PGTS v3-08.pdf - University of Sheffield

1 

University of Sheffield 

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering 

Pre-Graduation 

Training Scheme 

for 

ICE membership No: 

leading towards a 

Professional Qualification 

with the 

Institution of Civil Engineers 

and possible registration with the 

Engineering Council (UK) 

This document has been developed with the support of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

CSE Pre-Graduation Training Scheme Version 3000_02: October 2008 Printed: 15/10/2008

CSE Pre-Graduation Training Scheme Version 3000_02: October 2008 Printed: 15/10/2008 

2 

Contents 

Abbreviations 3 

Definitions of Terms 3 

1.0 Introduction 4 

2.0 University of Sheffield - Department of Civil and Structural Engineering 6 

2.1 The Department 6 

2.2 Pre-Graduation Training Policy 6 

3.0 Professional Qualifications 9 

3.1 Why be Professionally Qualified? 9 

3.2 Professionally-qualified members 9 

Page 

4.0 Principles of the Scheme 11 

5.0 Requirements 12 

5.1 Development Objectives (DOs) 13 

5.2 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 14 

5.3 Breadth 14 

6.0 Keeping Your Development On Course 17 

(Monitoring, Assessing and Certifying your Achievement of the Requirements) 

6.1 Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) 17 

6.2 First Steps 17 

6.3 Your Role 17 

6.4 Reviews and Appraisals 18 

6.4.1 Development Reviews 18 

6.4.2 Annual Appraisals 19 

6.4.3 Training Review 19 

6.4.4 ICE Reviews 19 

7.0 Sources of Help 20 

7.1 Your Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) and Delegated Engineers (DEs) 20 

7.2 The Institution 21 

7.2.1 The Regional Support Team (RST) 21 

7.2.2 The ICE Region 21 

7.2.3 Great George Street 22 

8.0 Administration 23 

9.0 Towards the Professional Review 24 

10.0 And Finally 24 

Appendices 

Appendix A Summary of Academic and Professional Career 25 

Appendix B Training Programme 26 

Appendix C Record of Development Reports, Development Reviews and Annual 

Appraisals 27 

Appendix D Guidance on writing Development Reports 29


3 

Abbreviations 

(Names in italics are EC UK grades) 

AMICE Associate Member of the ICE 

AR Achievement Rating 

CEng Chartered Engineer 

CPD Continuing Professional Development 

CPR Chartered Professional Review 

CPRP Chartered Professional Review (Progressive) 

DAP Development Action Plan (for CPD) 

DE Delegated Engineer 

DO Development Objective 

EC UK Engineering Council (UK) 

EngTech Engineering Technician 

FICE Fellow of the ICE 

FL Further Learning 

G&S Graduates and Students 

GGS Great George Street 

ICE Institution of Civil Engineers 

IEng Incorporated Engineer 

IPD Initial Professional Development 

MDO Membership Development Officer (of the ICE’s RST) 

MGN Membership Guidance Note 

MICE Member of the ICE 

MPR Member Professional Review 

PDR Personal Development Record (of CPD) 

PR Professional Review 

RST Regional Support Team (of the ICE) 

SCE Supervising Civil Engineer 

SE Supervising Engineer (of ICE or IStructE, supervising Further Learning) 

TMICE Technician Member of the ICE 

TPR Technician Professional Review 

TRR Technical Report Route 

Definitions of Terms 

Professionally-qualified MICE, TMICE or AMICE (also FICE) 

member 

member A member of the ICE of any class 

(ie, with a small initial letter) 

Graduate Member A member of the ICE who has achieved the Educational Base 

(from 2000) appropriate to any professional qualification 

class The class of membership relevant to this Training Scheme, 

ie Member, Associate Member or Technician Member

1.0 Introduction 

The route to any professional qualification may be considered to have three parts: 

• an Educational Base (academic requirements) 

• some experience and/or training 

• a final assessment (the Professional Review). 


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The period between achieving the Educational Base and the qualification (at the Professional 

Review) is known as Initial Professional Development (IPD). This document, designed in 

consultation with the Institution of Civil Engineers, describes the means by which you will build 

on the Educational Base to lead you towards the appropriate Professional Review of the 

Institution of Civil Engineers. The requirements of this Training Scheme is therefore IPD and it 

consists of : 

• Development Objectives (DOs), which are a measure of competence, largely acquired 

through experience 

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (increased knowledge, ie training) and 

increased breadth 

Anyone who does their job conscientiously and takes an interest in all its aspects would 

eventually be likely to achieve the Objectives for the Professional Review. This Pre-graduation 

Training Scheme is included as part of the Department’s Personal Development Planning to 

provide a structured introduction to the full ICE training scheme, and participation can allow 

quicker and easier transition to a full training scheme and shorten the time to completion of the 

DOs after graduation. 

Students are encouraged to work towards achievement of the Development Objectives during 

their academic studies by monitoring and recording achievement and planning future 

opportunities. This Pre-Graduation Scheme document describes how your development can be 

monitored, assessed, certified and kept on course for completion in the shortest time possible 

as part of a full ICE training scheme. 

The following ICE documents, current at the beginning of your Training Agreement, should be 

read in conjunction with this Training Scheme. You should ensure that your Professional 

Development Portfolio always contains the relevant current versions (available on the ICE website: 

www.ice.org.uk)/ 

ICE 3000 The Value of Professional Qualification 

ICE 3001 Routes to Membership (All) 

ICE 3002 Route to Technician Membership 

ICE 3003 Route to Associate Membership 

ICE 3004 Individual Routes to Membership (fit you do not have the required 

Educational Base) 

ICE 3005 Development Objectives (for all aspiring professionally-qualified members) 

ICE 3006 Continuing Professional Development (for all members and aspiring 

members) 

Many more useful documents are available on the ICE website, including the following, which 

you should also read: 

MGN 39 Development Action Plan (DAP) and Personal Development Record (PDR) 

MGN 5 Student Membership 

Codes of Professional Conduct


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ICE3000 describes all routes to membership, and the ICE 3000-series documents and this 

Training Scheme are compatible across the different classes of membership. You can aim for 

any class of membership, and subsequently or concurrently, subject to having the appropriate 

Educational Base, also aim for a higher class of membership. Thus, for those who have (or 

expect to acquire) the Educational Base required for a Chartered Engineer (accredited Masterslevel 

degree), there is a Progressive Route. This allows Civil Engineers who have been 

successful at the Membership Professional Review (MPR) to take a shortened Professional 

Review at Chartered level, ie the Chartered Professional Review Progressive (CPRP). 

The Training Scheme Documents (DOs, CPD and Development Reports) are intended to be a 

working document, to complement the Professional Development Portfolio that you will build up. 

You are advised to read the whole of it at the start, and to be familiar with the contents, so that 

you may easily refer to the appropriate sections when necessary throughout the period of your 

training. 

The Training Scheme is intended to give you guidance and to set out the requirements in a 

clear and unambiguous way. If you find anything difficult to understand, please ask the member 

of staff in charge of the scheme to explain, but please also suggest ways in which the scheme 

could be improved; if not for you, then for those who follow. 

Finally, it is worth emphasising that this scheme will be successful for you only if you take 

control of it. It is in your interests, as well as ours, for you to push it along and to complete the 

requirements in the shortest time possible. We very much hope that you will do so.

