An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

1996-1998: THE RUDGE YEARS 111The Launch of the New Engineering CouncilSo 1996 saw the launch of the new EngC following the Fairclough Initiative and eventsmoved quickly in the first two months. The revised Royal Charter and Bye-laws granted bythe Privy Council became effective and the new EngC’s Supplemental Royal Charter wasissued by the Privy Council. On 1 February the Inauguration Dinner of Senate was attendedby The Duke of Kent. A new corporate identity with a new logo [see Fig.9] was introduced topromote the new arrangements. The formal launch of the new EngC took place on thefollowing day through a series of simultaneous events entitled “Engineering in Action” inLondon, Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. Again The Duke of Kent demonstrated his personalsupport, this time at the London launch at the QEII Conference Centre, at which the keynotespeaker was the Rt Hon Michael Heseltine, Deputy Prime Minister and President of theBoard of Trade. Presentations followed on ‘Engineering and Life’ by David Bellamy theenvironmentalist, writer and broadcaster, ‘Engineering and Education’ by Professor AlecBroers the Vice Chancellor elect of the University of Cambridge, and ‘Engineering andMoney’ by Sir Alastair Morton, Chairman of Eurotunnel.In February, to herald in the new EngC, an A3-size glossy newspaper Engineering First, wasissued in a completely new style and format compared with the original Newsletter. Thiscontinued to be published every February and August throughout this period and was mailedto every Registrant, to all Institutions associated with the EngC and to many otherorganisations and individuals.Although extensive preparations had been made during 1995 for the reformed EngC, Senatehad still to approve methods of working and the general direction of activities before thesecould be brought into effect. Most activity had been internal rather than external leading up tothe launch but thereafter the EngC attempted to raise the profile of the profession withsupport from Government Ministers - notably Michael Heseltine. Senate met six times in1996, first in January, to approve the composition of the BEP and the BER [see Chapter 5]and the terms of reference for a Finance and Audit Committee, for an Election Committeeand for an Executive Board [to supervise the EngC’s executive and to coordinate the BEPand the BER]. During the year Senate approved the EngC’s first Corporate Plan whichincluded a contemporarily fashionable mission statement, strategic aims and corporateobjectives – the latter expanded into plan objectives and targets stretching into 1999.As we described in the previous chapter, the new large Senate in 1966 comprised 54members: 16 newly elected by councils of the Institutions and 16 newly elected byRegistrants, joined by 6 Privy Council nominees, and 16 persons who were either members ofthe former Council or Institution members who had been heavily involved innegotiating/agreeing the new arrangements. At the end of this transitional year, the latter 16Senators retired.The total costs of the election process were borne by the EngC in 1996 and the launch of thenew EngC caused a (planned) deficit of £120,000 for that year. Revenues were lost as a resultof administering activities for the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the EngineeringOccupations Standards Group. To recompense for these losses a rise in registration fees wasplanned for 1997; in the event the fees were raised above the rate of inflation, using thepromotion of SARTOR-3 [see below] for justification. So, although financial reserves werereduced in 1996 a modest surplus was achieved in 1997, so beginning to restore the finances.© Engineering Council UK 2004