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The New Year starts at a different time depending on your country, financial institution
or religion. The new FIDIC YP Forum year always starts following the FIDIC annual
conference, and a new year means a new team, new objectives and above all, new
expectations.

Chairperson’s
message

As I take over the position of chair for the incoming year, it is a good time to reflect on
our achievements, and what we have to live up to. No review would be complete without
mentioning the work of the past chair Richard Stump. Richard had a pivotal role in changing
the perception, role and influence of YP within FIDIC. After three years on the committee
and two years as a chair, Richard can now proudly look back on what he and his teamhave achieved. In particular, we now have a well established team that is an integral partof FIDIC and are fulfilling our commitment to inform YP around the world of group activities
by way of the newsletter and website.
However, one of the key things I have learnt while working with Richard is that we canalways do better. Each goal that we meet is only a milestone, a spring board to the nextchallenge.
Quebec was arguably the most successful FIDIC conference in terms of YP activities
since the YP forum was created back in 2003. We had a purpose, a plan, and we provedthat we can deliver. Further details of the conference and our activities can be foundwithin this newsletter.

Alex Eyquem(YP from UK)

Our next key target is the 2009 conference in London which will be the perfect opportunity
to further our objective of reaching out to the worldwide YP community. We will be able
to build on the success achieved in Quebec and better it. The FIDIC YP steering Committee
is already targeting the London conference to boost FIDIC’s profile among YP in the UK
and more widely in Europe.
However, this is not the only thing that we will be working on! As you can see, we havealready updated the format of the newsletter to make it more user-friendly, and more
inclusive. We will also look at increasing our coverage by translating it into a number oflanguages. We believe this will help create a stronger network of YP around the world,
and we hope that you will help us by providing comments and feedback on what you read.
Finally, we want to make sure that we are providing YP around the world with a voice anda point of contact within the FIDIC community. More than ever, society is facing challenges
of a Global nature. As the future generation of leaders, we need to not only understandthe world we are living in, we need to start leading it.

Alex Eyquem
Chairperson
Young Professional Forum Steering Committee

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Message from the Outgoing YPF Steering Committee Chairperson

Outgoing
Chairperson’s
message

Richard Stump(YP from USA)As I turn over the leadership of the Young Professionals Forum (YPF) to Alex Eyquem,
it is interesting to look back at where the YPF was in 2005, the year I joined the Steering
Committee. Kunji Akinaga, the previous YPF Chair, had laid the groundwork for the YPF
to move forward. The appearance of VOIP and Instant Messaging tools such as Skype
allowed the YPF Steering Committee to meet regularly, despite long distances and manytime zones. Last, but certainly not least, the recently graduated class of the 2005 Young
Professionals Management Training Programme – 22 members in all – was motivatedand interested in making the Young Professional Forum a success.
After a very successful program and year of events in 2008, I have to thank all of themembers of the Steering Committee for their dedication and support. Coordinating agroup of talented, eager engineers—many of whom I’ve met only once, or not at all—isa special challenge. To achieve the successes of the past three years…with no budget
and nothing but the volunteer efforts of a dedicated few…makes our success in Quebec
very gratifying. FIDIC has recognized our efforts and seriousness with increased support.
With increasing support comes increasing responsibility. As the YPF becomes a permanent,
important part of FIDIC and the annual conferences, we have a responsibility to you andour other fellow Young Professionals. Not only must we provide you with a valuable
conference experience, but we must find and promote reasons for you to get involved
and stay involved with FIDIC. It is important for us to make the YP community aware of
FIDIC and its primary objectives. In the long term, we collectively have to engage thedirectors of our companies, lobby them to support long-term YP involvement in FIDIC,
and for us to step up to the challenge of being the next generation of leaders within FIDIC.
Thank you again to all of the talented and dedicated Young Professionals who havecontributed to the YPF, and to the Steering Committee over the past three years. I would
like to specifically acknowledge the contributions of Michela Diracca from Italy, whocompleted her three years of service to the YPF Steering Committee in September. This
year’s group of leaders spans the globe, from western Canada to Europe to Asia, as far
east as Australia and Japan. Please give them your support, ideas and contributions sothey can make the 2008-2009 year our most successful yet.
Get involved. Make a difference!

Richard Stump
Former YPF Chairperson, 2006-2008

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So, what happened in Quebec City? . . . A lot!

NEWS

Three months have passed since the FIDIC 2008 conference in Quebec City, and now
that the dust has settled, it’s time to look back and reflect on what went on. Much has
already been written about the conference and it is widely recognised as having been areal success. It was a very special time to be in the historic city of Quebec (the oldest
city in North-America), as it was celebrating its 400th anniversary. Being at a crossroad
between its past and its future, the city of Quebec was a perfect setting to discuss thechallenges and opportunities facing consulting engineers in years to come.
The Young Professional Forum’s (YPF) Steering Committee had worked hard to assemble
a programme that would complement the main FIDIC conference agenda. Our objectives
were to foster opportunities for Young Professionals (YP), create new contacts (makenew friends!), and get new ideas. We also wanted to build on the success of the 2007
Singapore conference and continue to increase the YP contribution to the FIDIC community.
The programme started early for YP, with the introduction of a Meet and Greet drink on
the Sunday afternoon. This was a welcome addition to the YP programme and a chance
for all participating YP to meet their peers from around the world in advance of the official
opening ceremony. The official programme kicked off that same evening with the welcome
reception at Le Musée National des Beaux Arts du Quebec. This was a chance for allparticipants to meet in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere ahead of the conference start
the next morning.
The Conference really started on the Monday morning with the opening ceremony at the
Palais Montcalm. This award winning concert hall was a fitting place to start the conference
and reinforce the main theme of A Strong Industry, Serving Society. The highlight of theceremony was arguably the keynote address by Canadian author and essayist John
Ralston Saul. His inspirational speech challenged us as Engineers and Consultants toposition ourselves not as executants but as leaders and decision makers in order to makesustainable changes to society.
The rest of the day focused on Influencing Society through the plenary session in themorning and seminars in the afternoon. The day ended beautifully with a dinner cruiseon the St Lawrence River.
On Tuesday, the theme was Delivering Quality, a theme key to our profession and fitting
really well with what the trainees from the FIDIC YPMTP (Young Professional Management
Training Programme) needed to do later that day.
The plenary session was once again inspiring and set the theme of the day with an
exciting presentation from Omar Maani, the mayor of Amman in Jordan. He brought therelationship between society, politics, and engineers sharply into focus. This was followed
by seminars and workshops discussing subjects such as communication, sustainability
and risk. However, and for a couple of years now, the focus of the later part of the day
was really on YPs. First of all, we had the YP Open Forum. Several presentations from
active YP groups were made, including Norway, China, Japan and Canada. The highlight
was a presentation from Bart van Bueren of DeltaSync. Bart presented a winning schemefrom an engineering competition for Young Professionals in the Netherlands called “DieKlimaatshow” (The Climate Show), which was televised nationally. His firm’s winning
design focusing on strategies for deploying floating buildings, infrastructure and cities in
the Netherlands.

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NEWS

It was then the turn of the YPMTP08 participants to take the floor with their presentation
at the Future Leader’s Workshop. In order to demonstrate future young leaders’ perspectives,
their presentation took place in the year 2020, where three participants spoke as “CEOs”
of multinational consulting companies to demonstrate three key issues aftecting the futureof the industry: evolution of services, globalisation, and office dynamics. The presentation
was a success, and it was followed by a lively debate and discussion with the audience.
After the YPMTP participants had received their well-deserved certificates in a ceremonypresided over by FIDIC President, Dr. John Boyd, YPs were invited to attend a technicaltour organised by the YPF. This technical tour showcased a strategic project for the Cityof Quebec: the transformation of the St-Charles River, which snakes through the city’s
most densely populated neighbourhood, from a degraded and unusable body of water
to a key socio-economical development asset. Engineers from BPR CSO, who wereinvolved in designing the innovative technology that enabled the city to optimise its
restoration program, hosted the participants at two key locations chosen to showcase theproject’s technical details and benefits. More details concerning this project are stillavailable on the website specifically built for this technical tour: www.river-reclaim.com.
This was followed by a meal and drinks that carried on late into the night.
The focus of the last day was on Building a Strong Organisation. The plenary session
saw presentation from some of the most prominent industry leaders, explaining how theirorganisation have managed to be at the forefront of the industry and what they needed
to do to stay there. This was followed by workshops, including one organised and run by
the YPF on Planning Success Trough Succession Planning, a subject of great interest
for YP, but also for anyone aiming to deliver a strong organisation in the future.
The afternoon was dedicated to the conference report and discussion and the FIDIC
General Assembly Meeting.
The Gala Dinner was a fitting tribute to a successful conference, with entertainment
provided by Cirque du Soleil. It was an opportune time for FIDIC to thank some of its
champions and contributors. The YP were recognised this year through the work of
Richard Stump as he was presented with a Certificate of Recognition of Service for hisrole as Chairperson of the FIDIC Young Professionals Forum.
There again, the festivities carried on well into the night. Quebec has set a new standard
for the FIDIC YP. Through the success in 2008, the bar has been set high for a fascinating
challenge for London 2009.

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Young Professionals Management Training Program (YPMTP)NEWS

For the past five years, FIDIC has offered the Young Professionals Management Training
Program (YPMTP) to young professionals in the consulting industry who are eager todevelop their leadership and management skills in a global setting. This coming year
is no exception as FIDIC is currently accepting registration for the 2009 programme.
The YPMTP is a unique programme designed specifically for young professionals to gain
exposure to a wide variety of challenging and relevant business topics that they as future
leaders will face. Participants are provided with real-life projects to tackle management
challenges and work together with their international peers. Leadership is integral in the
training, and participants are encouraged to develop solutions based on fresh new ideas
and best industry practices.
The programme consists of two components: a seven month online training program
followed by participation in FIDIC’s annual conference, which is held in a different locationeach year.
Approximately 40 young professional participants from all parts of the world are grouped
into three teams based on time zones. Starting in February, the teams meet via on-line
teleconferencing and discussion forums to discuss various business related topics. During
the seven month on-line component, four themes are presented:- organization and human resources development,- ownership structures,- marketing of consulting services- multicultural management

YPMTP08 award of certificatesI S S U E

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NEWS

There are three online classroom sessions for each of the four topics, which occur
approximately every two weeks. At the begining of each topic, a facilitator introduces areal life case study, which has been prepared by an experienced senior consultant fromthe YPMTP Mentor Board. Students must familiarize themselves with the material
individually and then begin discussions to exchange ideas, debate, summarize, andconclude findings. Each case mentor is available to provide guidance and input to theteams, though teams are encouraged to develop their own independent thought andinnovative recommendations.
The second component takes place in September during FIDIC’s annual conference.
This year’s upcoming conference will be held in London 2009, and past locations include,
Budapest (2006), Singapore (2007), and Quebec City (2008). YPMTP participants meetface-to-face two days before the conference begins. During this time all three teams
come together to discuss their findings over the last seven months. The training program
concludes with a collaborative effort and a final group presentation at the conferences’
Future Leaders Workshop, which gives young professionals the opportunity to present
their insight and perspective on the consulting industry.
The overall experience in participating in the YPMTP is proved to be very valuable. Not
only are participants able to develop a solid international network of young professionals,
but they are also able to learn from the top senior leaders in the industry. They are given
insight to what’s to come later on in their careers as well as applying the management
skills learned in their day to day work. Attending the annual FIDIC conference also allows
participants to attend other workshops and seminars on a wide variety of issues related
to the consulting industry.

