RICS invite DTSA President to 'important' GCS Roundtable

“Global construction standards must serve as a clear, consistent, and internationally recognised framework that empowers RICS members to deliver work of the highest quality and ethics in any jurisdiction. Their core function is to guide professional conduct, support sound judgement, and universally uphold the values of integrity, transparency, and accountability.” _ Amit Patel, RICS Head of Professional Practice, Construction

"RICS is consulting on the 'first' ever Global construction professional standard to support the development of a comprehensive standard suite.

This approach incorporates the new Global construction standard, alongside six Practice Information (PI) guides (which are not part of this consultation) into a single 7-part publication that contains high level principles of quantity surveying and project management practice over the entire construction project life cycle."

This is now collectively referred to as the Global construction professional standards suite, and it includes:

Credit: RICS

Always enjoy a visit to 'Surveyors House' _ a long time 'second home' to many in the profession ....... based in Parliament Square

Your participation - as a Chartered / aspiring Surveyor

"This consultation represents a decade's worth of updates delivered in one comprehensive publication. Led by expert author Matt Thompson and an expert group of professionals who have a diverse range of knowledge and experience across global regions, we have developed a standard that will enable faster practice improvements and create consistent global frameworks.

All construction professionals globally, including RICS members, APC candidates, quantity surveyors, project managers, and other professionals working within the construction sector are encouraged to take part and share their feedback."

I was led to believe that this was definitely one of the quickest 'consultation periods' that I have participated in, but on the day, I fully appreciated the extent to which the requisite preparatory work had gone in and on, by others, across various Working Groups

Credit: RICS

Attendees from RICS:

Amit Patel

Charlotte Neal

Lesley Graham

Steve Thompson

Credit: Dr Bola Abisogun OBE

Despite the seriousness of our agenda for today's meeting - nothing can obviate the need for a smile and a 'customary' selfie _ BEFORE we got started ......... !

Purpose

The purpose of this briefing document is to guide you as to the basis of the Global Construction Standards (GCS) so that we can receive and understand your views and thoughts on the draft of this Standard.

Credit: Dr Bola Abisogun OBE

Timings

The RICS public consultation on the GCS will be ‘live’ for a period of six weeks from Tuesday 16 September to Friday 24 October 2025; the link to the iconsult platform will be supplied as soon as it is available.

Background

The existing Black Book (BB) suite of guidance notes as been published progressively over a number of years building to a total of 32 separate titles. It has been decided that, rather than merely update and re-publish each guidance note, that a fresh approach is taken. This has involved in the preparation of a Professional Statement (PS) to include global principles of QS and PM practice and a series of six Practice Information (PI) pieces of work to include best practice guidance across the project lifecycle, as illustrated in the following graphic:

Credit: RICS

"The PS piece to be consulted upon has been authored by an expert technical author (Matt Thompson), supported by an Expert Group of members and others from the UK and around the world. Matt is also responsible for the series alignment across all elements of the work to be published.

The six PI pieces of work will not be publically consulted upon, but they will be published at the same time so that the complete work can be seen as a whole body of work. In the PI Parts, we have made use of the existing BB material which has been consolidated and refined into six Parts, each led by a technical author, supported by an Expert Group of members and others."

Thinking about the 'current and evolving' needs of the #NextGen talent pool always strikes a chord of excitement, but one that must be tethered to the current direction of travel, for RICS regulation ...... which will continue to be aligned to a suite of 'other' standards and guidance notes [including all RICS-APC requirements and competencies].

Credit: RICS

Always good to see fellow professionals from other professional bodies, positively engage and seek to collaborate, in this case the ever amazing Eddie Tuttle from CIOB ..........

Credit: Dr Bola Abisogun OBE

Credit: RICS / Podcast

And always good to see industry allies like Kevin O'Grady .......... the last conversation we had (back in 2022) can be heard below - we discussed the 'future of the profession' (and in particular the PQS!) along with and hosted by a mutual colleague and unwavering RICS ally, 'Sir' Alan Muse FRICS _

Credit: RICS / Podcast

And, a huge thank you to Prof Anil, from all they way over there, in North America ......... a global profession, with global connections, always offering a 'local' perspective!