Civil Engineering: What is it?

Civil engineers work in disciplines like planning, budgeting, project and asset management, research, analysis, and more. Civil engineering projects can come from the public sector, from government agencies, or from the private sector, and they can be huge or small in scale.  

After military engineering, civil engineering is the second-oldest engineering subject and was developed to distinguish between civil and military engineering. As a result, there are many different sub-disciplines within the larger discipline of civil engineering.

The broad nature and long history of civil engineering means that its own growth as a discipline is closely associated to the development of human knowledge in areas including physics, mathematics, structures and construction, geography, geology, hydrology, environmental and materials sciences, mechanics, and more.

Scientific principles, such as those developed by the ancient Greek Archimedes of Syracuse, were applied as they were understood, helping to drive engineering forward, which continues to this day with new innovations and research.

To better understand civil engineering today, it is worth taking a quick look at how it developed into a profession over the years…

Civil Engineering History

Ancient Engineering

Engineering, in some form or other, has always played a part in human life, but the earliest signs of civil engineering date to between 4000 and 2000 BC.

Beginning in Ancient Egypt (along the Nile Valley in Northeast Africa), among the Indus Valley Civilization (spanning northeast Afghanistan, across much of Pakistan and into western and northwest India), and in Mesopotamia (along the Tigris-Euphrates River system in modern Iraq), ancient civil engineering began as people began to abandon a nomadic existence and built shelters. This also made trading transport more important, with goods having to be moved to and from these new settlements with the development of sailing and the wheel.

Early engineering projects included the pyramids in Egypt, the Parthenon in Ancient Greece, the Great Wall of China, and the many civil structures built across the Roman Empire, among others spread across the world including in Mexico and Sri Lanka. However, the word ‘engineer’ was still being used interchangeably with ‘architect’ to describe the profession.

The ancient and medieval periods saw most construction and design carried out by artisans like carpenters and stonemasons, with the knowledge held by guilds, and it wasn’t until the 18th century that the term ‘civil engineering’ was first used to describe engineering for civilian, rather than military, purposes.

Civil Engineering as a Profession

The first self-proclaimed professional civil engineer was John Smeaton, who created the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 1771 with colleagues who would meet informally over dinner. This was, however, more of a social society and was soon superseded by the Institution of Civil Engineers, which was formed in London in 1818 and received a Royal Charter in 1828, which formally recognized civil engineering as a profession. The charter defined civil engineering as:

“the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic in states, both for external and internal trade, as applied in the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks for internal intercourse and exchange, and in the construction of ports, harbors, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power for the purposes of commerce, and in the construction and application of machinery, and in the drainage of cities and towns.”

In the United States, the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) was founded in 1852.

Civil Engineering Education

The first institution for the teaching of civil engineering, the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, was established in France in 1747, soon followed by similar institutions in other European nations.

The first private college teaching the profession in the United States was Norwich University, founded by Captain Alden Partridge in 1819, although the first degree in civil engineering awarded in the United States came from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835. The first woman to be awarded a degree in civil engineering in the United States was Nora Stanton Blatch, who was awarded a degree from Cornell University in 1905.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom during the 19th Century, civil engineering was being split from military engineering as the Industrial Revolution gained pace. This led to the creation of educational initiatives including the Class of Civil Engineering and Mining, which was founded at King’s College London in 1838 as a response to the need for qualified engineers to work on the railway system. 1838 saw the establishment of the private College for Civil Engineers in Putney and 1840 saw the UK’s first Chair of Engineering established at the University of Glasgow.

These educational opportunities for civil engineers meant that a degree in civil engineering was now attainable, opening a wealth of opportunities for qualified professionals.