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NEWSThis past year, the YPMTP08 programme included YPs from countries such as Australia,
Canada, Nigeria, Korea, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. Here is what some of themhad to say about their experience:“As one of the participants of the FIDIC 2008 Young Professional Management Training
Program it was a rewarding experience sharing ideas, skills and knowledge and a great
opportunity to network with other consultants and engineers across the world. Certainly
an event to remember and grow further in the future...”Lauren Ryan
Australia, Lauren_Ryan@URSCorp.com“…it was a valuable and moving experience for me – a great place to be!”Samir Govind
New Zealand, samir.govind@beca.com“The combination of gaining insight from young professionals as well as senior consulting
industry leaders was an extremely valuable experience. I have gained new insight anda global perspective of the engineering consulting industry”.
Selena Wilson
Canada, swilson@mcelhanney.com
FIDIC is currently accepting applications for the 2009 programme. For more information
visit: http://ypf.fidic.ch/training/Pages/default.aspx

YPMTP08 final presentation at the Future Leaders Workshop

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NEWS

Proposal of Establishment of ASPAC Young Professional Forum(ASPAC-YPF)
Establishment of the ASPAC Young Professional Forum (YPF) was proposed at the 2008
General Assembly Meeting of FIDIC Asia-Pacific Member Associations (ASPAC). Mr.
Kazutoshi Akasaka, secretariat of ASPAC (AJCE-Japan), has presented the outline at
the YP Open Forum on 8th September.
ASPAC YPF is expected to provide a place for Young Professionals in Asia-Pacific region
to communicate and enlighten each other.
For the further step, the necessity to overview the current YP activities in the ASPAC as
well as to recruit volunteers from the member association for the preparation work wasrecognized at ASPAC GAM.
The proposed roles and activities presented at the conference are;
• The Steering Committee (SC) of ASPAC YPF takes the main role of organizationand management of ASPAC YPF activities. The SC consists of the Chairperson and theRepresentatives from the ASPAC member associations.
• ASPAC YPF shall have three main activities, namely the Operation, the Researchand the Training.
Operation: ASPAC YPF shall be oriented and run by YPs by practice of activities primary
proposing to ASPAC.

Takashi Nakajima
AJCE-Japan

Research: ASPAC YPF will listen to the voices from YPs and develop activities for YPs.
Training: ASPAC YPF shall take a important role of Capacity Development of YPs as apart of ASPAC activities. YPF organize and set up training programme namely seminars,
education materials such as English terminology.
• ASPAC YPF supports FIDIC YPF as a regional organization. By communicatingclosely with FIDIC YPF ASPAC YPF share the general orientation and information of
FIDIC YPF.

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NEWSI S S U E

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Working Conference - The Energetic Landscape

NEWS

With sustainable energy rising higher on the political agenda, more and more municipalities
are developing and implementing an active energy and climate policy. This implies not
only expanding energy saving measures but also the production of sustainable energy.
But … what is the impact of this sustainable energy on the landscape and the urban
development? Is it possible to create a zero-energy city and make it look beautiful at thesame time? These questions and more were answered during a special working conference
organized by the Dutch Association for Consulting Engineers (ONRI) with active supportof the Young Professionals branch (YONRI). The conference took place on September
23rd in a historic venue called “Radio Kootwijk” (see box).

Radio Kootwijk

The former radio station “Radio Kootwijk” issituated in the heart of the “Veluwe”, centeredin a wonderful natural reserve area. It is aunique establishment that is highly valued
for its typical blend of scenery with culturalhistorical and industrial-historicalcharacteristics. Based on a design byarchitect Luthmann, construction started in
1920. The building was entirely erected fromarmored concrete, a novelty in those days.
The State owned Postal and Telegraphcompany (PTT) began utilizing Radio
Kootwijk in 1923 for long wave telegraphtransmissions. During WWI, the station wasused as an independent radio link with theDutch Indies (former Indonesia). The first actual radio communication with the Dutch
Indies, started in 1928 with the historical words: “Hello Bandung, here Kootwijk”.
These historical words are still iconic for many Dutchmen nowadays. Over the years
Radio Kootwijk gradually lost its significance and transmission stopped entirely in
1998. Nowadays the building only has a symbolic an architectural value. Since
recently, there is a “Plan of Attack” with a “Road to Restructuring” towards a new formof exploitation of the facilities.

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Content

NEWS

After some introductory speeches by among others the alderman of the Municipality of
Apeldoorn (an area that was used as a case study) and the newly installed president of
ONRI (Mr. Ed Nijpels, former Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment)over 100 participants started in small groups to generate ideas. Among the participants
were developers, landscape architects, city planners, artists, representatives from electricity
companies and governmental organizations.
By means of The World Cafe (TWC) method, an easy-to-use process for fosteringcollaborative dialogue and creating innovative possibilities for action in large groups, intotal 6 energy and spatial development related questions were addressed. The best ideas
were plenary presented and commented upon. “Solutions” varied from using trendy urban
windmills for generating electricity to applying geothermal heat pump systems to heatand cool down buildings in a sustainable way.

European Young Professionals learn from interaction with peers inBrussels
Highly motivated young professionals from 7 European countries (Norway, Hungary,
Russia, Germany, Hungary, Rumania and The Netherlands) attended a two-day seminarin Brussels. Networking and exchanging experiences proved the driving force for participantsin the event. The YPs learned about European policies that matter to the CE industry andvisited the European Parliament. After a revealing session on inter-generational learningby the Dutch Aart Bontekoning (www.aartbontekoning.com) a lively debate started on
the challenges YPs face in their personal career development. Concrete opportunities
for better cooperation between younger and older staff were presented as a valuablemeans to ensuring corporate continuity and growth.
Rick Meynen (Yonri / Netherlands)

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ISCE YPF develops its activities

NEWS- Iranian Socity Of Consulting Engineers YPF started three new committees.
1- YPF Strategy Committee.
2- Management and Planning of Resourses (MPR) Committee.
3- Sustainable Development Committee.

- Three YP members joind ISCE Strategy Committee.

ISCE YPF

Manoochehr Azizi
ISCE YPF
Chairperson- A series of training programs were organized for the YP members by the ISCE YP
education committee for Autumn and winter 08-09.

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HOW TO BECOME PART OF THE FIDIC YPF GROUP
Become part of this young dynamic group of people and receive updates, newslettersand information on upcoming events, such as FIDIC conferences and training
opportunities.

Communications
Chairperson
FIDIC YPF Steering
Committee

International YPF Groups: find out what the YPs in your country are doing and how toconnect with them! Please register on the YPF homepage listed below.
Once we have your details this way, we will send you our newsletter and other info as
it comes up. Please remember to keep your details updated!
For general information about us and FIDIC, go to:
http://www1.fidic.org/resources/young/default.asp
For more information or if you need help to connect, contact me at:
fidicypforum@gmail.com
Michele Kruger
Communications Chairperson
FIDIC YPF Steering Committee

Michele Kruger
Starting your own YPF in your country
If you liked what you saw of the FIDIC YPF and YPFs across the world, why not start
your own. This is best achieved through your country’s Member Association (MA) of
FIDIC. However, if no such association exists, or your MA does not want to have theirown YPF, you can contact us to find out how to start your own YPF. Through FIDIC wemay have some contact to make it easier or help partner it with you. All you need isyour enthusiasm for Engineering! From there you decide what it is that you want yourYPF to represent. What is your focus? Is it training Young Professionals? Is it getting
the youth interested in Engineering? Is it just socializing with your peers? Or is it allof the above? As the FIDIC YPF, we will do all we can to support your new endeavor!
Contact us at: fidicypforum@gmail.com