I would like to leave you with a final thought, that we, as Future Leaders will always have a role and will continue to be called upon to develop and rebuild our world as the future becomes the present. It is now time to grasp the opportunity to build better and more sustainably!

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Social Distancing on the Construction Site Rodrigo Juarez, Mexico Member of the FIDIC Future Leaders Management Committee (FLMC), representing Latin America. Coursed the FIDIC YPMTP (now FLMC). My academic formation includes a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, a Master’s in International Construction Management and Engineering, a Master’s in Business Administration and Diploma in Project Management.

Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Project Management at the University of Leeds.

I have worked with the Texas Transportation Institute in Mexico City, the Project Management Office (PMO) for the Mexico City New International Airport with Parsons Corporation – Felipe Ochoa y Asociados (FOA) Consulting, and currently work as Consultant in Infrastructure Megaprojects for FOA Consulting, the first Mexican company to be certified in ISO37001:2016 in Anti-Bribery Management Systems and First Consulting Company worldwide certified in Business Integrity.

Additionally, I work as an external consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

It is very difficult to assume what the New Normal will look like, not only for the infrastructure sector but also the wider consultancy and engineering sector all of which have been affected.

Exploring the current situation from the perspective of the built environment, Covid-19 has definitely made the industry reconsider many of the work patterns and practices that we used to adhere to. It has made us think about great areas of opportunity, but also, about many of the challenges we are yet to face.

It is curious how regular activities that we considered business as usual have now been transformed.

In many cases, normal things in our daily activities have been substituted and/or replaced, activities such as, buying a coffee are now being minimized or restricted. When you then consider and amplify the effect of this into wider sectors, it is clear that normal working patterns will continue to be affected, but the question for the future remains is this going to be for the better, or for the worse?

I remember not many years ago, a project where we used to go to the construction site every day.

The site was outside of the city and so there were not many places to go and buy anything, and so we had a small cafeteria within the facility where we all had at least, breakfast and lunch. It was the place we would all arrive in and meet in the morning and before starting our shift and so we would all gather around. At lunchtime, I remember the huge queues that would form, where everyone was waiting to buy something, to get a table, or to enjoy their meal.

This was considered the normal at many places including this during lunchtime. The issue, however, was always that when approximately 100 people arrived simultaneously within the same cafeteria.

The area would become really crowded, and sometimes it was wise to wait and to come back perhaps, after one hour.

What Covid-19 has brought us is a disruption in this normal and common activities we undertake.

For example, times have changed between catching up with work colleagues, breaks, lunch etc. none of them seem that they will not continue in their previous way given the new normal.

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A potential collateral damage from Covid-19 and the “New Normal” will definitely be social distancing, potentially permanently. Across the clobe there are recommendations for staying at least 2 meters apart from each other, to remain closer to our housemates, limit people going into stores, amongst many other measures.

This is, however, only a small part of the picture. Many behavioural and working patterns in construction sites will change, and activities such as lunch will have to be strictly controlled, with well-defined shifts and controlled seating spots. Strict cleaning procedures and rotation will become relevant for personnel management.

This may therefore become as an example become part of the new norm. The “New Normal” will become a set controlled and defined activities per working division or sector that, if not managed properly or shifted periodically, will make people fall into routines that in the long run, could result in a lower productivity or even depression on sites where physical activity and contact is required.

We need to be very careful when resuming our regular activities. Talk to people, gather opinions and develop effective communications strategies that integrate the views of the employees on this matter, in such a way that the “New Normal”, at least in the construction site, can still bring joy to the people that used to enjoy this kind of activities with colleagues.

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Covid-19 and the transportation fundamentals Christopher Job Mukuye, Uganda “Christopher is a 32-year old Ugandan Traffic and Transportation Engineer with a Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Kyoto University. He is currently working with Centre for Infrastructure Consulting (CIC) Limited, an all field Engineering Consultancy firm in Uganda. He is very enthusiastic about transportation systems and is currently engaged on the Development of Uganda’s first Non-Motorised Transport Manual as well as playing a backstopping role in the development of Uganda’s Expressway Master Plan”

Economies thrive on two types of activity, labour (human) and capital. Whilst both are important, labour relies on infrastructure such as transportation systems. This renders any transportation system very crucial to any economy and an enabler of economic activity.

As part of the preventive measures instituted to combat the fast spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing and avoidance of mass crowding have been strongly encouraged if not mandated.

This, of course includes avoidance or limited use of mass transit public transportation systems (planes, trains, buses, minibus taxis, cruise ships/ferries etc.) resulting in a global drop in public transit usage.

But the question is, what does this mean in the context of sustainable transportation systems?

It is imperative to note that just like any other balanced system, any decrease in the share of a given transportation mode, would be countered by incremental changes in another mode or modes of transport. Unexpected events such as Covid-19, the 2011 great east Japan earthquake, tsunamis etc all impact transportation systems from all perspectives i.e. planning, mode choice, travel behaviour etc.

The major determinants of the operation and usage of post shock transportation systems and resultant travel patterns are part of the lessons to be learnt and should help to form part of the actions taken by governments in an attempt to make transportation systems more resilient.

The 1973 oil shocks pushed the US to adapt new national speed limits of 55 mph and a shift was realised from the use of less fuel-efficient vehicles to the use of more fuel-efficient ones and cleaner fuels i . The Netherlands too, revised their speed limits to 65mph and introduced car-free Sundays among other measures. Whilst most countries end up going back to their original status quo, the Netherlands used that opportunity to redesign its road policies to focus on people instead of cars and prioritise the cheapest, quickest and easiest way to get around cities, mostly by bicycles linked to local and regional transitii. Since then, they have been arguably the greenest and healthiest commuters on the planet.

Current situation & coping mechanisms The Covid-19 pandemic has seen governments respond with travel restrictions, various bans, and imposed domestic measures to minimise the spread of the virus. Uganda, for example, has forced residents to stay home, imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews and restricted vehicle movements. Day to day lives have therefore been put on pause, i.e. work, education, shopping, sports events, restaurants, art and culture, entertainment, markets, celebrations, appointments and other errands are now restricted.

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Residents will eventually go back to the basics and suggest to their city leaders they have too narrow sidewalks to maintain the minimum social distanceiii. World cities are therefore turning their streets over to pedestrians and cyclistsiv. In addition to the existing 550Km of permanent bicycle lanes, the Colombian capital of Bogota opened more 76Km of bicycle lanes to reduce crowding on public transportv. The Guardian reports London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, having conversations with cities around the world and saying, “we are looking at the busiest parts of our road networks to see where we can give people more walking space”vi. Measures have also been taken in New Zealand to create temporary pavements and cycling lanes to reflect changes in road usage patterns during the pandemic. Transports metropolitans de Barcelona also reminds the public that public transport must be used only for essential journeys, despite the lifts on restrictions.

In Uganda’s capital, Kampala, the unprecedented closure of public transport caused a difficult predicament as all the supply evaporated overnight, leaving leeway for only the critical and essential services. Ride-hailing services like Uber, Taxify saw a short-lived spike in demand as people shifted out of public transit, which was shortly before the use of private vehicles was halted on March 30th 2020.

Ugandans were then left with only one option; walking and cycling. This resulted in a significant rise in the number of people who walk and cycle on the streets of Kampala and other urban centres finding their way around.

Lessons to learn It could be argued that the pandemic has potentially brought about the perfect opportunity we’ve been waiting for. Timothy Papandreou, founder of emerging transport, refers to this as the greatest, if not, most important “what if” transport scenario experiments that offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-imagine our transportation systemiii. Operating a fragmented, inequitable and uncoordinated urban transportation system makes it very vulnerable to several kinds of shocks.