2.0 University of Sheffield – Department of Civil and Structural Engineering 

2.1 The Department 


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The Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield is one of the 

leading teaching and research departments in the UK. We have over 30 academic staff, over 

300 undergraduates and over 70 research staff and students. 

The Department offers undergraduate courses in: 

• MEng/BEng Civil Engineering (CIVU16 / CIVU17)) 

• MEng Civil and Structural Engineering (CIVU03) 

• MEng Civil Engineering with a Modern Language (CIVU15) 

• MEng Structural Engineering and Architecture (CIVU12) 

• MEng Structural Engineering with Architectural Studies (CIVU19) 

• MEng Architectural Engineering Design (CIVU21) 

• MEng Civil Engineering with Business Management (CIVU22) 

All courses are accredited by the Institution of Civil Engineers and can form all or part of the 

educational base required for professional qualification with the Institution of Civil Engineers. 

There are many opportunities within the courses, within the university and within vacation 

employment to progress with training or development objectives. Where possible, these will be 

flagged up to you as they occur. 

2.2 Pre-Graduation Training Policy 

The ICE training scheme revolves around achievement of Development Objectives (DOs). DOs 

are an essential tool for planning your learning and development for achieving the professional 

and management competencies required by a professional engineer. Achievement of all 

Development Objectives (Sections 4.0 and 5.1) is normally only possible within a working 

environment and so full completion of a Training Scheme would normally only be expected 

following a period of training under agreement with an employer. However, several DOs may 

be achieved concurrently with your degree studies before you start a formal training scheme. 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) may be pursued at any stage of your career 

(Section 5.2). The aims of this pre-graduation training scheme are: 

1. To enable you to achieve and sign off a range of appropriate Development Objectives and 

CPD activities. 

2. To allow you to gain full familiarity with the ICE training scheme and the routes to a 

professional qualification. 

Full participation in this scheme should allow you to directly transfer your achievements to an 

Employers Training Scheme (see Section 6.2) and give you a lead in completing your training 

and becoming a Member of the ICE and a Chartered Engineer. A demonstrated commitment 

and interest in a professional career path will also be looked upon very favourably by 

prospective employers.


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We will support you in your efforts through provision of seminars/workshops, identification of 

suitable internal and external training courses/opportunities, assistance in using vacation work 

experience to achieve objectives. Delegated staff in the Department may be able to discuss and 

sign off objectives for you. 

If you undertake several / long periods of industrial experience, it may be possible for you to 

complete some Development Objectives while an undergraduate. Other objectives you may 

only be able to complete to a certain standard which you would then build upon as a graduate. 

Several objectives you are unlikely to be able to address at all as an undergraduate. 

As it is not appropriate to operate a full formal ICE training scheme for undergraduates, there is 

no associated Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) who is approved by the ICE to appraise and 

undertake a final review of your training (see Section 6.4). Nor is there a formal requirement to 

produce Development Reports. However specific staff in the Department will be able to act as 

Delegated Engineers (DE) to discuss development and perhaps sign off Development 

Objectives and CPD activities. If you gain experience through vacation work in a civil 

engineering company, you should ask your employer to provide an appropriate DE who will 

discuss your experience and sign off DOs and CPD activities for you. 

This document contains all the elements of the ICE graduate training scheme but has been 

modified / annotated to highlight elements that can be achieved during your university course 

and where sections are not relevant to this pre-graduation training scheme, a note (in italics) 

has also been added to the text. This document includes the following: 

Section 3 Professional 

Qualifications 

Principles of the ICE 

Section 4 

Training Scheme 

Section 5 

Scheme Requirements: 

5.1 DOs 

5.2 CPD 

Section 6 Development Reports 

Section 7 Sources of help 

Section 8 Administration 

Towards the 

Section 9 

Professional Review 

Section 

And Finally 

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Highly relevant and essential reading 

Highly relevant and essential reading. Both the DOs and 

CPD are important. To be read in conjunction with 

ICE3005, ICE3006 and MGN39 (DAP and PDR). Keep a 

record in Appendix A and Appendix B. 

Although not formally required for the pre-graduation 

training scheme, they are a good discipline to follow and 

an excellent way to record and reflect on your experience. 

Advice in section 6 and Appendix D is very valuable. The 

reports are not a diary, but a “library of ideas and 

methods”to be used as a future source of reference 

Useful background to formal training agreements 

Useful reading 

A major aim of your training should be to extend the breadth of your knowledge and experience. 

One way of achieving this is to make, and keep, contact with the civil engineering industry. This 

can be achieved through reading relevant literature (e.g. NCE and ICE proceedings), attending 

ICE evening meetings, developing industry contacts and attending Civil Engineering/Careers 

fairs (see section 5.3).


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We expect you to play your part by taking a positive and proactive approach to your training. 

You must remember at all times that following this training scheme is beneficial to YOUR 

professional development and future career. You will be expected to take a professional 

approach to this training by: 

• reflecting on your experience, identifying your professional strengths and weaknesses and 

planning your future work in a way which will enable you to develop your weaker areas. 

• arranging progress review meetings (Development Reviews) with a Delegated Engineer 

(DE). You should set the agenda and take notes of the discussion. Develoment reviews 

can cover achievement of DOs and CPD. 

• Using periods of vacation employment to plan and achieve DOs, by arranging to discuss 

opportunities with your DE or line manager early in your placement, and then towards the 

end of the placement, reviewing the experience gained, completing a record of DOs 

achieved, and perhaps writing a brief reflective report about what you have learned and 

discussing your experience with the DE. 

Preparation for progress reviews, will involve updating DO record sheets, along with relevant 

documentary evidence. On each DO sheet, you should set out your claim of achievement, and 

summarise how your evidence supports this claim. Typical evidence which you might present to 

your DE is likely to include documents arising from your work (e.g. drawings, sketches, 

calculations, letters, reports, etc.). The testimony of others is also valuable supporting 

evidence. 

While Development Reports are not formally required in this Pre-graduation scheme, it can be 

useful experience to write one. This may, for example, be focused around a piece of group 

project work or vacation work. Guidance on this is given in Appendix D. 

CPD should also be considered at a review. You should have an up-to-date Personal 

Development Record (PDR), ready for signing by your DE, and you may also wish to discuss a 

proposed Development Action Plan (DAP). If you have any evidence of increased knowledge, 

which would support your claims in your PDR, you should append this to your PDR.

3.0 Professional Qualifications 

3.1 Why be Professionally Qualified? 


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The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has over 75000 members in around 140 countries and, 

although a UK-based institution, awards its qualifications to civil engineers around the world. 

Professional competence is recognized by admission to membership at Member, Associate 

Member or Technician Member level. The ICE is the only body in the UK which, by virtue of its 

Royal Charter (1828), is authorised to bestow the title of “Chartered Civil Engineer” and, by 

virtue of its membership of The Engineering Council (EC UK ), is one of the institutions which has 

the authority to confirm the status of Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and 

Engineering Technician. 

The purpose of a professional qualification in civil engineering is to assure society (the public) 

that the individual concerned has an acceptable level of competence in the relevant field in both 

technical and managerial matters. It also provides an assurance that professional standards will 

be upheld with regard to ethical behaviour, including the responsibility to society for health and 

safety, the environment, sustainability and the proper use and care of resources and money. If 

such standards could be shown not to have been upheld by a professionally qualified civil 

engineer, the individual concerned would be subject to the disciplinary procedures of the ICE. 

