A sorry saga

Events at the institution in the last week have been more akin to the latest goings on in Albert Square than ones befitting Great George Street. Construction faculty chairman Launce Morgan’s extraordinary attack on the institution in the pages of QS News last week was followed in breakneck speed by a swift retreat with his resignation both from his employer Northcroft and then the RICS itself. Oh, and an apology was offered to chief executive Louis Armstrong, whom he called arrogant. All this took place within days of the release of his statement early last week. Phew.

It would be easy to dismiss Morgan’s clumsy attempt to take the body to task after his subsequent retreat, to see him as a loose cannon rather than a figure to be taken seriously. Yet despite the rather cack-handed execution, Morgan’s stance surely underlines a deeper malaise at the RICS, and a gulf between the central leadership of the institution and the main bulk of the membership. The RICS claims it has responded to concerns raised by construction members yet there are surely fundamental issues to tackle. Can the body be more in tune with modern business needs of big QS practices as well as the sole trader? Is it able to modernise its inner workings, considered by many to be nigh on prehistoric, in order to scotch any discontent over its decision making?

These are the concerns but it’s surely the time for the profession to put up or shut up. RICS bashing is an easy and time-honoured sport, but the body, for all its flaws, remains a membership driven one and needs a groundswell from within to execute a change. Calls for an EGM may grab headlines but are unlikely to achieve that. Perhaps a leading figure in the profession can grasp the nettle. A Francis Ives perhaps or a David Bucknall?