This is a great opportunity for urban authorities to plan better so as be able to manage temporary shocks and sustain prolonged interruptions. This comes with observing critically from the lens of the end user, figure out what works and what doesn’t and fix the necessary repairs Whilst most communities around the world are falling back on walking and cycling as their main form of transport (Including Uganda), this essentially communicates that walking and cycling (i.e. non-motorised transport) are the fundamentals of basic transportation. These, it could therefore be argued, should ideally be given first priority when it comes to transport infrastructure developments going forward since they, in most cases have been the fallback position of many transportation systems.

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CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) Shuhei Yamaguchi, Japan Shuhei Yamaguchi is a chief development officer of MENTENA, a computerized maintenance management software, working for Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. He has been working as a system consultant for thirteen years and has provided maintenance systems to administrative agencies such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Based on this experience, he is currently engaged in a maintenance SaaS (Software as a Service) business for a private company in the manufacturing industry.

Yu Morimura, Japan Yu Morimura is a manager of sales and customer success of MENTENA working for Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. He has been working as a consulting engineer for five years and has designed river structures managed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and created maintenance plans.

Based on this experience, he is currently engaged in a consulting service on facility maintenance management.

Mikiko Iwago, Japan Mikiko Iwago is a Junior Consultant working for Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. She has been working as a consulting engineer for two years and has been engaged in a consulting service on electric power system and power plant mainly in Africa. Also, she is currently working on BIM/CIM (Building Information Modelling/ Construction Information Modelling/Management) for infrastructure.

Online communication tools enable us to have face to face meetings without meeting physically, which during Covid-19 has allowed us to continue our economic activities against the challenges that the global pandemic has caused, with many companies working remotely. Through this experience, online tools are further attracting worldwide attention. Even in the infrastructure industry, the use of such online tools had been discussed for years before the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of cost reduction, knowledge sharing, and diversity and inclusion etc. Such discussions, however, have been accelerated across many fields including the field of the maintenance of industrial facilities or plants.

The challenge When the Covid-19 began to spread worldwide, many companies started to limit the number of workers working on site to reduce a risk to be infected. Before the Covid-19, they could operate and maintain their facilities by watching on site directly, discussing based on the hard copies of log data sheets and ledgers and instructing physically. After the Covid-19, however, the managers are needed to make decisions/instructions remotely without physically viewing based on the data and work report which local operators obtained. Also, the operators are needed to obtain and report the data

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rapidly. Therefore, the system to improve the productivity to obtain and visualize the data with easy accessibility are required, which contribute to keep productivity under such a situation and share the data, work report and instructions with all the concerned people working remotely rapidly.

Regular maintenance of equipment and facilities is important for stable operation. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the technologies for monitoring operation, detection and prevention of abnormalities have in recent times significantly improved. On the other hands, since it is still commonly practiced that paper work is physical and offline management software uses non cloud based software such as Excel as the means of creating a databases and knowledge repositories, it is difficult to store and share the know-how and intellectual property of the organization. As such these practices are starting to be recognised as causing delay or omission against troubles that need immediate follow-up as well as for keeping regular operation and maintenance. We are therefore in a new normal.

Action People become positively choose to shift the management of maintenance from paper work or offline tool like Excel to the online system management, by using smartphone or operation tools that are connected to database like Fig. 1.

So what could this new world look like?

Asset Ledger

Fig.1 Image of the online computerized maintenance management system

The data including location of the factories and plants, details of line, facilities, parts used for building or facilities, spare parts and track record of repair, etc. can be recorded and managed in the cloud.

Maintenance Record The recording of regular maintenance, parts replacements and transactions for unexpected issues, etc. are logged in the cloud. Managers can confirm the progress of works and are able to make necessary directions/decisions, and such data can be utilized for a regular inspection and troubleshooting.

Analytical Function Regular maintenance works recorded by users are accumulated in a dashboard where they are visualized as a charts automatically. Showing statistics such as the number of man-months, cost of works, details of stoppage and their causes in which numbers, date and time of such troubles are identified. This means that the managers can swiftly assess and analyse the on-going problems on site as well as related maintenance records. This system can be utilized for identifying causes of failure and effective prevention measures while reducing associated costs.

As such, in the new normal, cloud based systems will be helpful for the persons from the bottom to the top of organisations, with those in charge of operation and maintenance able to see changes/updates as they occur. This contributes to optimizing PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Action) cycle from formulating operation and maintenance plans, grasping the conditions on site, and analysing and reviewing works via records on the cloud data and to take necessary actions for the improvement of works and/or asset management. Such technologies being developed/upgraded under the severe situation during Covid-19 would contribute to the rapidly changing world.

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Dispute Adjudication and Avoidance Boards: A public interest Michelle Munyanduki, Zimbabwe In 2018, Michelle Munyanduki was instrumental in pioneering the first FIDIC training in her home country Zimbabwe. She is a lawyer who specialises in construction contracts and has worked as a construction contracts consultant since 2016. She graduated top of her class from the University of Namibia with accolades that include best in contract law. Michelle naturally translated her passion for contracts to a career in the construction industry as a construction contracts consultant.

In the now well known Intratrek Zimbabwe (Private) Limited versus Zimbabwe Power Company appeal application, Chitapi J highlighted that: “The prejudice which results from delays in resolving the disputes between the parties by dialogue in terms of the provisions of the contract is to the public and the country’s development…. the parties must, using the provisions for dialogue and dispute resolution provided for in the contract (EPC FIDIC), engage and relate.”vii The learned judge in this case explains that the prejudice owing to delays in dispute resolution is not only to the parties but to the public and to the country's development. This analysis is universally applicable. While others may personalise a national project, the real benefactors and at the same time victims of delay are the public.

Prejudice to the Public and development-Tax payer always pays The Intratek matter presents an interesting hypothesis which deserves to be placed into proper perspective. In this particular matter, the implementation and/or completion of 100MW solar project was delayed because parties subjected the project to lengthy litigation, from 2016 to date.

These proceedings were undertaken without exhausting the provisions for dialogue and dispute resolution provided for in the contract. Supply and demand would therefore indicate that, if there is less power generation and so a lower amount of power supplied, at the same time as an increasing demand, there would be an increased price for electricity. Ultimately, this results in an increase in production and input costs for other goods resulting in the price of basics like bread etc increasing.

It is important to recognise, especially in national projects, that the taxpayer bears the majority if not all of the cost and risk in most instances and if issues occur is inevitably the provider/financier of last resort . In the event that parties chose expensive dispute resolution routes like litigation or arbitration, it is potentially the taxpayers' money on the line. It is untenable that we have standardised and best practice contracts being decorated with clauses on dispute adjudication and avoidance , yet parties insist on litigation or arbitration as a preferred dispute resolution method.

DAABs: a public interest.

What the judge refers to above as ‘provisions for dialogue and dispute resolution provided for in the contract’,viii is the referral of disputes to Dispute Adjudication and Avoidance Boards (DAABs). Over time dispute boards were adopted as a response to the frequency of disputes and their detriment to project budgets and programs. This is especially the case when dealing with FIDIC contracts that

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have as a golden principle and a condition precedent to arbitration, the resolution of disputes through DAABs. According to the Global Construction Dispute Report by Arcadis, early dispute avoidance decreases the volume of lengthy and costly disputes.ix DAAB members will ideally be experienced in both the type of project and contract. As a result, their involvement from the onset of a project can help to prevent or minimise the potential of dispute occurrences. Their efficiency is also in their availability to deal with a referred matter within a 28 day notice and obligation to make binding and therefore legally enforceable decisions within a time limit of 84 days; all at a reasonable agreed cost. Why parties avoid such an effective and efficient dispute resolution mechanism is an investigation on its own as it attempts to ensure the best outcome for all parties involved. .