There is no assurance that an individual without the appropriate professional qualification could 

be relied upon to discharge his or her responsibilities diligently, either as a sole practitioner or 

as the representative of an employer, and this is recognized by clients, insurance companies 

and the law when, for example, the services of an expert witness are required. The titles 

granted by both the ICE and EC UK are protected by law, in the same way as the titles Doctor (of 

medicine), Barrister, Solicitor, etc. 

Some professions, including that of engineer, require competence in both analytical and 

managerial ability so that qualified professionals may be capable of managing other people 

qualified in other disciplines. It would not, however, be appropriate for a manager to have 

responsibility for technical matters which he or she had not been trained to understand. 

When considering the value of professional qualifications, it is more appropriate to ask why 

individuals are not professionally qualified rather than to ask why they are. The lack of a 

professional qualification is, in itself, an indication of a shortfall in competence or commitment. 

It should be noted that there is no equivalent to, for example, a Chartered Civil Engineer, a 

principle which has been upheld in court. 

3.2 Professionally-qualified members 

The five ICE professional qualifications covered by this Training Scheme are as follows: 

ICE qualification EC UK qualification Designatory letters Professional Review 

Member Chartered *CEng, MICE CPR or CPRP following MPR 

Member Incorporated *IEng, MICE MPR 

Member MICE MPR 

Technician Member Engineering Technician * EngTech, TMICE TPR 

Associate Member AMICE AMPR 1 

* Registration with EC UK as a Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician is optional 

1 Review attributes as for MPR but based on technical/scientific principles rather than engineering principles

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The attributes required for each of these are shown in Appendix A of the appropriate Route to 

Membership document - ICE 3001, ICE 3002 and ICE 3003. For CEng, IEng and EngTech, the 

ICE attributes either comply with or exceed the requirements for registration with EC UK at the 

appropriate grade, as laid down in the current edition of the EC UK’ s documents, ‘Standards and 

Routes to Registration’ (SARTOR) and UK-Spec. 

The Associate Member qualification is for those scientists or technologists who work in civil 

engineering. The other four qualifications are engineering qualifications but it will not be 

apparent, at the start of your training, which of these qualifications will become appropriate for 

you. This will not cause a problem, because the training requirements for a technician will be 

achieved on the way to those for a Member (only) or an IEng Member (both of which have 

exactly the same training requirements), and these will be achieved on the way to achieving 

those for a CEng Member. 

Your DE will give you guidance at the start of your formal training after Graduation and will 

update the requirements as the training progresses. 

Fellowship of the Institution (FICE) is a mark of recognition and testimony of success within 

the profession. It is usually conferred upon existing members and is not, therefore, a 

professional qualification in the same sense as those described above and is thus outside the 

scope of this document. 


4.0 Principles of the ICE Training Scheme 

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The first, and by far the most important, principle of ICE Training is that it is entirely 

competence-based. Time, place and method are of no consequence except insofar as they 

affect competence. 

For this reason, training schemes revolve around Development Objectives, in which are 

contained the essential competences. The Objectives are generic so that they are achievable, in 

many different ways, by anyone who is working in civil engineering. It does not matter when, 

where or how each objective is achieved, nor does it matter whether they are achieved with one 

employer rather than another. Some may have been achieved before you started this Training 

Scheme, either with another employer or even outside employment. 

Although a thorough understanding of the whole process is required, there is no minimum time 

period required in any particular place, such as a site or a design office. Many people will no 

doubt find a mixture of experience valuable and this may be an efficient way of achieving the 

Objectives for some people, but the Objectives do not specify how or where they should be 

achieved. 

Because the date of achievement is not relevant in itself, trainees can satisfy some of the 

requirements concurrently with their education. This may apply particularly to part-time students 

(National Certificate, Higher National Certificate, part-time degree), to Sandwich Course 

students and to those following Further Learning. 

The Development Objectives mean what they say: no more and no less. 

It is also a principle that your development should be driven by you. Our responsibility is to 

provide you with opportunities which, if you learn from them, will enable you to satisfy the 

requirements given in 5.0. Guidance will, of course, be given but if you expect or need spoonfeeding 

you are unlikely to be successful at the Professional Review. Time and resources are 

best spent on people who are determined to derive full benefit from them. 


5.0 Requirements 

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5.1 Development Objectives (DOs) – to be read in conjunction with ICE 3005 

ICE 3005 can be downloaded in MSWord format from the ICE website, or by following the link 

above. 

The Development Objectives have been written to permit maximum flexibility in order to 

accommodate the wide range of disciplines within civil engineering. 

The DOs apply to the range of classes of ICE membership, so it is quite possible to switch from 

one qualification to another. The level of competence for each objective varies for each of the 

ICE classes of membership and Professional Review (TPR / MPR / CPR). The wording of both 

the DO and the required A/K/E/B level, as well as the examples given, must be studied for each 

Objective.. 

The Objectives fall into five main categories (A-E). Sub-categories shown below are applicable 

to classes of membership above EngTech: 

A 

Use your engineering * knowledge and understanding to make the most of existing and emerging 

technology 

A1 Broaden and deepen your engineering knowledge 

B 

Apply appropriate theoretical and practical methods to the analysis and solution of engineering* 

problems 

B1 Identify engineering* problems and define possible solutions 

B2 Conduct appropriate research and analysis relating to engineering * problems 

B3 Implement solutions to problems, and evaluate their effectiveness 

C Provide technical and commercial management** 

C1 Plan for effective project implementation 

C2 Control budgets, tasks, people and resources 

C3 Develop people to meet changing technical and managerial needs 

C4 Bring about continuous improvement through quality management 

C5 Manage contractual issues 

D Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills 

D1 Communicate with others at all levels 

D2 Demonstrate personal and social skills 

E1 

E 

Demonstrate a personal commitment to professional standards, recognising obligations to society, the 

profession and the environment 

E2 Manage and apply safe systems of work 

E3 Contribute to sustainable development through engineering* activities 

E4 Manage your own continual professional development, and assist others 

* “Technical/scientific” should be substituted for “engineering” for those following the AMICE scheme. 


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Each Objective has examples, suggested by the ICE, of the sort of activities or experience 

which may help you to achieve the Objective, and examples given depend on the class of 

membership aimed for. You may add to or amend any examples by agreement with your DE. 

When in employment, Specific Objectives may be added, amended or deleted by your SCE. If 

you identify any weaknesses in yourself, you should discuss these with your SCE with a view to 

incorporating an additional or alternative Specific Objective, or perhaps for inclusion in your 

Development Action Plan for CPD. For example, many recent graduates have found that their 

standard of English is not adequate or that they require coaching and practice in publicspeaking. 

The Training Scheme is designed to be flexible so that it may be tailored to individual 

requirements. 

As a candidate for any version of the Professional Review (PR), you must have reached, as a 

minimum, the standard specified in every one of these Objectives. This standard, the 

‘Achievement Rating’, is denoted for each qualification by the letters A, K, E or B which are 

defined in the table below. 

Achievement Rating (Levels of Competence) 

A Appreciation You must appreciate why the DO is important and why it is done. 

K Knowledge 

You must have a basic understanding and knowledge of the DO and 

how it is achieved. 

E Experience You must have achieved the DO, or part of it, working under supervision. 

