The new West Midlands Regional Chairman for the Institution of Civil Engineers is WMCCE's Executive Director, Michael Thompson, CEng, FICE, who will be in post from October 2009 until October 2010.
Michael Thompson (right) with John Armitt
Shortly after taking up the post on 8th October, he hosted an event in Birmingham called ‘Inspiring Engineers – Engineering the Olympics’ where John Armitt, CBE FREng FICE and Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, talked about his own career as an Engineer as well as about the progress made so far on the preparations for the Olympic Games 2012. The construction work for the games is well advanced and should be completed by the summer of 2011.
‘Inspiring Engineers’, attended by a wide range of professionals, from students and graduates to members and fellows, was one of the events branded by WMCCE under the title of ‘Constructing our Future’ designed to encourage and inspire youngsters into the construction industry. This is the second year that WMCCE has coordinated ‘Constructing our Future’.
A Civil Engineer with over forty years experience, Michael spent thirty years working in the water industry before moving into his own consultancy and from there to WMCCE. Michael is a keen champion of the construction industry within the region and as Chairman of ICE West Midlands will endeavour to promote the role that Civil Engineers play within this industry and beyond.
Praising his predecessor at ICE, David Johns, Michael wants to continue David’s theme of “inspiring engineers” during his term of office.
“As a professional body, we must always look to develop and support our members and at the core of that philosophy is the need to encourage more young people into our industry,” said Michael.
“It is especially important in the current economic climate that we stay focused on the long term, nurturing talent and developing the skills and knowledge base of the current crop of engineers.”
Michael’s intended work with ICE fits well with his work at WMCCE which has over the last three years brought most of the professional institutions active in the West Midlands Construction Industry closer together with the formation of the Construction Professionals Group.
