Why I have a good feeling about RICS’ future

EDITOR’S COMMENT This week I sat down with Ann Gray, the new president of the RICS, and Martin Samworth, the man with the unenviable but potentially very rewarding task of making the institution great again. I am going to reserve judgment on Gray until she has had a bit of time to settle in to her presidential duties. But on first impressions, it is clear she has a passion for the RICS and the business of real estate – as you can hear in our EG Property Podcast conversation – and she has started the next big wooden panel of RICS presidents with a female, which obviously I am über-supportive of. The fact she runs a reasonably small – but from the looks of it successful – business in Pasadena, California, and has taken on the presidency of a global but largely UK-run institution might raise some eyebrows. But in a world where technology has connected us all and where diversity of thought and experience is vital to enable success, who am I to pass judgment? Yet. As for Samworth, well we all know his track record. He is not a man who does failure. He won’t accept it, so I’m sure he will make some major changes at the RICS. His passion for the institution delivering is clear. Now he just needs the right team around him – and the right attitude from members – to get the job done. And it is this need for advocates for the RICS, particularly among members, that has inspired me to put finger to keyboard for this week’s column. Contrary to some of the articles we have written in EG and some of the columns I have written here, I actually have a good feeling about the RICS. Yes, having got lost in the warren that is its HQ in Parliament Square this week, there are bits of it that feel super stuffy and old-fashioned and leave you wondering why. But then, as I browse LinkedIn on a daily basis, as I talk to some of EG’s Future Leaders and as I increasingly seek out the opinions of the younger, newer members of the built environment, I see some real pride and passion for the RICS.  While age and experience and the inevitable grumpiness that comes from having been through the mill a few times – and just generally being a bit creaky – has left some older members wondering what they pay their dues for and whether those letters after their name actually mean anything, those young grads who have just passed their APC couldn’t be more proud. It’s heartening to see people post about it on their LinkedIn profiles. The joy at being a qualified surveyor, of being part of a royal institution. That means something to them. I love that. And there is going to be more of that passion for the industry coming through. If the conversations we have had with apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week and the inspirational words they have shared with us in this week’s issue are anything to go by, we have a generation of people coming into this industry who truly understand its value, the role it plays for the public benefit and the responsibility they have to that. They are also aware of the challenges ahead. But they are ready to take them on. It is that attitude, from our newly qualified professionals and those on the journey to becoming qualified, that gives me that good feeling about the RICS. Yes, it has some big challenges ahead. Samworth knows that, Gray knows that, all the members know that. But it will change and it will be better. Because the next generation won’t let it be anything less. To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews