In 1997, a group of Engineers from both the Private and Public Sector began meeting at the Bahamas Tourism Training Center and were primarily focused on establishing what might be done with the void that existed in the engineering community. At that time, the only Engineering body that existed was the Bahamas Institution of Professional Engineers (BIPE), a group that still exists today and that can be credited for pioneering the development of Engineers in this country. However, over time, it was largely felt by many Engineers in the community that the group no longer represented the needs of Engineers and did not provide a real voice for the concerns in the Engineering community. There was also no avenue for Engineers to provide service to the community or a platform for Engineers to speak out against developments by any interest group that would threaten the health, safety and welfare of the public.

A decision was made by the growing numbers of Engineers attending these meetings to form a new Engineering body in the Bahamas. The title, Bahamas Society of Engineers (BSE) was adopted by vote for the name of the group and on the evening of June 24, 1998 the first election of officers was held making Mr. Hammond Rahming the founding president. Also elected to serve were DeCosta Bethel- Vice-President; Peter Gordon- Secretary; Sonia Brown- Assistant Secretary and Adrian Rollins- Treasurer. The Directors of the Board were Kevin Basden, Melanie Roach, Patrick Hanna, Dwight King, Lambert Knowles, Carleton Blair and Racquel Greene. The first registry of members consisted of just over fifty members of varied Engineering disciplines and spanning a wide range of service years.

There were several factors that influenced the manner in which this new body proposed to function. First, and of greatest significance, was the fact that the Ministry of Public Works was in the process of making substantial changes to the current Bill for the Registration of Engineers. The Proposed Bill would no longer provide the authority for engineering registration to a particular engineering body, but rather, a Board would be established by the government to carry out this task. Secondly, the organization needed to provide a progressive, more inclusive and forward-looking approach for its members.

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LEGISLATION FOR THE BSE BOARD