Morgan predicts name change at RICS construction faculty

The chairman of the RICS’s construction faculty has predicted that its name will change following a vote that is under way amongst the body’s 25,000 quantity surveying members.

Launce Morgan said he expected members to back a name change, most likely from construction to quantity surveying or QS.

Voting started amongst RICS members this month and a result is due later in the summer.

Morgan predicted, “From the responses I have had, I think the vote will be overwhelmingly in favour of a name change.”

Morgan, whose tenure as head of the faculty ends in September, said that he had received enormous feedback from members about the issue in recent months.

“I have received letters in the hundreds on this and around 98% have been backing a name change,” he confirms. “It has become a very emotional issue for the members. This won’t be a great change in the structure of the RICS but will show that the institution is identifying more with members.”

Morgan added that the feeling amongst senior figures at the RICS on the name change had changed since the beginning of the year. Morgan continues, “The chief executive (Louis Armstrong) was against it at the start of the year. He now agrees its the right thing to do. I think the RICS needs to be honest about this and say that they will listen to people’s wishes. QS remains our brand.”

This won’t be a great change in the structure of RICS but will show the institution is identifying more with members

Launce Morgan, RICS

The name of the faculty was changed in 1999 following a vote amongst members but it has led to criticism that it has disenfran-chised QS members of the RICS.

The move also follows criticism of the RICS by leading QSs such as Davis Langdon partner Paul Morrell, who described the structure of the body last year as “Byzantine” and “lacking accountability.”

Morrell suggested the institution should be divided into three branches: land, property and construction. He called for an end to the “introspection” of the construction faculty at RICS, and said it had to raise its profile with the government.

An informal group of nine of the largest QSs, known as the forum, also called for a reorganisation in 2003.

Roger Fidgen, then a partner in forum member Gardiner & Theobald, said at the time that the RICS’s faculties were disparate.