In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
ICE and IStructE are licensed by the Engineering Council and both lead to full professional registration. Their assessment processes differ, so understand the requirements before choosing where to focus your development.
The two processes
| Situation | IStructE | ICE |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Structural engineering | Civil engineering, and infrastructure engineering |
| Competence framework | Ten Core Objectives, each set to a minimum standard of Knowledge, Experience or Ability | Seven attribute areas, with statements assessed at Incorporated or Chartered level |
| How competence is evidenced | IPD final report forms plus a portfolio of up to 300 pages, sub-divided by objective | A report of up to 5,000 words with appendices of 3 sides A3 and 12 sides A4 |
| The interview | Professional Review Interview, two reviewers, 60–90 minutes, presentation of about 10 minutes and no more than 10 slides | Professional Review, two reviewers, 15-minute presentation, 60 minutes at Incorporated level and 75 at Chartered |
| A written assessment | A seven-hour scheme-design examination, open book: a design test | A Communication Task of 60 or 90 minutes, closed book: a writing test |
| Who vouches for you | A supporter, who confirms you are a fit and proper person | Two sponsors, one of whom leads and has a duty to mentor you |
| Result structure | Both parts must be satisfied. Failing three or fewer objectives means a partial re-interview | Both reviewers must be satisfied in every area. There is no partial pass |
Compiled from the current published guidance of each institution. Confirm anything you intend to act on with the institution itself.
Preparing for the written assessments
ICE's Communication Task assesses writing about an industry issue for a specified audience. It is closed book and lasts an hour or ninety minutes, depending on the level.
IStructE's examination assesses structural design from an unfamiliar brief. In seven hours, open book, you produce viable schemes with arrangements, stability, foundations, calculations, general arrangement drawings, critical details and a construction method statement.
Allow for the different preparation each assessment requires.
Applying to both institutions
The same projects and decisions may provide evidence for both routes, but the frameworks do not map one-to-one. Keep a record organised by project and decision, then map it to each framework separately and prepare the relevant submission.
The ICE domain explains that process in detail.
Questions to ask yourself
- What does the work I want to be doing in ten years look like?
Scope is the honest basis for the decision. Neither institution is a better version of the other, and the one that fits your practice will make the evidence easier to gather.
- Am I better at evidencing a career, or at designing under pressure?
Both processes need both, but IStructE's seven-hour scheme-design examination weights the second far more heavily than ICE's written task does.
- Who around me holds which qualification?
Mentors, supporters and sponsors have to exist in your actual working life. A route with nobody nearby to support it is a slower route.
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.