DAABs are therefore designed to try and avoid issues in projects which ultimately are there to serve the public. They should not be viewed as an option but a necessity, creating a more stable and reliable mechanism for project delivery. It is regrettable that in the aforementioned case study that after years of litigation, the judge refers the matter back to a DAAB, where it should have all started and hopefully ended.

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The New Normal in Consulting Engineering: Drone Technology Prinaven Gounden, South Africa Prinaven Gounden is a Professionally Registered Civil Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa and a Member of The South African Institution of Civil Engineering. As a Senior Engineer at Knight PiĂŠsold Consulting, he has been involved in the design and construction supervision of several national, provincial, and municipal road related projects. He completed a BSc Engineering (Civil) at the University of Witwatersrand and has also trained at the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers in India.

Prinaven is an active member in the Consulting Engineers South Africa Young Professionals Forum (CESA YPF) and encourages young professionals to become more active using platforms such as the CESA YPF in order to share experiences and work together towards overcoming challenges within the industry.

Neelam Parbhoo, South Africa Neelam Parbhoo is a Civil Engineer at Knight PiĂŠsold with 3 years of work experience, primarily in the infrastructure and mining sectors. She currently specialises in Structural Engineering mainly in the field of Bridge and Culvert design. She graduated with a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2016 and a Master of Engineering in 2019.

She is actively involved with Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) where she serves as Chairperson of the Technology and Innovation Committee as well as Vice Chairperson of the Gauteng South Young Professional Forum (YPF).

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many industries to revisit the way in which they conduct business. This has led to companies, including those in the consulting engineering sector, to consider new technologies with the aim of adapting and innovating to remain relevant in the current climate whilst also ensuring minimal disruption in the project cycle.

Drone Technology has been identified as one such technology which has gained popularity in recent years. The use of Drone Technology as a tool for the development of infrastructure is wide reaching and can be applied to several parts of the project cycle. These are further discussed below.

Drones for Aerial and Infrastructure Survey The focus on social distancing and restrictions in travel have meant that drone surveys prove to be useful. A drone survey refers to the use of a drone, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), to capture aerial data.x This data and subsequent software can be used to create a range of outputs including elevation and 3D models of the project areas as well as existing infrastructure.

In some countries legislation allows for lower altitude flight with the use of drones, compared to other aerial methods, allowing for more detailed surveys. This enables the user to extract information such as highly accurate distances or volumetric measurements to meet their needs.

The use of drones for survey is generally faster, requires less manpower and allows for survey in remote and dangerous areas, which are deemed costly and high risk when considering tradition land

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surveying methods. It also allows engineers to inspect infrastructure, such as cooling towers and reservoirs in a safer manner.

When considering infrastructure surveys, thermal imaging allows designers a chance to gain a clear picture of existing infrastructure conditions, including insight on existing reinforcement in structures identifying issues such as, identifying leaks in water systems. Information obtained through such methods allows for data to be easily exported to BIM applications for further modelling.xi

Drones for site supervision The use of drones on construction sites to assist with supervision has the potential to increase efficiency of monitoring and data collection as construction progresses. Inspections can be undertaken more frequently, and a greater amount of area can be assessed efficiently. 2 The use of drones provides the project team the ability to obtain aerial images of the site without physically having to travel to site to determine whether elements are constructed in accordance with design specifications. 2 Drones can create real-time aerial images from sites which can be shared with site personnel and team members based at offices; project teams can meet virtually to deliberate project programming, resource requirements and potential challenges. 2 Since drones can access hazardous locations of a construction site, project teams can also take advantage of this to identify and address technical problems in locations where it might be risky to do so in person. Additionally, drones equipped with surveillance instruments can improve safety inspections due to the fast access to images as well as real time metrics from a range of locations around the jobsite.xii Drone technologies allow consulting engineers to perform efficient services for the development of infrastructure in the new normal. The capability of drones to deliver topographic mapping, surveying, remote monitoring, and progress reporting can prove to be an invaluable tool throughout the life cycle of a construction project. 2 They can efficiently collect data of a high standard with relative ease and enables teams to interact remotely. 2 By utilizing the advantages of drone technology project teams can save time, costs and reduce risk while working under regulations set in the new normal. Drones are a significant technological advancement that can be utilised as an asset in the consulting engineering industry far beyond the challenges of delivering infrastructure in the current socio-economic conditions.

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Infrastructure development and consulting engineering in the new normal” – the future leaders perspective Mr Gautam Chheda, India Mr. Gautam Chheda, PMP® is a seasoned professional having More than 15 years of experience from concept to commissioning of project life cycle/Turnaround of New Business in multiple sectors for Business Analysis, Fund Raising, Financial Simulations, International & Domestic Business Development, Product & Services Management, Go to Market Strategy, Sales & Marketing, Budget, Cost & Change control, Contracts & Compliance, Event, Portfolio, Program, Project & Construction Management, PMO, Hands-on Operation Management along with P&L Responsibility.

Currently working as an Associate Vice President at BVG India Ltd and heading International Business Development & Operation and Special projects in India & abroad. BVG India Ltd is well diversified in all Essential Services i.e Facility management, Solid Waste, Waste to Energy & Emergency Medical & Police Response, Agriculture & Food Processing units, Solar & Renewable Energy, Alternative Medicines & affordable Health care sector.

Previously Gautam has worked with TATA Group, TATA Consulting Engineers Ltd for more than 13 years as a Head International Business for PMC Business Unit. Gautam has travelled extensively and developed cross boarder business relationship in more than 24 countries.

Mr Ravindra Shrivastava, India Mr. Ravindra Shrivastava is a seasoned professional having more than 12 years of academic and industrial experience. He was associated with Tata Group, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd and involved in the IT park development project from concept to commissioning in the area of project planning and controls. He is M. Tech. in Construction Management from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) Mumbai, BE in Civil engineering from Government Engineering College Ujjain and also, Pursuing PhD in management (Infrastructure) from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun.

He is currently associated with National Institute of Construction Management & Research (NICMAR) as Assistant Professor and in the past associated with University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun. His area of expertise in teaching includes Construction Management, Project Risk Management, Contract Management & Tendering, Quantity Surveying, Infrastructure Development Projects, Management of Public Private Partnership and Primavera software.

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Covid-19 Impact on Infrastructure Development and Consultancy and Engineeringxiii The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the the majority of the world’s economies, and the infrastructure industry is no exception.

It is estimated that Covid-19 is putting pressure on Engineering and Construction value chain to the tune of between a 14% to 28% revenue decreases.

Under such scenarios, projects face acute labour shortages, health and safety risks, interrupted supply chains, schedule delays, financial issues, liquidity issues, and effect on ROI. The most likely high impact areas for consulting business are business development, workforce management, finance and cash flow, supply chain & logistics, contract & claim management, health and safety and site supervision and quality.

The research aforementioned, suggests the following potential innovative solutions and opportunities for infrastructure development and consultancy and engineering businesses in the new normal 1. Work force management: in the new normal post-Covid 19 era, the management of the workforce typically requires a change of mind-set and a greater extent of self-discipline. Social distances, staggered shifts and work from home are new norms.

Such measures, whilst having been forced upon employers could result in reducing employers' costs of production and labour (e.g. real estate cost). More attention is therefore needed for the adoption of technology, community partnerships and risk mitigation programs for on-site employees. Companies should invest in training programs to create awareness and minimize the spread of the disease by taking preventive measures.

