Introduction to the ICE Attributes

Returning to our Greek Temple analogy (as seen in the IPD Section) we can easily define Attributes as the core pillars for your development towards being professionally qualified.

The ‘structure' contains seven pillars of ‘ICE Attributes' that must be built up successfully from your foundation slab (your degree, or equivalent education) in order for the roof to be erected and for you to fully complete the structure – or become professionally qualified upon completion.

New IPD method – effective early 2015

In early 2015, the Institution of Civil Engineers announced that new Trainees undergoing Initial Professional Development (IPD) would be measured under their Attributes system at all stages right up until and including the Professional Review. All recording of evidences and quarterly reports would also shift to an all-electronic system located in your members profiles at ICE's website, which also provides them the opportunity to flag up accounts with low activity or to send automatic reminders to mentors and trainees where insufficient activity occurs.

This is a significant change from the traditional paper-based Development Objectives, which many mentors and senior staff at companies would have been used to. The Development Objectives were based on the UK-SPEC guidelines provided by the Engineering Council.

In addition to the IPD changes, Professional Review Candidates would need to write a 5000 word “Professional Report” which replaced the two separate 4000 word Project Report and the 2000 word Experience Report.

There is a nice webinar of the new setup here.

Our opinion of the new IPD method

We at The Civil Engineering Exam feel this is a sensible move for a few reasons:

Having to put candidates through a series of Development Objectives for 4 years and then doing their final assessment on a different marksheet seemed confusing and pointless.
Most people type up their evidences anyway, so copying and pasting into your profile takes nearly no effort.
The automatic reminders to your Supervising Civil Engineers or the red-flagging of accounts should either speed up the IPD process or make it known to managers that some people are not performing to the correct professional developments standard (See the ICE Code of Conduct!)
The Professional Experience report required for submission is one document which will be more coherent than 2 separate items. The overall word count is a little less than before, so there is a bit less typing to do.

If you are still using the Development Objectives system, then you can still use these until December 2017, but it worthwhile to switch over to the Attributes system if you have documented less than 2 years of experience.

The Seven Attributes

The Nine Attributes you need to fulfil to pass your IPD and Professional Review with the ICE are:

TCEE Note: The sub-attributes listed on these guidance pages refer to the updated seven attribute scheme brought in from 2021.

The next few pages are intended to give an idea of what can count towards as evidence for each ICE Attribute. If you are in a position where it is difficult to gain that experience at work, then there may be some activities you can do/learn/apply in your time away from work which would help you satisfy the Attributes.

Remember that you are in charge of your career, not your manager. You should push those responsible for your ICE Training to ensure you can complete the necessary ICE Attributes (ultimately yourself) – or take the initiative to ensure you get yourself over the line.