Double awards celebration for ACE

The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has been shortlisted for a FIDIC member association excellence award, in recognition of its successful diversity and inclusion campaign.

The judges at FIDIC recognised how ACE’s Building Inclusivity campaign is supporting consultancy and engineering businesses to create inclusive environments, where individuals from all backgrounds feel valued, respected, and empowered.

Stephen Marcos Jones, chief executive of ACE and the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) said the awards were a testament to the hard work of a number of staff at ACE and EIC, as well as member organisations, who have embraced the Building Inclusivity campaign.

“In order to make this campaign a success, ACE and EIC undertook a significant amount of research around the challenges our members face when it comes to building inclusivity in their workplaces,” Jones said.

“Through our work with member representatives, we have been able to identify barriers and strategies to overcome them and create inclusive workplaces. 

“We are delighted that the consultative and collaborative efforts we have made, involving key stakeholders, such as organisational leaders/senior management, young professionals in member organisations, HR professionals, and diversity and inclusion experts, has been recognised by FIDIC.” 

The Building Inclusivity campaign has resulted in the creation of a programme of initiatives, including events and a suite of practical tools and advice with expert commentary, which remain open and available to everyone looking to build inclusivity in their workplaces.

Wojciech Szewczak, Associate at Ramboll and chair of ACE’s Emerging Professionals Network, has also been shortlisted for the prestigious FIDIC International Federation of Consulting Engineers’ Future Leaders Award 2023.

This recognises Wojciech’s high profile work in strategic sustainability with clients in the infrastructure sector at Ramboll and his work developing ACE Emerging Professionals, the group for the next generation for industry leaders working in the natural and built environment in the UK. 

The ACE Emerging Professionals have produced a series of successful video podcasts and these have attracted up to 15,000 views on LinkedIn after two seasons in 2022.

The third series of these videos is running now and there are now more than 100 emerging professionals working within the network across the UK and Northern Ireland.

Wojciech paid tribute to fellow Emerging Professionals Network members, as he acknowledged teamwork had been the key to his place on the awards shortlist.

“It’s been made possible because of all those people within ACE Emerging Professionals and the influence they have in the industry,” said Wojciech, who is also set to be a guest speaker at the event.

“I consider being shortlisted as a success for the whole ACE Emerging Professionals group.

“I am pleased to have had the opportunity to chair the emerging professionals group and the fantastic leadership development opportunity it has provided me with.”

FIDIC is the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, the global representative body for national associations of consulting engineers, representing a total of more than one million professionals in 40,000 firms across 100 countries worldwide.