Workforce and gap assessment will be the key to identifying skills shortages, up-skilling, stretch roles, physical customer contact, engaging senior management in recovery, addressing immigration issues, improving absenteeism management processes and flexible compensation models.

2. Process, product and supply chain improvement through accelerated technology adoption: organization can implement new technology for optimization and remote working by focusing on local development of pre-engineered structures, equipment manufacturing, pre-cast engineering and construction centres, offshore design engineering centres, modularization, 3D printing, construction simulation and modelling, building information modelling integration, worker safety by smart sensors, artificial intelligence and alternative delivery models will lead to high productivity and reduce rework.

3. Remote working through Digitisation for transformation and collaboration: Organisations will need to embrace a new organisational culture to match this new reality. The virtual workplace, remote collaboration via digital platforms, is non-negotiable.

Organization will need to set up a command and control system for the centralized operation and monitoring of contracts. This will help them to improve consistency and slash cycle times by providing real-time intelligence-based engineering and reporting. Standardization with 15 | P a g e

automated tools will also help to drive improved productivity with innovation to reuse, reduce, and recycle.

4. Pain points will need to be identified within the management and response to customers: consulting organizations should be versatile for the re-implementation of value engineering and construction methodology to mitigate losses from the delays. It is important we utilise the collective wisdom of the industry to mitigate conflicts between owners, contractors, unions, and to unify their contractual relationship.

Contracts should continue to evolve and encourage the amicable resolution of force majeure, cost escalation, delay damages, risk assessment & mitigation, claims avoidance and financing arrangements.

5. Financial structuring, tax, and trade: organizations may need to reassess existing contracts with low profitability, to convert fixed monthly costs plus margin-based contracts instead of milestone-based payment to ease out cash flow, collaborate with lenders & stakeholders to avoid losses, allow for potential debt, tax and transfer-price components restructuring and liquidation of non-core or under-performing assets. Mergers and acquisitions are also likely to take place going forward as one of the measures to manage such issues.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown itself to be a truly global threat and the world is trying to keep its financial wheels spinning, whilst ensuring the wellbeing of individuals. Businesses therefore need a paradigm shift that adapts a good balance of priorities to these new norms such as rapid digital transformation, technology adoption, collaboration, capabilities, rational decision-making and financial restructuring to revive and thrive in the post-Covid 19 world.

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Understanding the Collapse of Kampala City Buildings Kigozi Joseph, Uganda Mr. Kigozi Joseph is a Project Engineer Working with PROME Consultants Limited and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Makerere University with honours. He sits on the Uganda Association of Consulting Engineers, FIDIC Future Leaders committee and serves as a Capacity Development champion on this committee. Mr. Kigozi Joseph has made significant contributions on various infrastructure projects within Kampala City ranging from transportation, through to drainage and housing.

Some of the most recent projects in which he has been involved include; The design of a pilot city bus service and public transport advisory services as well as the development of the non-motorized transport manual for Uganda.

Mr. Kigozi Joseph has strived to share his technical knowledge and experience at various regional conferences, with the vision to improve the wider infrastructure sector through capacity building.

Most recently he has been engaged in the FIDIC- GAMA Conference, held in Kampala and the 1st Smart transport infrastructure summit held in Dar-es Salaam.

The explosive population growth in African cities is usually a primary reference point when discussing the problems and challenges that are facing Africa today. Like many other African cities, Kampala’s growth is exponential and outstripping supply and so the city is undergoing a remarkable urban transformation. As African cities also continue to grow economically, the city sky lines are being painted with magnificent buildings soring higher and higher owing to the technological advancement in building techniques and technologies.

Unfortunately, however, such rapid growth has come at a cost and it is one the sector should not be proud of. The same buildings that are uplifting our economies are in many cases tragically taking lives people that are; constructing them, residing in them as well as doing business in them.

Uganda unlike many counties in the western world is not prone to extreme natural disasters such as hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones and high magnitude earthquakes, yet even with the existing technical competence in structural engineering, building collapses are a common tragic occurrence.

Indeed, the collapse of buildings is not a new phenomenon and such events have occurred since the prehistoric times, this however, does not mean we should not be striving for improvement and putting more effort into this under-researched issue.

In order to save our cities from the life-threatening and economic situations of collapsing buildings, there is need for exhaustive analysis beyond the engineering defects and short falls of the situations that indeed lead to the occurrence of the defects within the early stages of projects that the ultimately result into catastrophic building failures even in the absence of extreme natural disasters.

Building Collapse History of Kampala The table below shows some of the recorded incidents of building collapses in Kampala since September 2004, the number of fatalities and the reported cause of collapse.

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Table 1: Incidents of Building Collapse (Source: Newspaper Articles)

Year

Building

July 2013

Old building under Renovation

April 2016

Building in Makerere

04

Building constructed in a road reserve.

Plans not submitted to Authority for assessment.

Non-Compliance to the physical planning laws.

May 2018

Building in Buziga

0

June 2019

Perimeter Wall for a school in Kampala

6 (Street Children)

High Construction speed.

Negligence of the Engineer.

Heavy Rains

October 2019

Excavation Slope Failure at Building in Bakuli Kampala Building in Makindye Lukuli

2

Unsafe Excavation Methods

20

Absence of Supervising Engineer.

Non-Adherence to Technical Standards.

Use of Sub-standard Material.

By pass of building regulations.

April 2020

April 2020

Beach hotel Building in Entebbe

May 2020

Building in Kansanga Kiwempe Zone.

Number of Fatalities 04

Reported Cause of Collapse Delayed action City Authority.

Absence of approved plan Economization of Materials Bureaucracy involved in demolishing illegal structures.

Failure of Building owner to abide by the advice of building authorities.

Ignoring signs of building failure.

Poor workmanship.

Inadequate supervision by the Site engineer.

Existing Legislative Framework The Building Control Act came into force on 2nd October 2013 and its purpose was to amend the law relating to erection of buildings as a way to ensure decent, safe and planned building structures. Under the same act, the Building Review Board and Building Committees were instituted to execute functions in-line with the objectives of the act.

The act empowers the Building Review Board and the Building Committees to stop any construction operation that is found not to be in compliance with the regulations. The act also regards any omission, commission and negligence of an individual that leads to a building accident punishable by law. It is 18 | P a g e

safe to say that that the laws and regulations governing the erection of buildings are present and sufficient, however, we cannot ignore the fact that the non-compliance to these laws and regulations is a root cause to many of the building collapses.

Circumstances leading to unsafe buildings in African cities.

Approximately 40% of Africa’s population now lives in the cities, the demand for building space has therefore been significant. This increase in demand has encouraged the erection of buildings with an insufficient focus on safety. The existing high demand has also prompted existing structures to be hastily converted into uses that they were not designed or intended for.

This alongside the high cost of acquisition of urban land has limited the capacity of building developers to invest in quality building materials and technical personnel. As such, at many building sites there is common use of substandard material, cut back on required inputs and widespread involvement of low skilled and unqualified building personnel as well as limited compliance to the building laws and regulations.

Whilst building regulations are present, corruption and unstable political decision making continue to undermine the efforts of building authorities to enforce regulations. Monitoring and compliance is further hampered by the under resourced capacity of the building authorities.

Solutions The vulnerability of our cities to building collapse can be addressed administratively by putting in place interventions to ensure compliance to the laws and regulations that govern the erection of buildings.

The interventions should not only focus on of adherence to technical regulations but should address socio-political and economic conditions and resource distribution challenges.

In the event of a building collapse, during the Investigations, there is need to look beyond the engineering defects and attention should be given to the underlying non-engineering issues that could have led to the engineering defect. Further to this there is need to publish the results of the investigations for the public so that circumstances the led to a particular building are mitigated in future projects.

