The proposed merger between the UK’s three m&e engineering institutions has been suspended due to concerns over differences in existing working methods and internal structures.
Last year’s revelation that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) were discussing a merger has come to nothing. The proposed single institution of 250 000 members has been dashed, with differences in working practices and internal structures being cited as reasons for a stalling in negotiations.

After some ten months of talks the merger is off. The three institutions have released a statement saying: “The differences in our ways of working and in our internal structures mean that there would be considerable effort and cost in creating a new institute that would detract from achieving our individual strategies.”

The institutions state that although they will not merge in the immediate future, this remains a realistic long-term ambition. The three institutions have agreed to consider a range of initiatives for closer collaboration that will aid convergence.

Initially, there were high hopes that the merger would go ahead, creating a single voice for engineers in the UK. The presidents of the three bodies – Professor Michael Sterling (IEE), John McDougall (IMechE) and Bill Dennay (IIE) – had reasoned that engineering was increasingly becoming a multi-disciplinary endeavour with many sectors common to all three institutions. For this reason, they did not think it sensible for each institution to respond to new trends by broadening their scope individually.

The move had been welcomed by Lord Sainsbury, science and innovation minister, who hoped hat it would create a stronger voice for the profession in crucial areas such as tackling skills issues.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor