Why the RICS should be gaining, not losing, its voice

EDITOR’S COMMENT There’s a 10-year age difference between EG and the RICS. We were founded in 1858 and the RICS in 1868. EG has transformed a phenomenal amount over that period. From a paper gazette, listing estates and assets, to a weekly news magazine, to an online portal for news, intelligence, data and listings. We’ve established a community, delivered events, brought people together, enhanced careers, changed minds. We’ve done all we can to continue to remain relevant, adapt and transform. To continue to do our job to provide the industry with the intelligence it needs to do what it has to do well – better, even. But when I look to the RICS and the situation it finds itself in today, I fear that the same cannot be said for it. Aside from “unprecedented”, one of the most used words of 2020 was “accelerant”. Disruption in the sector was accelerated by the pandemic. What was already happening in the worlds of retail and the workplace just got sped up. The same now appears to be true for the RICS, but caused not by the pandemic, but by its own hand. Questions over the role of the RICS in the profession today have been raised for some time. Surveying has changed dramatically over the past few years. Just take a look at the workforces of the major firms. Surveyor is just one of a whole host of important roles any property consultant needs to have in their team to conduct the business of real estate. And have another read of our excellent piece on the future of real estate by the future of real estate from last week. The important roles in the sector are not surveyors, it’s the data scientists, it’s the environmental specialists, it’s the people that understand people. How important is having those letters after your name, that accreditation, to being able to do a great job in real estate today? From the people I talk to, not massively. But the RICS has a unique opportunity to change this. No one is infallible. Everyone, every business, every institution makes mistakes. But the worse thing we can do – as Chris Grigg said in these very pages last week – is become a victim of owner bias, of thinking we know best. An independent review of the RICS, of its structure, of whether it is really adhering to the requirements of its royal charter to “promote the usefulness of the profession for the public advantage in the UK and other parts of the world” could (and should) be the best thing for it. And for the real estate sector. The RICS has pursued overseas expansion in the past decade, and successfully. With that security, and frankly broader revenue base, it can afford to address these questions. Better that it chooses to act than to have its hand forced by its biggest customers. The RICS is a collection of more than 100,000 members globally. It could be the most powerful machine that the business of real estate has to show the world, to show individuals and to show governments how important, and how good, this industry really can be. The sector has never needed a voice like this more than it does now and, as you’ll see across EG and elsewhere across the media, through LinkedIn posts from so many in this sector, the RICS appears to be losing its. The time is now for the industry to come together, not fall apart. The time is now to admit our failures, to fix the problems we can and move forward afresh. Life may feel a little Groundhog Day these days, but we have to make change to do better and take real estate to where it really should be in 2021. EG is up for the challenge. Are you? To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette Photo © Jeff Blackler/Shutterstock