This range of opportunity exists today with the different types of civil engineering that you could be involved in…  

Types of Civil Engineering

The broad field of civil engineering contains several specialized sub-disciplines, spanning a range of industries and including both practical and more theoretical tasks. These different types of civil engineering are based on a mixture of location and specializations, starting with general civil engineering:

1. General Civil Engineering

Also known as site engineering, these civil engineers work with surveyors and more specialized civil engineers to design services such as drainage, dams, electrical supply infrastructure, pavements, sewer services, communications infrastructures, and more. This type of engineering is generally concerned with converting an area of land from one use to another. This includes site visits, meetings with stakeholders, construction planning and development, as well as assessing potential impacts, including for the environment.

2. Coastal Engineering

This branch of civil engineering is concerned with the management of coastal areas, including protection against flooding and coastal erosion. It is also sometimes known as coastal protection, coastal defense and coastal management.

3. Construction Engineering

Construction engineers are involved in the planning, transportation and use of construction materials, using environmental, geotechnical, hydraulic and structural engineering knowledge. This role often involves a lot of contract drafting, logistics and supply monitoring to create plans that can then be used by construction managers.

4. Earthquake Engineering

This sub-discipline of structural engineering involves the design, build and maintenance of structures capable of withstanding exposure to earthquakes while maintaining compliance with building codes and regulations.

5. Environmental Engineering

This branch of engineering is the modern version of what was once called sanitary engineering. It now includes hazardous waste management and environmental remediation in addition to the treatment of chemical, biological and thermal waste, recycling, and the purification of the air, land and water. Environmental engineers are also involved in assessing the environmental consequences of proposed actions.  

6. Forensic Engineering

Frequently involved in legal affairs, these engineers are called upon to investigate the failure of materials, products, structures machinery, or components that has led to personal injury or property damage. These engineers seek out causes of failure with the aim of improving processes or performance as well as resolving intellectual property claims (particularly patents issues).

7. Geotechnical Engineering

Often working with geologists and soil scientists, these engineers investigate the rock and soil conditions for supporting structures, foundations, and retaining walls. This is made more difficult by the variability of soil behaviors.

8. Hydraulic Engineering

Hydraulic engineers work with the flow and movement of fluids – primarily water. These engineers design and maintain pipelines, drainage facilities, canals and water supply networks using concepts such as fluid pressure, statics and dynamics.

9. Materials Engineering

Drawing on materials science, this discipline is concerned with protective coatings for materials, alloying, nanotechnology and other advanced materials solutions.

10. Structural Engineering

This large sub-set of civil engineering works with the structural design and analysis of buildings, bridges and towers as well as offshore structures at oil or gas fields. Structural engineers will assess loads as well as forces and stresses to ensure a structure is designed to withstand them.  These loads can be moving or static and include those related to climate and weather as well as the weight of the structure itself and anything placed upon or within it. Structural engineering has led to the development of more specialized disciplines, like earthquake engineering (see above). Structural engineers need to also consider cost, ease of construction, safety, environmental impact and sustainability, and aesthetics.

11. Transportation Engineering

Designing, constructing and maintaining transport infrastructure, transportation engineers are concerned with the movement of goods and people safely and efficiently. They work with a range of transport infrastructure including canals, roads, railways, ports, airports and mass transit.

12. Urban / Municipal Engineering

This branch of civil engineering covers the design, construction and maintenance of a range of different urban structures, assets and networks. These include streets, pavements, water supply systems, sewers and waste management/disposal, bulk materials storage, lighting, parks, and cycling infrastructure, among other things. Municipal engineering has cross-over with many other types of civil engineering, but is primarily concerned with coordinating these structures and services alongside other specialists under the same municipal authority.

13. Water Resources Engineering

While hydraulic engineering (above) is concerned with the conveyance of fluids, water resources engineering covers the collection and management of water as a natural resource, both above and below ground. As a result, it takes disciplines such as hydrology, resource management, conservation and environmental science.

14. Civil Engineering Systems

This discipline is concerned with integrating civil engineering project lifecycles from conception to planning, designing, and manufacture, through operation and decommissioning. This is done through the use of systems thinking and a holistic overview of the relationships between different parts of a project, coupled with an attention to technical detail too.  