B ABility 

You must have achieved the DO several times in different situations, 

having the competence to assist others and to work without supervision. 

On the way to the required level, you will achieve each of the lower levels. On each DO page, 

there is space to make a brief record of the means by which you achieve the successive levels 

(A, K, E and B) of competence. Following the Objectives, there is a table in which you, with your 

SCE (or DE), should record the dates of achievement of each level. The ‘Signatories’ section 

below this table should contain the details of all SCEs and DEs who have endorsed your 

achievements. These records should always be up-to-date and the original record must be 

available at any time for discussion with the SCE, DE or RST and also for inclusion, if 

requested, with the submission documents for any of the Professional Reviews. 

Number of DOs required at Achievement Level Total 

for A K E B 

EngTech, TMICE 

AMICE 

14 0 14 

MICE 

IEng, MICE 

12 3 15 

CEng, MICE 3 12 15 

You should keep samples of any documents (eg data sheets, graphs, calculations, drawings) 

which are evidence of your achievement of the DOs and these should be appended to the 

record. Both the Development Objectives and the Specific Objectives included in the Training 

Scheme will be reviewed by the SCE (and DE) in the normal course of monitoring. 

Achievement of the DOs does not guarantee success at the Professional Review but should 

ensure a sound and broad base upon which you can build the professional and managerial 

competence which is required. 


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5.2 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) – to be read in conjunction with 

ICE3006 and MGN 39 

The ICE documents ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (ICE 3006) contain guidance on 

what constitutes CPD and the Membership Guidance Note (MGN 39) provides forms suitable 

for recording your Development Action Plan (DAP) and Personal Development Record (PDR). 

CPD applies to all members. Far too many people have, in the past, held far too narrow a view. 

These documents can be downloaded from the ICE website or by following the links above 

(ICE3006 in pdf format, MGN39 in MSWord) 

Despite its name (which is in common use by other professions), CPD does not just follow on 

from IPD; it is part of it as well. Indeed, any CPD activities undertaken during the time spent 

achieving the Educational Base should be recorded, provided that they were not a part of the 

Educational Base. 

CPD means that you are continually updating and extending your knowledge. This may be done 

in highly-structured ways (eg courses) or less-structured ways (eg self-taught use of computer 

software). Reading, and studying by reading, is often one of the most effective ways of updating 

knowledge and some suggestions for reading are given in §5.3. 

Much of your increased knowledge will be acquired naturally in the course of your work. There 

is a danger, however, that you will not have the knowledge necessary to do your job effectively 

if you do not consider, at regular intervals, what you need to know and plan for this. For 

example, it is essential that all professionals have an adequate understanding of their 

responsibilities for Health and Safety and this will require both formal and informal training. 

Both the DAP and PDR should be completed regularly and kept up to date and should be 

available at any time for review by your DE / SCE. 

5.3 Breadth 

Achievement of the DOs, and CPD that is adequate in both quality and quantity, should provide 

a good grounding. However, there are other qualities which make a sound professional, some of 

which the Institution’s Reviewers will be expecting you to demonstrate. 

It is important that a professionally-qualified member has the breadth appropriate to the class of 

membership. You will acquire this if you take an interest in what is going on around you and do 

not merely focus on your immediate personal duties. 

In addition to being competent in general matters (for which the DOs are a good guide) and in 

the technical aspects of your own particular discipline, you will need to have some 

understanding of the work of others who are involved in the projects on which you work. As well 

as the work of civil engineers in some other disciplines (geotechnical, structural, drainage, etc) 

this will include the work of some other professions (M&E engineers, architects, archaeologists, 

lawyers, property developers, financiers, etc). It is also important to have an understanding of 

the effects of a project on society (eg environmental aspects, political affairs) and the effects 

that these may have on the project. 

This breadth, which is essential for those who aspire to manage projects successfully, will be 

acquired in all kinds of ways, not least by observation and questioning. It may also be acquired 

through attendance at professional meetings or public lectures, listening to radio, watching TV 

and video, and by reading. 


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You will need to read publications that are relevant to our business and these may include 

historical works and magazines written for the general public, as well as more-technical 

literature. You will also need to read about topics of general civil engineering interest, 

particularly where these relate to the Written Assignment topics of the CPR (or CPRP) (see 

MGN No. 21, available on the ICE web-site). 

The list of Recommended Reading below is taken from the 2000 ICE Reading List. This list is 

not exhaustive; certain items may be out of date but are included to give some indication of the 

scope of topics. You may prefer alternatives and you may find some that you could recommend 

to others. It is split into categories. In an employer training scheme, each work would have a 

code number as listed in the below table. This would be inappropriate for a pre-graduation 

training scheme and so these code numbers are not specified. 

Recommended Reading 

General Science & Mathematics 

1 Required Reading 

2 Publication with which you should be familiar 

3 Suggested reading 

4 Other works of interest 

Publication Code Read 

Technology and Technology in Society 

"Professional Engineer in Society" S Collins (Kogan Page) 

"The Engineer in the Community" 1971 ICE 

"Engineering Societies in the Life of a Country" ICE 

"Civil Engineers for the 1990s" ICE (T Telford) 

"The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” S C Florman, Souvenir Press 1995 

Design and Aesthetics 

"The Ascent of Man" Bronowski (BBC 1975) 

"The Architecture of a Well Tempered Environment" Banham (Penguin) 

"Aesthetics of Structures" Nervi (Architectural Press) 

Financial 

"Financial Control" Martin Barnes 1990 (T Telford) 

"Estimating for Building & Civil Engineering Works" Spence Geddes 

"CESMM3 Price Book" 

"Organisation & Economics of Construction" P A Thompson 

"Introduction to Engineering Economics" (T Telford) 

"Introduction to Technical Economics" Davies & McCarthy (Wiley) 

"Design and the Economics of Building" Morton & Jagger (Spon) 

"Economics in the Real World" Donaldson (Penguin 1978) 

History and Philosophy 

"The Death & Life of Great American Cities" Jacobs (Pelican) 

Various Biographies of the Victorian Engineers 

Government 

"Excellence & Local Government" LGovt Training Board 1985 

"Finance of Local Government" Hepworth (new edition post 1985) 

"Local Government Administration" Griffiths (2nd edition 1987) 

"Good Management in Local Government" Audit Commission 1985 


Management 

"How to Manage Your Time" Adair 

"Understanding Organisations" Handy (Penguin 1976) 

"Up the Organisation" Townsend (Coronet) 

"Fundamentals of Modern Management" Dougdale 

"Practice of Management" Drucker (Pan Piper 1968) 

"Principles & Practice of Management" Brech (Longman 1975) 

"Modern Construction Management" Harris & McCaffer 1989 

"The Engineer & Construction Control" Elsby 1981 

"Management Contracting" CIRIA Report R100 1983 

"The Single European Market - Its Impact on the Construction Industry" Touch Ross 

"Total Quality Management" Oakland 

"In Search of Excellence" Peters & Waterman 1984 

"Management Development in the Construction Industry : Guidelines for the 

"How to Manage Your Time" - Adair - Move to Management 

"The Age of Unreason" – Charles Handy 

"The One Minute Manager" – Blanchard & Johnson (Fontana/Collins) 

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Communication 

"The Complete Plain Words" Ernest Gowers 1987 

"Communication for Professional Engineers" Scott 1984 

"The Presentation of Technical Information" Kapp 

"Public Speaking for Scientists & Engineers" Kenny (Hilger 1983) 

"Negotiating Skills in Engineering & Construction" Scott 

"Speaking & Business Presentations" Bell (Heinemann 1989) 

The Institution of Civil Engineers 

"The Civils The Story of the ICE" Garth Watson 1988 (Telford) 

"Guide to the ICE" (ICE) 

ICE Royal Charter, Bylaws, Regulations & Rules 

Professional Reviews 

"Effective Training for Civil Engineers" H Macdonald Steels 1994 (T Telford) 

"The ICE Essays - a Guide to Preparation & Writing" ICE (T Telford) 

"Preparation for the Professional Reviews of the ICE" J Venables (Whittles) 

"Successful Professional Reviews" H Macdonald Steels 1996 (T Telford) 

"Constructing the Team" Latham HMSO 1994 

"Rethinking Construction" Egan DETR 1998 

Environment 

"Small is Beautiful" Fritz Shumacher 

"The Limits to Growth" 1972 Reports to the Club of Rome 

"Beyond the Limits" 1992 Reports to the Club of Rome 

"Factor Four" 1997 Reports to the Club of Rome 

Other 

Reading should be discussed at Development Reviews (see §6.4.1) but, as well as noting 

publications read in the table above, it may be useful to produce a record sheet or notebook 

with a critique of the work. 


6.0 Keeping Your Development on Course 

(Monitoring, Assessing and Certifying your Achievement of the Requirements) 

17 

This section describes the monitoring, assessment and certification of the requirements in a 

formal training scheme and is not specifically relevant to this pre-graduation training scheme. 

You should however read and be familiar with this section, and in particular consider the value 

of the principle of keeping Development Reports. 

As stated in Section 2.2, as this is not a formal training agreement, there is no SCE, no formal 

assessment of achievements and no formal requirement to keep Development Reports. Staff 

within the Department may be able to act as Delegated Engineers and sign off Development 

Objectives and CPD activities if required. If you gain experience through vacation work in a civil 

engineering company, you should ask your employer to provide an appropriate DE who will sign 

off Development Objectives and CPD activities for you. However remember that the onus is on 

you to plan and progress your objectives. 

6.1 Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) 

Your SCE has overall responsibility for ensuring that your employer’s obligations in your 

Training Agreement are properly discharged. The main responsibilities of the SCE are 

described in §7.1, and you will see there that the SCE may choose to delegate a limited number 

of the duties to a Delegated Engineer (DE). In §6, therefore, it may sometimes be appropriate to 

substitute ‘DE’ for ‘SCE’. ‘SCE’ is in bold where it is essential that the SCE acts in person (ie 

cannot delegate). 

6.2 First Steps 

You will be briefed by your SCE on the use of the Training Scheme when you are given the 

Personal Development Portfolio and your original Training Agreement (ICE 3142). (Delivery of 

these documents to your SCE confirms that your Training Agreement has been registered with 

ICE.) 

It is important that you know at all times what you still have to achieve. The first thing to do, 

therefore, is to decide what you have already achieved. 

It is virtually certain that you will have achieved at least some of the ‘A’ and ‘K’ levels of some of 

the Objectives, through previous study or experience, and you may even have achieved some 

of the ‘E’ or ‘B’ levels through previous experience at work, or possibly in a voluntary job. You 

should let your SCE have the evidence showing all achievement to date and arrange a meeting 

so that these items may be assessed and certified (see §6.4 for guidance). Your SCE is the 

only person authorised to do this. 

Similarly, you should ensure that your CPD record (PDR) is up-to-date before drafting a DAP. 

Ask to see your SCE’s PDR and DAP for examples of the sort of records that are required. 

6.3 Your Rôle 

You should monitor your own training and discuss it with your SCE at regular intervals. This will 

largely be achieved through the medium of the Development Reviews (see §6.4) which will 

highlight the achievements, or lack of achievement, since the last Review. As well as providing 

an opportunity for you to agree your achievements (particularly in terms of DOs and CPD) with 

your SCE, and to have these “signed-off”, the rate of progress may be assessed and you will 

both be in a position to plan for the future, taking account of any redirection needed. 


18 

You need to monitor all aspects, ie DOs and Specific Objectives, CPD, reading and other 

means of obtaining breadth, Written Assignment topics (for CPR or CPRP) and communication 

skills. 

6.4 Reviews and Appraisals 

Regular Reviews and Annual Appraisals are necessary to ensure that your development is kept 

on course. The purpose of these is to ascertain how much you have achieved to date, thereby 

identifying what you have yet to achieve and planning to achieve it in the shortest time possible. 

Each will look ahead at least to the next Review or Appraisal, so the regular Development 

Reviews will concentrate on the short to medium term and the Annual Appraisal will take more 

of an overview. These programmed sessions are to ensure that the monitoring is not forgotten 

but your progress may also be discussed at other times. Achievement of Objectives and CPD 

may be certified at any time and there may be an informal Weekly Review lasting a few minutes. 

Whether the various Reviews and Appraisals are formal, semi-formal or informal will be the 

decision of your SCE. 

6.4.1 Development Reviews 

You will need to make an appointment with your SCE for your regular Development Review, 

which should be at a maximum of two-month intervals. You need do nothing in preparation for 

this. 

As preparation for your quarterly Development Review, you will need to write a short report (the 

Development Report), concentrating on your achievements and lessons learned since the last 

Review. Guidance on this is given in Appendix E. Updated Objectives record sheets, in draft, 

along with the relevant documentary evidence, should be submitted to your SCE with each of 

these Reports, ready for signing at the Review. On each DO sheet, you should set out your 

claim of achievement, and summarise how your evidence supports this claim. Typical evidence 

which you might present to your SCE is likely to be comprised of documents arising from your 

work (e.g. drawings, sketches, calculations, letters, reports, etc.). The testimony of others is 

also valuable supporting evidence. 

You will want your CPD to be considered at the Review so you should have your up-to-date 

PDR, ready for signing by your SCE, and a proposed DAP. If you have any evidence of 

increased knowledge, which would support your claims in your PDR, you should append this to 

your PDR. 

Your SCE will return your report to you with written comments no longer than two weeks after 

you have submitted it. 

The Development Review may start with further discussion of the report, answering any queries 

you may have on the feedback, and will consider the Objectives achieved, CPD carried out, 

reading, and some aspects of preparation for the Professional Review. Identifying what you 

have achieved to date also identifies what has yet to be done, so much of the time may be 

spent in planning ahead, particularly for the near future. Your SCE will explain the opportunities 

that are expected to arise before the next Development Review and show you how these will 

allow you to achieve particular levels of some of the missing Development Objectives. On some 

occasions, your SCE will have to change the work you are doing in order to ensure that the right 

opportunities will arise. 

The onus is on you to submit each Report and the other documents at the agreed time and to 

arrange an appointment for the Development Review. A schedule of dates is included in 

Appendix C. It may sometimes be appropriate, or convenient, to change a deadline for 


19 

submission of a report, and hence the date of the Development Review, and this may be done 

by prior agreement with your SCE. 

Provided that you submit your report on time, the Development Review will be held promptly, 

and this should ensure that any problems are identified and dealt with. A report submitted on 

time is the best means you have of ensuring that you progress with your training. No 

Development Review will be held unless there is a Report (with written feedback) on which to 

base the Review. 

