Update from Justin Young, RICS CEO - April 2025

The surveying profession is changing. I have talked at length with members about the evolving demands of their day-to-day work, and the skills needed to respond to them.

We’re now working to gain a deeper, data-based knowledge of how these challenges are impacting members, and so you can expect to receive an email in the coming days from our survey partner Savanta, asking to you to answer a handful of questions about skills. Findings from the survey will help RICS to shape its ongoing response to these challenges, allowing us to develop strategies that reflect your needs, now and as they continue to change. We’ll also use this data to give weight to our advocacy and influencing work, including supporting governments across the world to develop impactful policies.

In the meantime, I’d encourage you to have your say on two consultations connected to future skills. The first relates to a standard we’re creating to guide the responsible use of artificial intelligence, aiming to provide you with a clear framework for the use of AI in surveying practice, including addressing its risks. We need your perspective as we develop a standard that will benefit and protect both you and the public, so please have your say.

We are also updating our Countering financial crime standard, addressing the evolving landscape of financial crimes and incorporating the latest developments in technology and global trade. This global standard will help you to manage the current risks posed by bribery, corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing, and navigate and mitigate emerging financial crime threats. Your feedback is crucial. Please share your insights with us.

I hope to speak to some of you directly about these issues in the coming weeks, when RICS collaborates with other built environment institutions to engage stakeholders, members and policymakers at some of the UK’s most important industry events. A delegation from RICS will be delivering sessions at both UK Construction Week, and I’ll be among those speaking at UKREiiF. I’m pleased to share at UKREiiF we will be hosting a shared space in partnership with RTPI, ICE and RIBA, called the Built Environment Lounge. This space offers members the opportunity to attend our programme of panel sessions, and network and meet with fellow professionals. We’ll be driving conversations and shaping solutions around the government’s commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes, meeting climate goals, closing the skills gap and creating an inclusive workforce within the profession.

While developing skills and welcoming new talent is critical, it’s also important that we provide meaningful support for our membership throughout all phases of their career. This includes creating a concessions framework that is fit for the future. Last year, we made a commitment to deliver a new framework – one that is simple to understand and implement, and supports those who need it most when affordability challenges arise. We are in the process of developing this long-term concession framework in collaboration with representatives from key groups, including Governing Council, World Regional Boards and DEI forums. The new framework will be based on data and insight, which we are collecting through data analysis, market research, a series of workshops and external validation to ensure we shape an approach that is equitable and financially sustainable.

In the next few months, Governing Council will be reviewing some options that the working group will put to them. We will update you again at that point and will let you know in good time if your current subscription basis will change.

As we take on these issues, I’m pleased to let you know that this month marks the beginning of a new operating model at RICS. Designed to create the right structure, processes and culture for RICS to be a world-class, experience-led organisation, our model ensures we support members, stakeholders and the wider public.

Our model is built around key priorities, ultimately placing our members at the heart of our operations whilst we deliver great experiences. We’ll be bringing local resources closer to members and candidates, providing member-centric experiences, including locally-led in-person events and engagement activities with students from early years through to university level.

We’ll be enhancing our approach to deliver high-quality standards, insights and thought leadership, addressing the subjects that matter most to our members and the wider public. Our new model also sets us up to grow our reach and influence within the profession, providing technical expertise in shaping important policy decisions.

To ensure service continuity and minimise disruption to our service we will implement a transition period of up to 90 days, during which we’ll phase in new teams and embed our new ways of working. In the coming weeks, we’ll be fully positioned to truly bring to life our vision of RICS as an experience-led organisation – one that works for you now, and in the future.