Louis Armstrong of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors talks to ePolitix.com about his organisation's members, its priorities and how issues such as global warming and the introduction of Hips are being addressed.

Question: How would you explain the work of RICS in a couple of sentences?

Louis Armstrong: The RICS is the world's leading professional organisation in real estate, for standards, qualifications and professional regulation. 

It is a professional body that brings together a very wide range of professional skills and knowledge and provides a highly regarded qualification, the best in the world for the property and construction industry.

Question: When did the RICS obtain and Royal Charter and what does it mean?

Louis Armstrong: RICS is one of over 400 Royal Charter bodies based in the UK. We obtained our Royal Charter in 1881, 126 years ago.

The Royal Charter means that we have a duty to act in the public interest and this separates RICS from a trade association, which acts in its members' interest. We have a duty under the Charter to make sure that everything we do endeavours to serve the public even if it conflicts with our members’ own interest.

This gives us the ability to self-regulate, it enables us to set standards, it gives us a role in advising governments on policy issues as a repository of knowledge and expertise.

Question: How many members does the RICS have?

Louis Armstrong: We currently have 140,000 members, spread over 146 countries. About 80 per cent of our members are in the UK. And we have RICS organisations in 42 different countries which are running RICS activities, qualifications and university partnerships.

We started in the UK in the 19th century, having expanded initially through the Commonwealth and have now become a globally recognised organisation.

Question: How do you train to become a chartered surveyor?

Louis Armstrong: Many people think a chartered surveyor only does residential work and evaluations because that's what they have come across. A surprising number of people still think this when you meet them.

The interesting thing about the profession is it involves absolutely everything you can think of to do with land, property and construction. So at any point in the cycle where you are thinking about owning or doing something on a piece of land, whether its constructing, developing, buying, investing, leasing or selling, chartered surveyors offer you expertise right through the cycle.

For example, at every point within the cycle of demolishing old buildings, building retail parks or devising new cities, there is a chartered surveyor involved. There are 172 specialisms spread from fine art to asset valuation through to project management construction, arbitration, dispute resolution, the environment, and managing buildings.

Question: RICS has been in the press about home information packs, why?

Louis Armstrong: RICS is committed to leading the agenda on home buying reform.  In May 2007, RICS took unprecedented legal action against the government on home information packs. 

There have been many developments since Hips were conceived in 1999, not least, e-conveyancing and these need to be reflected in any new system. We have commissioned Sir Bryan Carsberg to have a complete and independent look at the private residential sector to see what better ways there are, both of buying and selling houses, managing property and installing better regulation and redress.

RICS has a commitment to the low carbon built environment and as such we maintain that energy performance certificates have an important role to play. It is essential that these are coupled with comprehensive consumer information and RICS advocates that they should be rolled out to all houses, rather than simply those changing hands.

Question: How does RICS work with government on an issue such as Hips, do you have a close relationship with government.

Louis Armstrong: We have a close relationship with not only the government in the UK but also with governments around the world. In the UK, we have good relations with the CLG, HM Treasury, Defra, BERR and the Cabinet Office.

Our relationships with government are important and RICS is a huge resource of expertise that is and should be utilised to help governments deliver their objectives.

Question: How does the RICS plan to maintain/improve its external profile and are these improvement plans limited to the UK/Europe or are they global?

Louis Armstrong: First of all, I think it's about regular analysis of the markets, of capital flows, of issues around climate change on the environment, all of which we take very seriously. These are issues which are at the top of the political agenda, not only here but abroad.

The RICS has a wide research capacity, which takes account of all these areas, with particular emphasis on climate change and the built environment. We have a number of policy panels of experts in their field who come together to produce distilled policy positions on the issues of the day. We have media and policy expertise spreading from Brussels to Hong Kong, to Sydney and New York.

Question: Sustainability and global warming are shaping the manner in which business is undertaken, what research is the RICS undertaking to ensure that they are keeping ahead of the game?
                                                
Louis Armstrong: Surveying Sustainability is a new RICS publication that is aimed at surveyors in practice, and in training, to show how the overarching concept of sustainability relates to the entire range of practice disciplines that make up the surveying profession. 

We have a wide ranging research programme, including research into how best to improve the existing building stock (98 per cent) of: houses, offices and commercial buildings, to help reduce their emissions. 

In addition, for international best practise we are looking to global examples for good ideas, technology and successes and we can bring best practice to bear, through a range of projects that aim to bring climate change issues into the mainstream.

So its not just specialists, everyone who has contact with buildings is thinking about the low carbon built environment and how people can make a real difference in the way that they use buildings. We provide a wide range of tool kits for practitioners, as well as advice and guidance to the profession and related professions.