Building authorities should consider a phased approval of building works as a way to ensure that building developers adhere to the laws and regulations all through the building process. This can, however, only be achieved if the financial and resource capacity of the building authorities is increased.

It is also imperative that meaningful and stable financing schemes are provided to building developers to prevent piecemeal construction of buildings and end practices that lead to the use of sub-standard building materials and incompetent personnel.

Conclusions Given the above, it is important to reemphasise that unless conscious efforts are made to address the building needs of Africa’s urban population, the creation of unsafe buildings in hazard-prone areas is unlikely to be prevented. At every stage in the building process, economic and safety considerations should be designed for to avoid them competing. A balance is needed, but this balance needs to be achieved so that the building’s structural integrity is not adversely compromised in the name of saving money. The value of human life is incalculable, therefore as built environment practitioners we have a fundamental duty to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of public against all other considerations.

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The necessity of exploring new alternatives on dispute resolutions in the Mexican Construction Industry Juan Pablo Sandoval, Mexico.

Juan Pablo Sandoval gained his law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, obtaining the “San Ignacio de Loyola Medal”, as well as the “Excellency Award” for the score he obtained in the National Official Test. He has a post-graduate degree in arbitration from the Escuela Libre de Derecho and the ICC. He has a wide range of experience in litigation and arbitration in both sectors, national and international and has participated in international web panels organized by the Asociación Latinoamericana del Derecho de la Construcción (ALDEC) – the Latin American Association for Construction Law. Juan Pablo is a key member of the dispute resolution team in COMAD, S.C, a law firm specialized in construction law.

It is known that construction projects are subject to several conflicts between the parties in a contract. Thus derived, for example, from different points of view on the costs (who absorbs certain costs, who is responsible for some other costs, is it applicable to request the reimbursement of specific costs); on the interpretation of the parties’ obligations, or even differences in decisions like whether to go or not to a conciliation process before, or instead of arbitration or a judicial action.

In Mexico, those problems are seen every day, with unnecessary delays on construction projects and increased costs. The issue is that even when such problems are well known, there are few economic solutions for resolution and the parties still end up in arbitration or judicial trials, which ultimately are likely to result in greater costs for construction projects.

For instance, in Mexico the solution proposed is to draft one contract per project and many companies prefer to perform/design its own model of contract for each project. The main issue with this practice is that when that model of contract has one defect, that defect will appear in each subsequent project that uses the same model of contract.

Now, lets imagine that the “infected” clause is the one correspondent to the dispute resolution mechanism. The defect in the whole contracts will be a “pathological clause”, which can make it difficult to proceed appropriately on how to claim any concept to the other party.

The situation does not end there. For example, if there is a public project you need to sign a contract with and authority (administrative contract) in which the particular person or company which result awarded in the tender process will act as “contractor” and the government (authority) will act as the owner.

The authority is entitled to the “principle of legality” which consists in that the authority can just act in accordance to what is strictly established in the applicable law. Thus, the general rule for administrative contracts is to agree that the competent authority to resolve any dispute generated by the interpretation or execution of the administrative contract, will be the Federal Tribunal for Administrative Justice.

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is worth to mention that several authorities in Mexico now opt for arbitration as the dispute resolution method, when the project demands it.

Taking into account the “principle of legality” aforementioned, the authority can only agree, among others, on the mechanism for dispute resolution established in the law. In this regard, and as mentioned previously, the authorities usually agree to solve the disputes via jurisdictional or arbitration.xiv All these matters are connected and any one element that is misunderstood can cause issues, for example, a lack of knowledge of the legislative model, the different methods dispute resolution, the costs to the construction industry of such disputes etc.

If the private practice in construction were open and if the legislation for public construction contracts expressly accepted the of the use of special model of contracts, this could help to ensure there are less conflicts on the interpretation and execution of the contracts like the ones mentioned in this article, but specifically, on suitable alternative dispute resolutions and their usage in order to solve issues that arise.

In that regard, there is a tangible necessity to be open and to adopt the use of models of construction contracts like FIDIC. Using FIDIC contracts will result in adopt, inter alia, the dispute resolutions stablished in them.

The adoption of FIDIC contracts in Mexico for the construction industry will impact several areas such as the implementation of different dispute mechanisms like Dispute Boards, which would have positive economic impacts in the industry, because huge amounts usually spent in arbitration or litigation. The experience in Latin America, specifically in countries like El Salvador, Perú and Colombia where the Dispute Boards has been adopted in magnum projects, support this statement.

Not only the experience in some other countries, but also the current economic and health situation derived from the Covid-19 pandemic would make the Mexican Construction industry has to look to different alternatives to solve the disputes. One first and solid step would be to adopt the model of contracts that offer that kind of solutions, just like FIDIC’s. from of contract. It is worth to mention that recently, Mexican Authorities has submitted a project of Law, in order to implement and enforce some alternative dispute resolutions.

However, what is suggested in this article seems no to be part of a near future, since the project of law mentioned before is conservative in the Alternative Dispute Resolutions proposed, and only considers negotiation, mediation and conciliation. Thus, it is the opportunity for the private sector to try to innovate in some other ADRs as the proposed in FIDIC contracts.

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Redefining the role of Future Leaders through Ctrl+Alt+Delete Jeshika Ramchund, South Africa Jeshika Ramchund has 12 years of experience in the planning, design and implementation of water, wastewater and integrated developments projects.

She has extensive experience in working with infrastructure development in informal settlements in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. She has been involved in the planning and concept designs of several large private developments in KZN. She is currently involved in growing Bosch Projects’ involvement in the smart, sustainable and integrated developments space.

Jeshika serves as an Executive Committee Member of FIDIC Africa, a member of the FIDIC Future Leaders Steering Committee, Chairperson of Consulting Engineers South Africa’s (CESA) Gender Diversity Committee, a member of FIDIC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, immediate past Chairperson of FIDIC Africa Future Leaders, past Chairperson of CESA’s YPF, a CESA Council and Board Member.

Jeshika was recently appointed to the University of Kwazulu-Natal’s Industry Advisory Board for the School of Civil Engineering. Jeshika serves as Bosch Holdings Group Co-ordinator for the Bosch Interact Young Professional Development programme, an in-house initiative for empowering Bosch’s young professionals.

She represented FIDIC at COP25 in Madrid, Spain on adaptation of infrastructure to climate change.

The Covid-19 pandemic has set in motion an unprecedented rate of change globally. The consultancy and engineering industry, however essential, has not been immune to the challenges experienced as a result of the global economic recession and the shut-down and subsequent “reopening” of the world for business as a result of Covid-19.

Over the past few months, whilst many firms looked to technology and creativity to maintain business and mitigate job losses, the dire need for the redefinition of the role of future leaders in the infrastructure development value chain has become increasingly important and vital, particularly in developing countries.

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed several vulnerabilities in firms of different sizes, the issues were showing albeit in the background for some time. Some of these challenges included: • • • •

An acknowledgement of the critical role of engineers to the infrastructural aspirations of countries and the multiplier effect of infrastructure development on a country’s economy.

The need to improve the wider procurement of professional services, including the improvement of skills across the supply chain.

The commoditization of quality and professional engineering services on a cost basis and the heavy reliance on the tendering system for work.

The use of improper project structures and financial mechanisms and project implementers resulting in unmatched priorities of various stakeholders particularly in basic infrastructure projects in developing countries.

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•

The lack of emphasis on securing engineering skills in a way that creates a stable pipeline through which skills are retained which is at the expense of the development of future graduates and future leaders.

Whilst these challenges have strained the industry, Future Leaders and their involvement in projects and firms offers a fresh perspective and new opportunities. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, envision a sustainable world through a green rebuild with the opportunity to “ctrl+alt+delete”.

