RICS appoints Peter Oldham to lead review into governance row

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has appointed Peter Oldham QC of 11KBW to conduct an independent review into its governance scandal, which is centred on events that took place in 2018 and 2019. RICS said its governing council had nominated a steering committee, made up of some of its members, to agree terms of reference for the external review “in accordance with key areas agreed by the governing council” and recommend a suitable candidate to lead the probe. The governing council “unanimously” endorsed Oldham’s appointment at the end of last month. The review is expected to conclude by the beginning of April, with the findings and recommendations to publish shortly afterwards. The steering committee is chaired by Nick Maclean, managing director for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey at CBRE. Its member line-up is completed by: Marion Ellis, managing partner at BlueBox Partners; Uche Obi, chief valuation officer for the Cayman Islands Government; Martin Eberhardt, a Hamburg-based independent advisor who has chaired RICS Germany since 2013; and Rob Wilson, director at BTY. RICS said these members took up their positions on the governing council at the start of last year, more than a year after the audit matter in question. The events that will face scrutiny relate to reports in the national press concerning the dismissal of four RICS non-executive directors in 2019, after the quartet questioned how a critical financial report by BDO in 2018 was handled internally. Who is Peter Oldham? Oldham is a barrister specialising in public, local government, education, employment, procurement and state aid law. He has carried out various investigations, including a review in 2019 into how alleged misconduct of senior local government officers was handled in Wales. He also led an investigation into Newham Council’s £40m investment into the transformation of London Stadium after the 2012 Games, which his 2018 report deemed as “flawed” after scrutinising the local authority’s decisions between 2011 and 2013. Additionally, he has carried out inquiries into a whistleblowing complaint against a local authority chief officer and into possible financial fraud at a further education college. Oldham’s cases include disputes involving central government departments and agencies, the Care Quality Commission, police authorities, fire authorities, health bodies, medical bodies, election matters, trade regulators and education regulators such as Ofsted. Before he became a barrister, Oldham worked in banking for a number of years. See also: RICS to conduct independent governance review in major U-turn   To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette Photo: Jeff Blackler/Shutterstock