What Do Civil Engineers Do?

Civil engineers apply different engineering principles (for example, structural, environmental, construction or geotechnical) to projects of all sizes for residential, commercial, industrial or public purposes on behalf of the private or public sectors. This includes measuring the financial, environmental or socio-economic costs of a project to ensure they are delivered on time, on budget, and in compliance with codes, standards and regulations.

Civil engineers can be involved with projects from conceptualization through to design, construction, maintenance and even decommissioning / removal.

These duties can be carried out under contract or as a consultant, with rates of pay and job responsibilities depending on the engineer’s experience and the requirements of the project itself.

Some common duties of civil engineers include:

• Performing technical and feasibility studies, using reports, surveys, maps and plans and related data
• Determining costs,
• Understanding and accounting for health and safety, building and other engineering regulations
• Assessing environmental impacts and determining risk factors that may impact the project delivery
• Creating plans and blueprints
• Collaboration and communication with other engineers, professionals and clients

Where Do Civil Engineers Work?

Civil engineers work in a range of different environments depending on their area of work or specialism. Although civil engineers do spend time on site, they will also frequently work in an office environment, creating plans and checking procedures.

Civil engineers are required for a large variety of projects across the world, so there is always the possibility of travel with a civil engineering career, while your knowledge could also find you working on a range of different types of projects.

Regardless of location, engineers need to obey contract law in their relationships with other parties, and any failure of an engineer’s work could lead to negligence claims or even criminal charges. Suffice to say, you will need the appropriate training, and often certification, to work as an engineer!  

Becoming a Civil Engineer

Most civil engineers study for an academic degree in civil engineering over three to five years to become a bachelor of engineering or a bachelor of technology. This generally requires a grounding in physics and mathematics as well as teaching project management, design and other topics specific to civil engineering practice. With a basic understanding of the principles, it is possible to then specialize in one or more sub-disciplines of civil engineering.

An undergraduate bachelor’s degree (at BEng or BSc level) is usually deemed enough of an industry accredited qualification to begin work, but some will wish to study further and gain a post-graduate degree (MEng/MSc), providing further skills and specializations. However, for some roles and locations, additional certification may be required to be deemed a chartered or professional engineer.

Certification

Certification is an important step in becoming an engineer and involves the satisfying of a number of requirements including undertaking work experience and passing an exam (including both practical and theoretical aspects). Certification allows you to be designated as a professional engineer (in Canada, South Africa and the United States), as a chartered engineer (in most Commonwealth countries, including the United Kingdom), or as a European engineer (in most nations of the European Union). International agreements between different professional bodies recognize the certifications of other nations, allowing undertake engineering work abroad without having to be recertified in different territories.

The exact benefits of certification depend on location; in Canada and the United States you must be certified before you can prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and drawings to a public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for public and private clients. However, in the United Kingdom for example, there is no such legislation in place and in Australia it is only in the state of Queensland where state licensing of engineers is required.

Irrespective of any legislation, certification is often required to work on certain jobs or projects and with particular companies.  

Civil Engineer Job Salary

The salaries for civil engineers differ according to geographical location, what industry you are working in, your employer, and your own level of experience and expertise.

The average salary for a civil engineer in the UK, according to Indeed.com as of the 11 September 2022, is £36,574 per year. However, as mentioned above, salaries depend on a range of factors, meaning that it is possible to earn multiples of this average amount.  

Conclusion

Civil engineers work on a diverse range of projects around the world, including the designing, planning and supervising of municipal construction projects such as roadways, bridges, buildings, railways, airports, and more. Civil engineers can also be found working to help sure coastal defenses, making sure waste products are safely disposed of or recycled, designing transport hubs or looking after the environment. The work of civil engineers also includes maintaining structures and assets, planning and overseeing decommissioning, and investigating failures.

Civil engineering was made distinct from military engineering and went on to become an established profession with certification and educational opportunities as well as being one of the largest and most diverse professions in industry.

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