This brings with it the opportunity to control the impacts of our actions, to alter our thoughts and behaviour and to delete the things that did not work in the past. Applying the green economy recovery to the challenges experienced in consulting engineering pre-pandemic, potential solutions post-pandemic includes: •

•

•

•

•

Active promoting and engaging with decision-makers to ensure the development and use of quality professional engineering professionals who act responsibly with sustainable development as the cornerstone of the profession; Helping clients and governments to develop their procurement frameworks so that professional engineering services can elevate and deliver better value through the delivery and value chain.

The consultancy and engineering sector should expand its understanding and thinking on the type and impact we have with various stakeholders including initiators, funders, innovators and annuity partners in long-term infrastructure projects. In particular taking a more active role in operation and maintenance, to deliver whole-life cycle project delivery.

Be mindful of project structuring as this is as important as the outcome and physical infrastructure created. This includes capacity building of the local engineering professionals and contractors, the use of indigenous and local materials to stimulate the micro-economy whilst utilizing appropriate solutions and technology for the beneficiary communities.

Recognizing the value that Future Leaders bring to a firm and the industry at large. A 2019 UNICEF articlexv likens employing young talent to a fresh coat of paint for the workplace.

Whilst baby boomers and Generation X’s have a valuable role in consulting engineering organizations, the rapidly evolving global landscape and disruption desperately needed, the skills and mindsets of Millennials and Generation Z to navigate the uncertainty with unique vision, agility of thought and action to take the industry into the new normal.

Adapting and improving a business “unusual” approach hinges on capitalizing on the factors that we can influence within our organizations. Future leaders bring new energy and perspective, flexibility in adapting to and creating new culture and strategy, offer a balanced leverage of resources with varied qualifications and experience, opportunities to drive business forward with technology advancement and early adoption, adaptability, agility and high levels of social awareness and corporate citizenship whilst prioritizing diversity and inclusion. Albert Einstein said: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”xvi. To solve the problems, rather engage those who already think differently.

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Exploring the Future of AEC Industry, digital Transformation between the Past and the Future

By Dr. Ahmed Stifi, Germany Dr. Ahmed Stifi is a senior project manager at Codema in Germany, a subsidiary of IngĂŠrop Group, a leading engineering consulting company in France. Ahmed hold a degree of MSc. in civil engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt.

After 5 years of international work experience for CDM Smith on large-scale construction projects he became in 2012 a senior research associate and lecturer at the Institute of Technology and Management in Construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where he received in 2017 his PhD degree in construction management with highest honors.

Ahmed is an active member of many engineering and international organizations. For example, he is a member of the Association of German Engineers, member of the German Lean Construction Institute and member of the FIDIC Integrity Management Committee.

The Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry plays an important role in the development and economic growth of any country. It erects schools, universities, buildings, industrial structures, and infrastructure facilities, etc. which are the basis for human social and economic systems. AEC is the biggest industry in the world with 13% percent of global GDPxvii.

Nevertheless, the industry has one of the lowest productivity rates and its projects suffer from cost and time overrun. Figure 1 below shows that 98% of the megaprojects face cost overruns or delaysxviii. The average cost increase is 80% of original value and the average slippage is 20 months behind original schedule.

Figure 1:cost overruns or delays of megaprojects2

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Stakeholders working in the industry have produced many studies and articles on this matter which indicate several factors that may cause this issue. While some of them see the complexity associated with AEC industry as a major reason for its cost overrun and delays, others like Lean Construction scholars, refers to the wastes produced across the construction process as the prime reason. This short paper will not discuss these factors in detail, but it is worth highlighting an example by Sir John Egan “Rethinking Construction – The Egan Report” as a good examplexix.

One of the most important solutions that have been proposed in recent years to develop our industry is via “Digital Transformation”, which has been defined as “the digital transformation is a foundational change in an organization. Digital Transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of business, mainly changing how you operate and deliver value to customers”xx.

Many of the players in the AEC industry, however, are still confused and hesitant about the change and new technologies which might make it harder to develop a real digital strategyxxi, but few engineering and construction companies have captured the full benefit of digitalxxii.

This paper outlines four factors and related barriers to achieve digital transformation in AEC industry (see Figure 2 below). However, it is important to recognise that these factors are related to each other and affect each other.

Figure 2:characteristics of digital transformation

The above factors, policy; process, people and technology, made the digital transformation process is part of a complex process and require companies to shift gradually according to their human and financial capabilities, in other words, they have the option to manoeuvre when, how and to what extent they would transfer themselves digitally.

The freedom of choice of digital transformation was occurring before the beginning of this year, i.e. before the crisis of Covid 19, which subsequently brought about fundamental changes in social and medical habits and greatly affected the various economic sectors. This changed the way they do business, and certainly will impact the way our industry will work going forward. The industry now must rethink the previous four factors and try to find the right process to develop them in a way that speeds up the extent of digital transformation in AEC industry (see Figure 2 below).

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Figure 3:suggested changing characteristics

This transformation will significantly involve the professional services industry and engineers in leading development to set the good example for other partners and stakeholders of the AEC industry.

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The Future of The Consulting Engineer Industry through futures studies, Covid 19 lessons learned Mahdi Razi Khosroshahi, Iran President at Young Professional's Council of Iranian Society of Consulting Engineers, Market Development Manager at Rahab Consulting Engineers, Water Resources Management Engineering (M.Sc.), Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Soheil Alerasoul, Iran Vice President at Iranian Society of Consulting Engineers, CEO at Rahab Consulting, Business Administration (PhD), American Liberty University, Structural Engineering (M.Sc.), Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Kaveh Heshmati, Iran Member of FIDIC Future Leaders Committee (FLC), Structural Engineer at SANO Consulting Engineers, PhD researcher in Structural Engineering, University of Bath, United Kingdom Structural Engineering (M.Sc.), Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

In December 2019, a resident of Wuhan, China faced a mysterious illness which was the beginning of a global pandemic that has changed humans’ lives in most countries across the globe so farxxiii.

After the global outbreak of the coronavirus, wise futurism in any profession seems necessary more than anytime. As components of deconstruction have altered powerful industries and human systems, it is vital to evaluate the situation in this regard. Moreover, modelling future conditions make it possible to achieve the desired scenario with ill-advised behaviours.

In this paper, a general review is provided on the impact of a couple of unpredictable events and their subsequent impact on the economy. The future status of the consulting engineer's profession is discussed using the data related to future studies. The topic is evaluated through the case study which compares age pyramid and engineering graduates in Iran.

In the first step; any systematic move, needs access to reliable statistics. Lack of reliable statistics is one of the existing shortcomings in any future studies not only in Iran but globally. To assess the future of engineering-related professions, there is a need to have access to important statistics across various different factors such as university graduates, labour market, and budget, microeconomic and macroeconomic policies.

According to currently available observations in Iran, there is a huge gap between the labour market and the number of graduates that makes the future of engineering-related professions uncertain.

Besides, the Covid-19 pandemic has threatened civil engineering projects drastically and make the situation worse than normal situation.

As we have seen over the past few months, some sectors are disproportionately impacted compared to others such as tourism industry and restaurants, which in some cases are at the risk of extinction.

Whereas, industries based on online ordering and communications have been less affected and in some cases have managed to grow during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, statistical review is necessary, and indeed, is the first step to consider the threats for consulting engineering industry.

