Welcome to The Association of Consulting Engineers

ACESL is the national body of consulting engineers in Sri Lanka. ACESL is affiliated to the International Federation of Consulting Engineers FIDIC. Founded in 1980 to promote common professional interests, ACESL now comprises 18 firms and 156 individual members.
The ACESL has been incorporated under the Companies Ordinance as a Company Limited by Guarantee and not with a share capital; since the enactment of the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982, operate under the Companies Act. It was incorporated by an act of parliament No. 42 of 2003.

President’s Message

ACESL President

I wish to thank the Council Members for the trust and honour bestowed upon me by electing me as the President of the Association of Consulting Engineers, Sri Lanka (ACESL), 2023 / 2024, and also to thank especially those members who attended the last AGM and endorsed my election to the Council.

As you are aware, the Association of Consulting Engineers, Sri Lanka (ACESL) was established in 1980 on the initiative of a few senior engineers in response to the need felt for a long time by engineers associated with the field of engineering consultancy practice, to provide a forum for exchange and advancement of knowledge in the field as well as to streamline the practice.

ACESL was incorporated under the Companies Ordinance as a Company limited by Guarantee and not with a share capital, in terms of the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982. ACESL became the national body of consulting engineers in Sri Lanka when it was incorporated by an Act of Parliament, No. 42 of 2003. With time, ACESL gained recognition through affiliation with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) thus opening opportunities for participation internationally in the advancement of the field of consulting engineering practice. I am happy to announce that 18 firms and 182 individual members hold ACESL membership now.

Over the last forty years of its existence, ACESL has worked on different fronts to meet its founding objectives. Many conferences, seminars and workshops were organized bringing together experts from all over the world, creating a forum for sharing knowledge and experience and providing the much-needed guidance and confidence for our consulting engineers in facing and overcoming the many challenges they face.

However, consulting engineers and firms had somewhat lost their traditional position and status in the recent past, nationally and internationally, due to a number of reasons. Some examples applicable to our country are,

1. The traditional role and authority of the Consulting Engineer in the various Government appointed committees such as Procurement Committees, Technical Committees etc., has been devalued or undermined by them being assigned secondary or subordinate roles in such committees.
2. ‘Hire and fire’ methods adopted by consultancy firms in the recruitment of engineers have negatively impacted quality and continuity of work in many respects.
3. The growing trend toward ownership/management of consultancy firms by persons who do not possess the relevant professional qualifications and the resulting non-adherence to relevant professional ethics, which is a mandatory requirement of the practice.
4. The trend toward consulting engineers forming limited liability/ public companies to carry out their practice, where the shareholders and directors may not be bound by applicable professional ethics.
5. Corrupt practices of some engineers / officials especially in connection with various government/ public sector works.

As the new executive committee, we have a great responsibility on our shoulders to mitigate the negative effects of the above and find ways and means for uplifting the professional work ethic and status of the consultancy practice.
The ACESL website and newsletter are effective modes of disseminating Association news and the much-needed industry knowhow. I take this opportunity to invite the membership to interact with the Association activities via the new features provided in the newsletter and website.
Further, the Executive Committee intends to work closely with the membership on a number of prioritized, important areas while giving due consideration to their present status and activities. Some of these are briefly detailed below;

1. Gaining wide recognition and awareness for the field of Engineering Consultancy as a unique profession with a strong professional identity to make contributions to:
• public safety and risk management,
• sustainable / economic resource use management,
• application of innovative technologies for creation of environment-friendly, inspirational structures and a sustainable built environment,
• Independent decision making.

2. Gaining social recognition for the practice of engineering consultancy, including increased awareness among policy makers and the political leadership, to achieve the necessary responsibility status and obtain the deserved role for consulting engineers in formulating, planning, development, design, and implementation especially of mega scale national engineering projects.

3. Implementing training programmes to attract the “best and bright” engineers to the field of consulting engineering, conducting programmes for updating technical competencies, providing a forum for resolving technical issues, and maintaining professional conduct / ethical behaviour internally among members of the Society and externally with Clients and other stakeholders.

4. Promoting fund raising activities for assisting consulting engineer- related activities.

5. Conducting conferences and workshops of international standard to facilitate knowledge transfer to our members.

6. Planning appropriate strategies to overcome / mitigate the current adverse impacts on the construction industry due to the global and national economic crises and thereby the impacts on the consultancy industry along with individual consulting engineers.

I am confident that our membership will seriously consider these initiatives and give their fullest cooperation to help our Association to grow from strength to strength.

I wish all our members success in their professional endeavours.