About 150 representatives of local self-government bodies took part in the joint webinar “Effective reconstruction of communities: engaging a consulting engineer as a tool of construction project management” organized by the Interstate Consultants Engineers Guild (ICEG) and Association of Ukrainian Cities titled

The event became the largest professional dialogue of the year between ICEG experts and representatives of communities directly responsible for implementing reconstruction projects. Its goal was to present the capacities of the consulting engineer institution and to discuss practical mechanisms for strengthening the capacity of client services under the conditions of Ukraine’s large-scale reconstruction.

Opening the webinar, Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, emphasized that the program was formed based on requests from communities that face specific features in project implementation and therefore need professional management and support tools. This allows for more efficient use of financial resources, shorter project delivery timelines, and minimized management risks.

In his turn, Dmytro Barzylovych, ICEG Vice President, highlighted that today, the key challenge is attracting financing and ensuring the capacity of client services to professionally manage investment projects. That is why the webinar was dedicated to practical solutions that communities can apply as early as today, without waiting for additional legislative changes.

During the webinar, ICEG experts reviewed the entire cycle of construction project implementation — from preparation and design to commissioning of the facility. Special attention was paid to legislative mechanisms for engaging a consulting engineer, organizing the work of the client service with limited human resources, applying international project management practices, and working with projects funded by international financial institutions and donors.

Noteworthily, the participants showed the greatest interest in practical issues of project implementation. Representatives of communities were particularly interested in the specifics of applying the legislation, mechanisms of involving a consulting engineer in projects financed from the state budget and with international aid, determining the cost of their services, organizing the client services with limited human resources, and practical aspects of implementing complex infrastructure projects.

This nature of the discussion confirmed that for communities, the issues of finding financing and professional organization of the project implementation process are becoming increasingly relevant. It is the quality of management, proper distribution of functions and responsibilities, and timely engagement of necessary expertise that increasingly determine the success of reconstruction projects.

At the end of the meeting, Dmytro Barzylovych announced that ICEG, together with the Association of Ukrainian Cities, would process the participants’ proposals and prepare an upskilling program for local self-government specialists to equip them with basic skills in preparing and supporting complex projects.