The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the world's first professional engineering body, a membership charity based at One Great George Street in Westminster, London.
The Institution of Civil Engineers, usually called ICE, is a professional body for civil engineers, the people who design, build and look after things like roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, flood defences, water systems and ports. It supports the profession through qualifications, education, professional ethics, and work with industry, universities and government. Under licence from the Engineering Council it awards Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician status. It also has a publishing arm, ICE Publishing, which issues books and journals, and a commercial arm, Thomas Telford Ltd.
ICE has one of the most distinctive histories in engineering. Eight young engineers held the first meeting on 2 January 1818 at the Kendal Coffee House in Fleet Street, making it the world's first professional engineering body. Thomas Telford, the famous builder of roads, bridges and canals, was its first President, and he helped secure a Royal Charter in 1828. That charter defined civil engineering as the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man. The institution moved to Great George Street in Westminster in 1839, and its current headquarters building, designed by James Miller, was completed in 1911.
Wikipedia gives ICE about 95,460 members worldwide in late 2022, with roughly three-quarters in the UK and the rest spread over more than 150 countries. The ICE also has 15 Specialist Knowledge Societies and gives medals for achievement, including the Gold Medal, the Telford Medal, the Brunel Medal, and the Edmund Hambly Medal for sustainable design. It has student chapters in several countries. We did not find a modern mission statement in the pages we read, so the description above is based on how it describes its role.
The headquarters at One Great George Street, near Parliament, is also a venue for events and meetings. Information on staff numbers and on ICE's regional offices around the UK was not in the pages read, so we cannot give them. We also found little about working culture. As a charity-style membership body, its people tend to work in membership services, qualifications and assessment, events, policy and public affairs, publishing, education and outreach, and in the finance, digital and human resources teams that keep it going.
If you are thinking about engineering as a career, ICE is worth knowing about: it sets out the route to becoming a chartered engineer, runs routes for students and young professionals, and publishes plenty about how civil engineering shapes everyday life. Its own team brings together people who love engineering with those who like communicating, organising events or influencing policy. Its website lists current roles.
Website: www.ice.org.uk
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE