Restructure the RICS or you run the risk of losing QSs, members warn institution...

Leading construction members of the RICS are pushing for a restructuring of the institution to better reflect the views of practicing QSs.

Members of the construction faculty put forward a proposal to reorganise the RICS at last week’s Governing Council meeting. This was supported by other faculty representatives at the meeting, including the project management faculty, and is expected to be discussed at the RICS’ next Governing Council meeting in March 2006.

The plan is to ditch the Faculties and Forums Board (FFB), an unelected body that sits above the 16 RICS faculties. This would be replaced by a Faculties Conference, made up of the chairmen of the respective faculties. Members of this conference would also be represented on the International Governing Council of the RICS, which controls the overall direction and strategy of the institution.

A senior QS member said: “Everybody wants better accountability and better communication at the RICS. This would be one step to achieving that.”

A fellow member added that there was a “frustration” among members over the current structure. “There is a disjoint between the faculties and the Governing Council,” he said. “There is no-one who sits on the Governing Council who is there as a QS. We feel there should be clear QS representation given that there are 40,000 members in the construction faculty, 25,000 of which are QSs.

“The faculties are the powerhouse of the institution. All the other bits like the regulation and education departments are essential but they do not reflect the real experiences of the membership.”

Senior members are warning that the institution is in danger of losing QS members to other construction institutions such as the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) if complaints against the running of the institution are not addressed.

There is no-one who sits on the Governing Council who is there as a QS

Leading RICS member

One member said: “It’s a big worry. If there is another subscription rise it could push members to consider leaving.”

Last week’s meeting also saw the launch of new priorities for the institution’s education activity, which included a further streamlining and internationalisation of the APC process. The RICS also aims to speed up new members getting accredited to the body.

Meanwhile, the RICS announced a further international push to attract 20,000 members in the next five years at the council meeting last week. The plan aims to attract more people to tackle the “time bomb” the body faces stemming from 10% of its members being aged over 65.

• The official written judgement on construction faculty chairman Michael Byng’s recent misconduct case has been published on the RICS’ website. The judgement, first revealed in QS News last month, issued a “severe reprimand” for Byng on three counts:

Rule 3 (conduct unbefitting Membership) for writing to a member of the RICS staff about the failure of a firm without informing the RICS he was related to an individual under investigation;Rule 14 (cooperation) for not providing information requested; and Rule 9 to Schedule 1 (professional indemnity insurance) for not submitting confirmation of his PII renewal within the required 28 days of the date of the renewal.