6.4.2 Annual Appraisals 

Every Annual Appraisal must be conducted by your SCE in person but may be an extended 

Development Review (unless the latter was carried out only by a DE). All training to date and 

planning for the remaining period of training will be considered. ICE 3144 will be added to by 

your SCE at this time and you will (also at this time) sign or initial, as appropriate, to show that 

you are aware of the comments, assessments and targets. 

As with your Development Review, your SCE will wish to ensure that the right opportunities will 

be made available in the future but, at the Annual Appraisal, the period under consideration will 

be at least twelve months, ie until the next Annual Appraisal. The targets for the coming year will 

be recorded on ICE 3144, which will normally be completed and returned to you during the 

Appraisal. It may be necessary for your SCE to make arrangements for a change of work, in 

which case ICE 3144 may not be returned to you until two weeks after the Annual Appraisal. 

This Appraisal will be combined with the company appraisal and some of the sections on ICE 

3144 may be based on this but the form will be completed in full, ie as a stand-alone form 

without reference to company documents. 

You should keep the original ICE 3144 in a safe place. It is an ICE document which you hope 

will become your Completion Certificate, so it is very important that you personally keep it, 

except when your SCE has it. 

You have the primary responsibility for arranging appointments for each Annual Appraisal. 

6.4.3 Training Review 

Like the Annual Appraisals, the final Training Review will be carried out personally by the SCE. 

It should take place as soon as is practicable after the requirements of the Training Scheme 

have been met, so this may or may not be combined with a Development Review or an Annual 

Appraisal. It is the final assessment and an overview of the training, with a look forward to the 

Professional Review. If your SCE has personally carried out all of the Development Reviews, 

the Training Review is likely to be largely a formality and it may then concentrate on the way 

forward to the Professional Review. The Completion Certificate at the end of ICE 3144 will be 

signed by the SCE. 

6.4.4 ICE Reviews 

Every ICE region has a Regional Support Team (RST) (see 7.2.1) and one of the functions of 

this team is to monitor ICE training. One of the team members will wish to meet you at least 

once during the duration of your Training Agreement and, in practice, will probably meet you 

more frequently to discuss your progress. Please remind your SCE when a meeting with 

someone from the RST would be useful. 


7.0 Sources of Help 

20 

This section is largely written in the context of the full training scheme. However it provides a 

useful list of sources of help. As noted in the preface to Section 6.0, there is no SCE for this pregraduation 

training scheme, however you will see in the Section 7.1 that the Delegated 

Engineer is able to assess and sign your records of Development Objectives and CPD (and also 

comment on a Development Report if you have prepared one). 

7.1 Your Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) and Delegated Engineers (DEs) 

Your Training Agreement gives the name of your Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE), who has 

been approved by the ICE. Sometimes, an SCE will appoint a Delegated Engineer (DE), 

perhaps because you are not in the same location as your SCE, or simply as an assistant. DEs 

may change from time to time but we anticipate that your SCE will remain the same throughout 

your Training Agreement. 

The specific responsibilities of the SCE are listed below. Those duties which may be delegated 

to a DE are in italics. 

• Write, or approve, a Training Scheme to suit the trainee and the employer and revise the 

scheme when necessary (ICE approval of Training Schemes, requested via ICE 3140, is 

normally valid for five years) 

• Keep up-to-date with the requirements of the Professional Reviews, membership and training 

• Check, approve and sign the Training Agreement (ICE 3142) and ensure that the correct fee 

is forwarded to the ICE. 

• Ensure that an individual copy of the Training Scheme and the Professional Development 

Portfolio from the ICE are given to each trainee and brief them on their use 

• Monitor the training throughout and ensure that the trainee is afforded the opportunities 

necessary to achieve the Objectives 

• Read and give written comments on the trainee’s reports and then carry out a Development 

Review during which the trainee’s records of Development Objectives, Specific Objectives 

and CPD are assessed and signed 

• Carry out each Annual Appraisal at twelve-monthly intervals and immediately record the 

findings on ICE 3144. Ensure that the trainee signs in the appropriate places 

• Maintain contact with the RST and brief them on the trainee’s progress and needs 

• Carry out the final Training Review as soon as the training is thought to be complete, 

complete ICE 3144 as a Completion Certificate and forward this directly to the RST 

immediately 

• Forward the original Completion Certificate (ICE 3144) to the trainee after its return from the 

ICE 

Other duties which may fall upon the SCE are: 

• Appoint a DE for a trainee and monitor the DE 

• Check and sign the Transfer of Training Agreement (ICE 3143) when a trainee transfers from 

another approved employer 

• When a trainee is about to leave the employer, carry out an interim Training Review, 

complete ICE 3144 as a Partial Completion Certificate and return the form to the trainee (or 

forward to the RST) 


7.2 The Institution 

21 

7.2.1 The Regional Support Team (RST) 

Each ICE region in the UK has a Regional Support Team (RST). Members of the Team are paid 

employees of ICE and their job is to support the work of the Region, which includes monitoring 

of and support for ICE training. The RST will advise, or find help, on any ICE matter but a large 

part of their time is spent on training issues. As far as training is concerned, the point of contact 

between the employer and the ICE is between the SCE and the RST. 

The RST aims to make all training as effective as possible, in both the short and the long term. 

This will mainly involve support of the SCE. Advice can be given on updating the Training 

Scheme and all aspects of operating it. The RST recommends approval of the employer’s 

Training Scheme and SCE and continuing approval will necessitate some monitoring. 

Before a Completion Certificate (ICE 3144) can be registered, a designated member of the RST 

has to countersign it, certifying that the training has been carried out in accordance with 

Institution requirements. You should ensure that arrangements are made, normally by your 

SCE, for you to meet someone from you RST individually within the last year of your Training 

Agreement. In addition the RST will wish to meet trainees from time to time, whether collectively 

or individually. As a minimum, you should have met someone from your RST once during the 

period of your Training Agreement. 

In every RST, there is at least one person (possibly part-time) in the role of Membership 

Development Officer (MDO). The MDO has responsibilities for the development of all civil 

engineers, and aspiring civil engineers, in the Region, ranging from primary schools to retired 

members. The main thrust of an MDO’s work, however, is the monitoring and support of ICE 

training so, normally, it will be an MDO who carries out the RST’s responsibilities with regard to 

training. It must be remembered that the RSTs, and hence the MDOs, have to serve the whole 

Region, which contains many employers and several universities. MDOs’ diaries tend to be filled 

months, rather than weeks, ahead so a reasonable amount of notice is likely to be necessary 

when arranging visits. 

7.2.2 The ICE Region 

The ICE has thirteen Regions in the UK, all of which arrange a programme of technical 

meetings and social activities, which can be a useful source of information for SCEs and 

trainees. Occasional seminars and some normal programme meetings dealing with specific 

aspects of ICE training are arranged by most Regions, and members from other areas will be 

welcomed at these or any other meeting. 

You will be a member of the Region appropriate to your home address, as given to the 

Membership Registry of the ICE (unless you have requested membership of a different Region). 

If this is in the Anytown area, you will be in ICE | Anyshire and, if there is a local Branch (part of 

the Region), you will also be a member of the Central Anyshire Branch of this Region. As 

membership of a particular Region is determined by the address held by Membership Registry, 

you may be a member of a Region which does not cover your work location. Honorary 

membership of another Region may be obtained by any member on request to Membership and 

you would then receive both Region’s information, including details of the programme. 