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Literature Review Ritter and Pedersen (2020) in a study present a, five-step approach to analysing the impact of a crisis on a business model. Taleb (2007)xxiv, who proposed the “black swan theory”, focused on the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable outlier events, and the human tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events. Krishnamurthy (2020) xxv compared recent “black swan” events and emphasized the uniqueness of the current pandemic as discussed in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison of black swan eventsxxvi 9–11

Katrina

Covid-19

Cause Nature of impact Scope of impact Impact on universities Infrastructure impact Loss of human life

Terrorism Episodic National Short-term disruption Suspension of all flights in the USA 2,996

Nature Episodic Regional

Medical Exponential Growth Global

Regional impact Engineering of levees in the New Orleans area 1,839

Time horizon Governmental response Secondary event

Few months

Few months Regional emergency assistance None

Global impact Multi-state shutdown in US/lockdown in some countries 61,514 in USA, 228,000 worldwide (Google repository, 4/30) Potentially 1–2 years

Long-term impact

Bailouts None Anti-terrorism and homeland security infrastructure

Physical infrastructure emergency preparedness

National stimulus bill Mutations likely Digital transformation Public health infrastructure transformation

It is worth mentioning another study which reported some of the many unusual consumer behaviour patterns that came to dominate in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kirk and Rifkin (2020)xxvii examined behaviours during three phases: reacting, coping and longer-term adaption, which discussed implications for marketing research and practice. McKibbin and Fernando (2020) xxviii explored seven different scenarios regarding how the Covid-19 might evolve in the upcoming year and examined the impacts of different scenarios on macroeconomic outcomes and financial markets in a global hybrid DSGE/CGE general equilibrium model. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a couple of institutions, such as FIDIC, have also provided relevant guidelinesxxix.

Case Study: Engineering Graduates in Iran According to the report of Statistical Centre of Iranxxx in the second half of 2019, the unemployment rate of the higher educated population was 17.4%. In 2018, this rate was about 18.6%, which means the average unemployment rate of the educated population is 1.64 times of the average unemployment in the country. The important issue is that in 2019, around 43.3% of the country's unemployment is related to university graduates. (Fig.1)

Figure 1: Unemployment rate among academic disciplines (%)xxxi 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% Social Sciences

Physics

Law

Welfare Studies

The environment

Information Technology

Processing and manufacturing

Biology

Art

Civil & Architecture Eng.

0.00%

In the past nine years, 36% of the university graduates in Iran are engineers which place the country

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among the top five in the world. Figure: 2 xxxii shows that there are about 240,000 engineering graduates per year in Iran which is above the numbers of Japan and close to that of the United States.

Figure 2: Number of graduates in engineering-related degrees, 2013 (Ă—1000)xxxiii

As shown in Figure 3 below, where the horizontal bars related to the age group 20-24 and 25-29 are the largest, this shows that the largest group age of Iran’s population is within this demographic.

It could concluded that the large portion of population is young and educated and it could potentially be a consequence of the sheer number of educated people, especially in engineering-related fields.

The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation, as companies including consulting engineering sector have had to make redundancies and have not been able to hire newly qualified young engineers.

Figure 3: Distribution of population in terms of age and gender

xxxiv

In recent months, consultancy and engineering firms have faced serious problems due to the recent crisis, since the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment is increasing and despite record graduate levels consulting firms are having difficulty hiring young engineers.

So despite the rate of graduated engineers being significant (240,000 people per year) and some demand being present the two are not currently in equilibrium meaning that individuals with vital skills are unable to working in a sector that helps development and are instead looking elsewhere for work. As a result, development is not sustained, which causes a significant problems in the county.

As such, there is a need to implement creative strategies to not only save their existing human resources but to also hire young engineers and take advantage of their knowledge and skills. The educational system is also required to establish new scenarios to balance the number of graduating people in engineering fields.

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The impact of Covid-19 on the implementation of construction contracts and dispute resolution procedures in China Chen Mingfei, China Chen Mingfei has a master's degree in civil engineering and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and law. He is currently studying for his PhD in management science and engineering and has a wide range of experience in engineering law and arbitration, serving as arbitrator of eight arbitration institutions in China.

Chen Mingfei serves as a Senior Consultant in China Mobile Group Design Institute Co.,Ltd, mainly engaged in engineering consulting and engineering law related research.

The Covid-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on the production and life of Chinese society, especially in labor-intensive construction enterprises. In order to contain the Covid-19 epidemic, almost all provinces and cities across the country ordered the suspension of construction projects at the beginning of the outbreak, and construction projects basically fell into an ice age.

Up to now, some cities in China still set relatively strict conditions for starting work, which impedes the resumption of work and production. This paper discusses the impact of Covid 19 on the performance of construction contracts and dispute resolution procedures in China, and proposes the corresponding countermeasures.

Legal characterization of Covid-19 in china Since the outbreak of Covid 19, the National Health Commission has classified the novel coronavirus pneumonia as a Class B infectious disease in compliance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, but to apply to it the preventive and control measures for a Class A infectious disease. Thirty-one provinces and municipalities in China have activated Level 1 public health emergency response.

A spokesman for Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee said Covid 19 is force majeure. Subsequently, 《Guiding Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning Properly Handling Civil Cases Related to Covid-19 Epidemic in Accordance with the Law (I)》pointed out that in the trial of civil Covid 19 cases, the people's court shall accurately apply the specific provisions of force majeure and strictly grasp the applicable conditions, that is, the Covid 19 outbreak in China has been characterized as “force majeure”. But its application has been strictly controlled. The party who claims that the force majeure rule should be applied and the liability should be exempted partly or wholly shall bear the burden of proof to prove the fact that the inability to partly or fully perform its civil obligations is caused by the force majeure event.

The impact of covid 19 on the performance of construction contracts At the start of Covid 19 outbreak, most provinces in China issued “order to stop construction work”.

Such administrative orders directly lead to the suspension and delay of resuming work. Even after the Covid 19 is effectively controlled, many construction enterprises still lack the required motivation to resume/return to work. The main reasons are as follows:

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(1) the protection and isolation facilities at the site cannot meet the standards of resuming work.

(2) Workers temporarily stay at home because of health concerns.

(3) The nationwide traffic control measures make it difficult for equipment and personnel to be in place in time.

(4) Delayed delivery of purchase contracts and so on. Many construction enterprises were forced to stop work because they could not meet the conditions to resume work, and only 58.15% of China's housing construction and municipal works were resumed by March 8, 2020.

In addition, questions which trouble both parties are how to share the loss of work stoppage, the increase of extra cost of epidemic prevention, the increase of material cost such as personnel and machinery and the cost of working fast to shorten the time limit for construction delay.

It is therefore, open to question how both parties are to perform according to the original contract.

How to resolve the burden of these costs and losses will be the biggest obstacle is around the performance as outlined in the contract between the two parties.

Although the administrative department of construction has issued some guidelines to ensure the normal performance of construction contracts, the impact of the Covid 19 has made the reality of returning to work under such conditions challenging.

In order to understand the difficulties and challenges by enterprises and the corresponding countermeasures, and to provide better and more targeted services to Chinese construction enterprises, CCIA conducted the questionnaire on Impact of Covid-19 on Chinese Construction Enterprise. As shown in Figure 1, the survey report indicates that the biggest impact of the Covid 19 on construction enterprises is the schedule delay.

Figure 1: How Covid 19 impacts the construction enterprises Others Difficulties in implying marketing plan Salary increase for employees Cost increase in maintainance Difficulty in hunting labor forces Cost increase for pandemic provention Surge in prices of raw materials Impact of transportation and logistics Disruption of upstream material supplier Unable to diver as contracted Supply reduce of labor force and staff Capital waste or cost increase due to site wide shutdown schedule delay in construction production 0.00%

2.86% 16.29% 19.90% 20.65% 26.37% 26.62% 31.09% 41.17% 42.41% 55.85% 66.04% 68.91% 90.55% 20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

The impact of covid 19 on dispute resolution procedures for construction contracts In response to the impact of the Covid 19, the people’s courts at all levels and arbitration institutions have recently issued notices to make adjustment arrangements to ensure the implementation of relevant procedures to the greatest extent, and these arrangements include litigation or arbitration services, online court hearings, property preservation and enforcement during the period of Covid 19prevention and control.

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But for the dispute settlement involving the contract of construction project, especially the delay dispute resolution, it is always the primary goal of both parties to determine the responsibility and share the loss as soon as possible. Therefore, the dispute resolution of construction contract has more urgent requirements for the rapid progress of litigation/arbitration procedure.

Inevitably, the Covid 19 control measures taken by the people’s courts at all levels and arbitration institutions have delayed the process of dispute settlement related to the construction project to some extent. The Control measures for different items are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Control measures during Covid-19 Subject Court/Arbitration Institution Court/Arbitration Institution Court Contract parties Contract parties

Items suspension of scene filing suspension of scene trial

Control measures Submit filing materials online or by mail Postpone the hearing

suspension of scene court execution

Complete property preservation or execution by online means

Unable to obtain evidence in time due to Covid-19 Unable to attend the session due to Covid-19

Delay proof Postpone the hearing

Although the people’s courts at all levels and arbitration institutions encourage online filing, online consultation, or filing by mail through the online platform or WeChat Official Account, small procedures, and so on, compared with the scene filing, problems such as who to contact after submitting the filing materials by mail or online and the processing cycle are very uncertain.

As far as the trial arrangement is concerned, the trial activities have been basically suspended in the worst-affected areas. At the same time, the courts or arbitration organizations also actively explore online trial platform to promote the remote handling of cases. The mode of online trial should, however, respect the parties' independent choice, and there are many cases in which some parties do not agree with the online handling of cases. Therefore, in the case of the party refuse to cooperate, the online trial is likely to be difficult to achieve. Control measures such as traffic control and delayed resumption of work to a certain extent hinder the implementation of preservation and enforcement measures.

Suggestion to new normal Covid 19 has spread rapidly around the world, and is likely to push the world economy into a severe recession. The risk to the global economy with the slowdown caused by Covid 19 is likely to cost at least $1 trillion, however, the doomsday scenario in which the world economy grew at only 0.5%, would involve a $2 trillion hit to GDPxxxv Obviously, the construction industry is not immune to such an existential threat either. In order to make the construction industry better adapted to this new normal, the following suggestions are proposed: 1. Strengthen site management

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Construction site management and control should be strictly implemented, especially the entry and exit registration establishment and temperature detection system. According to the actual construction, we should promptly equip ourselves with adequate epidemic prevention materials. All participants must wear masks and take personal protective measures.

2. Promoting the efficient resolution of disputes In the process of litigation or arbitration, the Internet and other means should be fully utilized to solve conflicts in efficient forms as soon as possible, improve the efficiency and quality of dispute resolution, and ensure the efficient performance of contracts.

3. Accelerating the transformation of the construction industry The Covid 19 is both a crisis and an opportunity. We should take this opportunity to further promote the application of digital technology and intelligent technology in construction as well as pre-fabricated engineering, so as to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of construction industry.

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About FIDIC FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, is the global representative body for national associations of consulting engineers and represents over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Founded in 1913, FIDIC is charged with promoting and implementing the consulting engineering industry’s strategic goals on behalf of its Member Associations and to disseminate information and resources of interest to its members. Today, FIDIC membership covers over 100 countries of the world.

FIDIC Member Associations operate in over 100 countries with a combined population in excess of 6.5bn people and a combined GDP in excess of $30tn. The global industry including construction is estimated to be worth over $22tn this means that FIDIC member associations across the various countries are an industry are worth over $8.5tn.

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International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) World Trade Center II, Geneva Airport P.O. Box 311 CH-1215 Geneva 15 - Switzerland Tel. +41 22 799 4900 - Fax +41 22 799 4901

Email: FIDIC@FIDIC.org www.FIDIC.org

Disclaimer This document was produced by FIDIC and is provided for informative purposes only. The contents of this document are general in nature and therefore should not be applied to the specific circumstances of individuals. Whilst we undertake every effort to ensure that the information within this document is complete and up to date, it should not be relied upon as the basis for investment, commercial, professional or legal decisions.

FIDIC accepts no liability in respect to any direct, implied, statutory, and/or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents. No part of this report may be copied either in whole or in part without the express permission in writing.

Endnotes i

www.resilience .org/stories/ The Netherlands and the Oil Crisis – Duco Hellema/Cees Wiebes/Toby Witte iii Emerging Transport Advisors (click here) iv The Guardian, World cities turn their streets over to walkers and cyclists (click here) v Smart Cities World, Bogotá expands bike lanes to curb coronavirus spread, (click here) vi The Guardian, London pedestrians and cyclists may get more space on roads, (click here) viiIntratek Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd v Zimbabwe Power Company (Private) Limited (HH 440-19, HC 2425/19) [2019] ZWHHC 440 (17 June 2019) viiiIntratek Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd v Zimbabwe Power Company (Private) Limited (HH 440-19, HC 2425/19) [2019] ZWHHC 440 (17 June 2019) ix www.arcadis.com Global Construction Disputes Report 2019. p.2. Arcadis x Wingtra, n.d. Surveying & GIS. [Online] Available at: https://wingtra.com/drone-mapping applications/surveying-gis/.

[Accessed 15 June 2020`]. xi Tkáč, Matúš & Mésároš, Peter. (2019). Utilizing drone technology in the civil engineering. Selected Scientific Papers Journal of Civil Engineering. 14. 27-37. 10.1515/sspjce-2019-0003. xii Javier Irizarry, Masoud Gheisari, Bruce N. Walker (2012) Usability assessment of drone technology as safety inspection tools, Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon), Vol. 17, pg. 194-212, http://www.itcon.org/2012/12 xiii The impact of the Coronavirus on the global consulting industry (click here) xiv For instances is common to see a conciliation prior to arbitration, subject to a specific timeframe. xv 6 Top benefits of hiring young talent – Jose Alba for UNICEF Thailand (click here) xvi Good reads – (click here) xvii McKinsey & Co. The next normal in construction (click here) xviii McKinsey & Co. The construction productivity imperative (click here) xix Rethinking Construction: The report of the Construction Task Force to the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, on the scope for improving the quality and efficiency of UK construction (click here) xx Zigurat Global Institute of Technology | program “Master's in Global BIM Management” xxi Zigurat Global Institute of Technology | program “Master's in Global BIM Management” xxii McKinsey & Co. Decoding digital transformation in Construction (click here) ii

xxiii

Kirk and Rifkin, 2020 Taleb, N. N. (2007). The black swan: The impact of the highly improbable (Vol. 2): Random house. xxv Krishnamurthy, S. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.034 xxvi Ref.: Krishnamurthy, 2020 xxvii Kirk, C. P., & Rifkin, L. S. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.028 xxviii McKibbin, W. J., & Fernando, R. (2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3547729 xxix https://fidic.org/Covid-19 xxx https://www.amar.org.ir/ xxiv

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xxxi

Statistical Research and Training Centre report, 2019b UNESCO Institute for Statistics; government statistics for India and China, Industry Report xxxiii Source: UN, BCG analysis xxxiv Source: UN, BCG analysis. Population will grow older quickly, with median age increase of 8 years between 2010 to 2025 xxxv World Economic Forum, This is how much the coronavirus will cost the world's economy, according to the UN, accessed 20/7/2020 (click here) xxxii

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