ACE and ACEI to work together to promote built environment sectors across the UK and Ireland.

Joint platform for organisations’ members will encourage shared learning and support best practice.

Two leading associations in the built environment sector are fostering closer links to enable consulting engineers across the UK and Ireland to share their wealth of knowledge and experience.

The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which sets out a clear intent to support the continuous professional development of the engineering professionals of the future and attract more people into the sector, while promoting diversity and inclusion.

The two organisations will work together to foster a strong connection between their members and support shared learning within the worlds of infrastructure across the UK and Ireland.

Stephen Marcos Jones, chief executive of ACE, said he was looking forward to working more closely with ACEI, which would bring mutual benefits to both organisations.

“The two organisations have a wealth of different experiences across the same sector and as the nearest neighbour, it made sense to share industry knowledge and capitalise on the synergies,” he said.

Initiatives like joint events and seminars are likely to come out of the partnership, with a particular focus on emerging professionals and future leaders, culminating in an annual joint event.

“There’s clearly a symmetry between the UK and Ireland when it comes to the opportunities and challenges for our sector and the pitfalls we have overcome,” Jones said. By working together, we have the opportunity to share the many lessons which have been learned along the way and we can enable our respective members to take advantage of the shared knowledge and experience that they have between them. We also have an opportunity to promote the sector to future generations, showcasing the commercial and professional opportunities available.”

Shane Dempsey, Secretary Genaral of ACEI said “There are many cultural and business links between the Irish and British consulting engineering sectors. Both have played integral roles in shaping both societies over the past 100 years. With so many companies with presences across the islands, it makes sense for our two organisations to partner. In the first instance, the partnership will focus on sharing experience, insight and knowledge. In addition, we intend to celebrate the cultural connections between the two sectors over the coming years. Another key focus will be attracting future generations to the industry as a career destination. All the research shows that the industry needs to be repositioned with parents, teachers and of course young people, particularly women. Both the UK and Ireland have hugely ambitious housing, infrastructure and climate change strategies that will provide hundreds of thousands of the next generation with digtalised and globalised careers; if we can get that message across to them collectively, we will have built a sustainable consulting engineering sector in both islands!"