‘Adopting a global perspective is necessary in the new millennium’: Meet Allan Soo MRICS

What influenced your decision to join RICS and how does the RICS qualification fit into the broader context of the industry you work in? 

It was every graduate’s ambition in London in the 70s and 80s to become a highly qualified professional working with a top practice. So, I bested other university job applicants to get a job at Knight Frank and subsequently passed the RICS from there. They had a graduate trainee scheme that put us through the grind in four to six departments including valuation, agency, research, management and investments. I learnt a lot from the leading chartered surveyors of that time.

In the UK, being a chartered surveyor was a pre-requisite in one’s career path, leading to partnership in one of the big firms or a top management post in one of the funds, institutions or development companies. In fact, nearly all my clients were also chartered surveyors.

When I came back it dawned on me that in Malaysia and even in Singapore the emphasis was on local registration and licensing of valuers and agents. It was a polar opposite. There was a lack of camaraderie and sharing of knowledge. In fact, RICS was prevalent among the older pioneer generation but not the new ones. At that time the UK had 55,000 RICS holders whilst Malaysia had less than 1,000. I hope to see the continuous growth of RICS members in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Tell us about your expertise / specialisation.

I worked at a construction company upon my return to Malaysia and then for Knight Frank where I started with managing a strata commercial building and then leasing and selling residential developments, followed by my first mall in Johor Baru in 1989. From then it was evident to me that the profession lacked a depth in knowledge of the construction and development process, market intelligence, gathering and analysis of primary data and advising the market in these segments, especially retail.

Developers were requiring a deep knowledge of commercial and retail development dynamics and demand statistics, but as a valuer I was not exposed to the market to that level. So, I developed skills in development consultancy where I helped in shaping designs, user requirements, fit out guides, fit out control, design briefs, concepts, layout planning, M & E requirements, shop configurations and specifications, back-of-house amenities and ultimately at development stage, leading client-consultant meetings with the project teams. Then I started working with retailers and set up my own comprehensive database of retailers’ performance data as well as catchment and household income spatial distribution data.

I developed my own geographical based information system to provide catchment studies for developers and retailers and intercept studies of shoppers at malls and high footfall locations.

With all that I advise institutions and asset managers on yields, acquisitions and disposals and ultimately on portfolio management. I now call myself a value engineer. Currently I run my own boutique practice, advising GLCs and developers on their land developments and asset management.

Does having an RICS qualification enhance your professional credibility?

RICS is an international professional body with more than 200 years history that is recognised globally. This enhances both my personal and my firm’s credibility with international clients.

In the work that we do, apart from using the building by laws in Malaysia, we also reference the RICS on measurements and building standards in some of our legal and commercial terms especially in the measurement of net and gross area, and the arbitration of disputes which usually reference RICS qualified arbitrators.

When hiring in your organisation, does the candidate with a RICS qualification have an added advantage in getting the job?

It does, especially for partnership or senior management positions. I also consider the local valuation or agency licensing qualification as a pre-requisite for partnership.

How does the RICS qualification compare to local credentials in terms of training and expertise?

While the RICS Profession and Standards are globally referenced and applied, from my own observation and feedback from my team, the local qualification focuses primarily on valuation, with a specific grounding of the local land law and its administrative system.

Town planning, land office for title searches, comparables used for valuation, valuation techniques are all par for the course here, and although there is a growing diversification in other fields like property management and investment, there is still insufficient depth and training in the fields of property market research, investment and development in Malaysia.

What are the biggest challenges industry professionals face today, and how does RICS help address these challenges?

There is a gap now between the development and asset management and the professional side of the industry. Traditionally development concept, design and styles were the domain of the architects and engineers. But so often we are seeing that buildings are so speculative that they are irrelevant in the market place. Hence, they have technically no value. But we should bridge the gap between the market and the design input, which we are perfectly capable of doing.

Till now, we are stuck with being the arbiter of values or being transactional agents at the end of the chain. But I think there is no choice here – we must be involved at an earlier stage – if we are to continue to create a class of professionals, we need students trained in the value engineering side of development. Functionally we need to be more involved in the programming and moulding of the asset before it is built or before the fund buys it. In a simple sense valuers should be able to drive the development with excel spreadsheets to guide architects and engineers as they put ink to paper. RICS currently has 44 accredited degrees with 13 universities in Malaysia. Through these programmes and the RICS early engagement initiatives, I believe these skill gaps can be addressed and built upon.

What are some gaps you’ve identified in the industry which your skillset and work help to close?

Valuers and agents advise on values, rents and transactions. Underlying that is the demand data that support or move the market, but valuers and agents do not have that. It is sad to see that a lot of data is already developed by tech firms who sell back to us a comprehensive database even on transactions and on land boundary lines. The tech firms are backed by funds and are also driven by technology. I specialise in collecting and analysing demand data for retail. It is very important in determining the type of trade mix you can plan for a mall. Universities ought to train students in the techniques of collation and analysis.

The other skill set is property management. There is no valuation profession-led management training here. It is supplanted by an association of building managers who are not within the profession but who profess to be experts due to their experience and involvement in the business. Managers I interview for the job display a certification from this association as a qualification.

Does technology and innovation play and important role in this industry and how has it evolved?

Use of the new GIS systems for socio demographic data is not prevalent. But it is an important tool for development decisions. We have the data but are not using the tools to record them.

The architectural systems have also evolved, integrating with the BIM systems. Today you can use it to schedule repairs and maintenance to keep your building manuals and the inventory list. Yardi allows you to link your tenants’ POS with your central database for rents. Analysis from here is so much more sophisticated. Technology is a long way from my time in the early 90s when even photocopy machines were in black and white only and Google hadn’t yet existed.

Is the industry on track to meet ESG requirements and what has the industry’s sentiments been?

ESG compliance is trending towards becoming mandatory. Loan qualification and tax rebates are or will be linked to ESG. This is still nascent and common amongst the government linked agencies as well as larger corporations.  

How do you see the future of RICS and the industry evolving in the country you work over the next few years?

Malaysian valuers need to be able to internationalise their career and their perspective. This can be done through active promotion of new professional developments via regular seminars, conferences and workshops within the country, region and in the UK by RICS.

The property industry is maturing, with a top layer of asset owners and managers underpinning its growth and evolution. This ownership class promotes long term perspectives instead of speculative short-term ventures which invariably lead to over-supply, over-hangs and wrong products. More opportunities are available and for the profession I think the successful ones will be the ones adapting to these changes fast.

The property industry is a heavy industry and hence is slow to move and ultimately is a laggard. With the advances in Ai and big tech providing the industry tools that once were mere dreams, we should move nearer to perfect information and a better standard and quality of product delivery. This should allow more market driven developments instead of predominantly speculative ventures.

I think the region, especially Malaysia will be a big beneficiary of the China Plus One strategy where companies diversify beyond China. We will see an internationalisation of the market here eventually. For example, Chinese automaker conglomerate Geely has agreed to invest USD10 billion into Malaysian carmaker Proton’s new Automative Hi-Tech Valley manufacturing base in Western Malaysia. Electric vehicles, solar, logistics, electronics & electrical and data centres are driving the industrial sector and this will filter down to the commercial and even residential sectors and with it, valuations.

What advice would you give to someone in this region who is considering pursuing an RICS qualification and adopting the RICS standards?

The qualification is necessary if you are going global. Adopting a global perspective is necessary in the new millennium.

Any closing thoughts on the impact of RICS on the profession in Southeast Asia?

I’m looking forward to see the growth of RICS in Southeast Asia and the opportunity to have more visiting members from the UK.