22 

Policy matters are discussed in the regions and any Graduate Member who wishes to influence 

these should take an active part, normally by serving on the Region’s Graduates’ and Students’ 

(G & S) Committee. 

Any member is free to raise any matter of concern with the appropriate Committee or to ask for 

assistance and professional engineers are duty-bound to give such assistance to those seeking 

a Professional Qualification. 

The G & S Committee of each region usually organises one or more discussion groups each 

year to help with preparation for the Written Assignment topics (required at CPR and CPRP), 

and possibly with some other aspects of preparation for the Professional Review. Membership 

of these is not restricted to those within a year of their Review and we would encourage you to 

join one during the period of your Training Agreement. Guidance on the Written Assignment, 

including some suggested topics that would show breadth (particularly relevant for a Chartered 

Engineer), is given in Membership Guidance Note (MGN) No. 20, which may be downloaded 

from the ICE web-site. 

Regions have their own web-site which may be accessed via the ICE web site 

(http://www.ice.org.uk). 

7.2.3 Great George Street 

The ICE headquarters, and the only owned building, is on Great George Street, in Westminster, 

London and it is here that many of the services to members are organised and administered. 

Full details of the services available are given in The Members’ Guide. The facilities in the 

building are available for the use of all members. 

The Membership Division oversees training matters and Training Agreements, including 

Completion and Partial Completion Certificates and transfers, are registered in this division. 

Within this division is the Education section, which can give advice on the acceptability of 

academic qualifications, and also the Professional Reviews Office, which administers the 

Professional Reviews. 

The Library contains the world’s foremost collection of works on civil engineering. It may be 

used free of charge by all members (and, for a charge, by others) and documents may be faxed 

or posted. Most documents are now also available electronically. 

The ICE web site (http://www.ice.org.uk) is operated from Great George Street and contains 

much information about training and the Professional Reviews. Most documents, including the 

application pack for the Professional Review, may be downloaded from the web-site. Some of 

the Membership Guidance Notes (MGN) will be particularly useful;l MGN 0 is a list of these. 


8.0 Administration 

23 

This section describes the monitoring administration of a formal training scheme and is not 

specifically relevant to the pre-graduation training scheme. You should however read and be 

familiar with this section 

A certain amount of form-filling is inevitable if training is to be successfully supervised and 

monitored. Administration has been kept to the minimum necessary to achieve this and 

uniformity is imposed only where it is desirable for consistency or efficiency, provided that it 

does not detract from the aim or the individual approach. 

There is no point in establishing a system if it is not followed. Misunderstandings and wasted 

effort can be avoided if you ensure that the various documents are completed correctly and in 

full. If this is not possible for some reason, it would help if an explanation is given on, or 

attached to, the document. Whenever a form is sent to the RST or Great George Street, it 

should be the original with original signatures. 

ICE 3142 is the Training Agreement. You should keep the original of this form. The ‘Training 

grade’ may or may not be specified at the start of the Agreement. The end date, which may be 

adjusted from time to time, is included on the front cover of your Training Scheme. 

ICE 3143 is the Transfer of Training Agreement form, which will be needed if you wish to 

transfer your Training Agreement to a new employer. 

ICE 3144 is the Annual Appraisal & Training Review Completion Certificate, which should 

also be used in the case of Partial Completion. The main function of this form is to ensure that 

you are aware of, and have a written record of, the SCE’s considered assessment at the time of 

the Annual Appraisal. Note that the figures should be cumulative so the final figures for the 

Development Objectives and the Specific Objectives will be 100. If the Training Agreement lasts 

for more than three years, a further form should be used. 

The completed form, whether at Completion or Partial Completion, should be sent directly to the 

RST who will have one or more people (usually an MDO) authorised to countersign it, provided 

that they are satisfied. The RST will arrange registration with Great George Street and the 

registered form will be returned to the SCE for forwarding to you. You should keep the original in 

your Professional Development Portfolio during the period of the Agreement and retain the 

Completion Certificate for inclusion with your application for the Professional Review. 

A Training Agreement may be cancelled or suspended by the SCE, normally following 

discussion with the RST. Cancellation would be due to failure to keep to the Agreement. On 

your part this may be because the Training Scheme requirements are not being followed by, for 

example, reports not being submitted on time, opportunities being spurned or ICE membership 

being discontinued. On the part of the employer, it may be due to inability to provide the 

necessary opportunities or there being no suitable SCE. Cancellation is a measure which will be 

taken only after you have been given sufficient warning and we will inform you if your 

Agreement has been cancelled. Suspension could be an option if you are unable to progress 

temporarily due, for example, to the type of work available or to extended leave. 

Finally, sufficient time should be allowed for the RST to deal with a Completion Certificate. The 

time required will vary with the workload, which fluctuates but, allowing for annual leave, 

sickness and prior commitments, you would be wise to ensure that the RST receives your 

Completion Certificate at least two months before you need it to be registered. This should not 

normally be a problem because you are unlikely to be ready to apply for your Professional 

Review until some time after the Training Review. 


9.0 Towards the Professional Review 

24 

You should be aware of the ultimate aim of the training, ie the Professional Review, and should 

know what you will be required to demonstrate then. 

During your Training Agreement, your SCE will keep you up-to-date with any amendments to 

the requirements and inform you if necessary. You cannot rely on this after you receive your 

registered Completion Certificate, however, and so should keep a watch on New Civil Engineer 

and check the ICE web-site for any changes. The requirements are given in detail in ICE 3001, 

ICE 3002 and ICE 3003. In particular, you need to be familiar with Appendix A (the attributes) 

and, for CPR and CPRP, the Written Assignment topics. You should ensure that you have the 

current version of the Membership Guidance Note on the Written Assignment (MGN 21) so that 

you may accumulate knowledge and form opinions on the topics listed throughout the period of 

your Training Agreement. This is essential for those applying for CPR or CPRP and desirable 

for all trainees. Any of these topics may be introduced into the discussion with your Reviewers 

as well as being part of the Written Assignment. Several other MGNs should be consulted 

throughout your training and in the run-up to your Professional Review, in particular the current 

version of MGN No. 20 (Health, Safety & Welfare Issues). 

When you have completed this Training Scheme, you may be in a position to apply for your 

Professional Review at the next opportunity, because the Development Objectives are closely 

related to some of the attributes. Your communication skills, and particularly your written 

English, should have improved through your work and through writing Development Reports; 

you should have acquired some breadth through reading, thinking about and discussing the 

Written Assignment topics and, above all, by being inquisitive. Your Development Objectives 

sheets and Development Reports will have detailed accounts of the competences you have 

gained through learning from your experience and you will also have the supporting evidence in 

your appendices to these documents. All of this will make it easy to produce the written 

submission for your Professional Review. 

However, there are other, more personal qualities required of a professionally-qualified member. 

For example, you will need to be articulate and confident and Chartered Civil Engineers have to 

be able to demonstrate qualities of vision and leadership. At the completion of a Training 

Scheme, some people have these, and the other, qualities but others feel that they need further 

opportunities to allow them to develop. 

The formal commitment to you by your SCE ceases at the end of the Training Agreement, but 

we hope that you will not hesitate to seek guidance during the period of preparation for your 

Professional Review. You may wish to take advantage of seminars or similar events aimed at 

helping candidates to prepare for their Professional Review. Many of the ICE Regions, and 

some commercial training companies, arrange such events. 

10.0 And Finally 

The only purpose of this Training Scheme is to help you towards the Professional Review. If 

there is any aspect of it that you feel is not doing this, or if there is any element missing, please 

discuss it. There is no need to wait for a Review or Annual Appraisal to discuss any matter of 

concern with your SCE or your RST. They are there to help. 

The ICE’s professional qualifications are a public recognition of someone’s competence. You 

will be judged by your peers; firstly by existing qualified engineers who are willing to sponsor 

you and finally by two independent Reviewers. 

Don’t forget that this Training Scheme is just a means to an end. The end is well worth having 

but nobody will recognise the means! 


APPENDIX A 

25 

Summary of Academic and Professional Career 

This sheet gives, in chronological order, with dates: 

• all academic qualifications with awarding bodies 

• a professional career résumé, with names of employers and projects. 

Date From 

Date To 

Academic Qualifications and Professional Career 


APPENDIX B 

Training Programme 

Planned 

Date 

26 

Plan of Training Opportunities to Achieve the Objectives 

Duration Description Aim (Objectives) 


APPENDIX C 

Record of Development Reports, Development Reviews and Annual Appraisals 

No. Period 

Covered 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

FIRST 

ANNUAL 

APPRAISAL 

No. Period 

Covered 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

SECOND 

ANNUAL 

APPRAISAL 

Date Report 

Due 

HELD 

ON 

Date Report 

Due 

HELD 

ON 

Date Report 

Submitted 

WITH 

(SCE) 

Date Report 

Submitted 

WITH 

(SCE) 

Date Report 

Returned 

(with 

comments) 

ICE 3144 

Completed 

Date Report 

Returned 

(with 

comments) 

ICE 3144 

Completed 

27 

Comments 

By 

Comments 

By 

Date of 

Development 

Review 

REMARKS 


Development 

Review 

REMARKS 

Remarks 

Remarks 


Record of Development Reports, Development Reviews and Annual Appraisals 

No. Period 

Covered 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

THIRD 

ANNUAL 

APPRAISAL 

No. Period 

Covered 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

FOURTH 

ANNUAL 

APPRAISAL 

Date Report 

Due 

HELD 

ON 

Date Report 

Due 

HELD 

ON 

Date Report 

Submitted 

WITH 

(SCE) 

Date Report 

Submitted 

WITH 

(SCE) 

Date Report 

Returned 

(with 

comments) 

ICE 3144 

Completed 

Date Report 

Returned 

(with 

comments) 

ICE 3144 

Completed 

28 

Comments 

By 

Comments 

By 


Development 

Review 

REMARKS 


Development 

Review 

REMARKS 

Remarks 

Remarks 


APPENDIX D 

Guidance on Writing Development Reports 

29 

The Development Report is the pivotal element of your training. Every other element is initiated 

by it. 

Purpose 

The purpose of the Development Report process is to prepare, on a regular basis, a library of 

ideas and methods to be used as a first source of reference when repeating tasks in the future. 

Without this structured recording, much of the philosophy, and many of the clever methods 

developed and learnt, will be forgotten. The Development Report, or similar record, is therefore 

not a task imposed by your Training Agreement, but a career-development tool for use 

throughout your work. Its use can be extended beyond civil engineering activities. 

The discipline will also help you to develop your report-writing skills and, as explained below, 

will enable you to plan your future experience. 

Approach 

If you prepare the Reports with the intention of creating something for your own benefit, you will 

include the important facts together with supporting sketches, calculations, and photographs 

where appropriate (although some of these may be appended to your Objectives), and the 

unnecessary padding will be omitted. Your Reports will not read like a diary and will be more 

interesting to other readers…….such as your SCE. 

They are your Reports for your future use, so they should include items which are of use and 

interest to you. The length of Report is your decision. The most common length is 1000 to 

1200 words (without appendices) but this will vary with the level of experience gained during the 

period. If you write too little, you will not cover all the detail that you will want to refer to later. If 

you write too much, you will eventually have difficulty finding the information in the mass of 

accumulated paper. The format of the Report should also be your own choice, decided by your 

preferred method of reference. Whether you hand-write or word-process is your choice, unless 

specified by your SCE. You are, however, recommended to leave a generous margin (say 

50mm) on the right hand side for annotation by your SCE. 

As you prepare the Report, think how you will want to store and retrieve the information in, say, 

five years’ time, and let this determine your format. 

Ideas for Preparation 

A very popular approach, but by no means the only one, is to keep a box-file on the desk into 

which you put any documents or information which you think may be a useful reference in the 

future. Photographs, calculations, drawing details, completed proformae are examples of this 

sort of information. In particular, you should keep any evidence of achievement of the 

Development Objectives. 

After three months, the box-file will have become quite full. This is the time to take it home and 

tip the contents on to the table. You can now sort out the items which you really will find 

valuable from those that, on reflection, can be discarded. If something is worth keeping, it is 

worth tidying into a small method statement. The photographs can be stuck on to the centre of 

a piece of blank paper with comments written around the margin and arrows to the salient 

details. The calculation can be pared down to the two pages which show how to do it next time, 


30 

with a top sheet added describing the process and a photocopy of the graph which allowed you 

to bypass four lines of formulae. The drawing detail can have notes added explaining why it is 

good or bad. The proformae can be marked to say where the information came from. You now 

have a set of appendices, or mini method-statements, reminding you how to do tasks next time. 

Whilst this assembling is being done, you will no doubt have thoughts on the organisation of the 

project, on the way the team performed, why the client was not pleased with what happened, on 

the efficiency of the money-recovery, or a host of other matters, the responsibility for many of 

which will have rested with engineers senior to you. Your thoughts on these matters will be a 

useful reference to you when you are eventually given that higher responsibility. These 

thoughts and reflections form the written text that can provide a guide to you when you have 

more seniority. Record problems encountered and how they were resolved and, most 

importantly, any mistakes that you or others made, and what you learned from these events. 

As you write, think in terms of subjects to cover, not periods of time spent on jobs. 

Use for Personal Future Development 

Once you have produced your Report, its value will be doubled when written comments are 

added by your SCE. Your SCE may delegate someone to do this for you (your Delegated 

Engineer), in which case your SCE may comment as well. Comments by other people will also 

be useful so you could persuade someone who knows your work and will recognise any 

misunderstandings or errors, and who is keen to mentor, to annotate the document. 

When you get the report back, arrange a Development Review at which you may discuss it with 

your SCE (or DE), to understand the comments better, to get your Objectives and CPD signed 

off and to plan future experience needs (see §6.4.1). Thus, the Development Report, when 

produced on time, triggers a Development Review and a plan for your next steps forward. After 

the meeting, add your responses to the SCE’s and DE’s comments so that you have a more 

complete document. These responses could be in the margin, or as insert sheets. Do not rewrite 

anything. The report will be of greater value to you when it highlights your errors, and it is 

not your intention to create extra work. 

Summary 

• The Development Report is a compilation of method statements for your own future use. 

• There are no rules for its production, only guidance and suggestions, such as given here. 

• “How will I do it next time?” not “How did I do it last time?” 

• It is a career development tool and a process of value to you until you retire. Do not just 

use the technique for your civil engineering. 

It is your document!

PGTS v3-08.pdf - University of Sheffield

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