Knowledge and Practice Committee (KPC)

The main purpose the Knowledge and Practice Committee (‘KPC’/ ‘Committee’) is to:

Maintain and develop the knowledge and professional practice of surveying by developing, maintaining and promulgating technical standards.
Advance industry and public knowledge on key issues affecting the natural and built environment.
Develop/evolve the competences required for APC pathways and ideas for new pathways (through expert insight and member input as and when appropriate), ensuring there is no overlap of role with the Standards and Regulation Board.

The Committee reports to the RICS Board.

Chair

Simon Rawlinson MRICS

Chair of Knowledge and Practice Committee

Simon has a strong background in research, knowledge and collaborative innovation focused mainly on the construction sector. Simon is a Senior Leader in Arcadis, a leading multi-disciplinary design, engineering and consulting practice in the built and natural environment. He heads Strategic Research and Insight, with global and UK-focused accountabilities. Simon has over 25 years’ experience in construction and built environment research and innovation with a particular focus is on construction markets, pricing behaviour and risk. He believes that knowledge and data are a major differentiator for the surveying profession and brings this passion to KPC. Simon has worked with a large portfolio of national and international clients in property and infrastructure. As part of his commitment to performance improvement and innovation, Simon has been closely involved in many successful pan-industry initiatives including the UK Government BIM Task Group and the Construction Leadership Council. Simon is a well-established commentator to the construction and property industry, having regularly to industry journals and research publications since 1995.

Deputy Chair

Dr David Parker FRICS

Acting Commissioner, NSW Land & Environment Court

Dr David Parker is based in Sydney, Australia, being an internationally recognised property industry expert and highly regarded property academic with forty years’ experience in property including being Valuer General of NSW, Professor of Property at the University of South Australia and an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court. Dr Parker is a Visiting Professor of Property at the Henley Business School, University of Reading and has published several books and numerous academic papers, being a regular expert witness on property funds management and property valuation matters in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court. Further information concerning Dr Parker may be found at: davidparker.com.au

KPC membership

Emma Fletcher MRICS

Low Carbon Homes Director, Octopus Energy

Emma is the Low Carbon Housing Director at Octopus Energy. Her career has centred on leading high impact, high innovation projects in real estate, with a particular focus on housing, energy performance and green energy production. Her practical experience includes starting her career in rural surveying and estate management moving into award-winning housing and regeneration developments. Emma is a passionate advocate for change, community resilience and sustainability solutions for all. She established and led the UK’s first fossil fuel-free district heating scheme in her village, Swaffham Prior. Her work regularly features in trade, national and international press & media.

Nick Knight MRICS

Executive Director, Valuation and Advisory Services UK & Ireland, CBRE Limited

Nick is an experienced leader in the valuation of commercial and residential real estate in the UK market. He is trusted by many market participants and is committed to maintaining the highest ethical and technical standards in the valuation industry. Valuation is the cornerstone of the real estate industry and has a key role to play in attracting capital, driving economic growth and the efficient working of the market. Valuation is thus integral to the reputation and trust of the UK economy on the global stage. Nick has 30 years of working in Valuation in UK & Europe across both commercial and residential sectors. Nick sits on the UK Executive Board. He has extensive experience providing valuation advice across all sectors to a broad range of clients in the UK REIT Sector, UK Fund Managers, Private Equity, Sovereign Wealth and lenders to the UK market.

Roderick Houston MRICS

Engagement Director (Construction & Real Estate), Net Zero Now

Roddy is a Chartered Surveyor with extensive experience in commercial real estate. He is currently leading a team at Net Zero Now, a climate-tech company, working to improve carbon accounting and decarbonisation in the construction supply chain. He also acts as a consultant, providing strategy and transactions advice to a number of clients. Before this, he was Deputy Director (London) in the Government Property Agency, leading a team to transform the Civil Estate office portfolio across London, delivering a number of major schemes across the “Whitehall Campus”, Canary Wharf, Croydon and Stratford. Previous roles include as an Estate Strategist with Capita; as an Asset Management Director at Land Securities / TeleReal Trillium; as a management consultant in KPMG’s Property & Programmes Consulting group; and as property asset manager in Coopers & Lybrand’s Business Recovery & Insolvency division. He trained at Knight Frank & Rutley. Roddy has therefore worked in both leading professional advisory firms as well “client-side” organisations, serving a wide range of both private and public sector clients, across all kinds of different, commercial, property asset classes. Roddy was President of the Cambridge University Land Society from 2012-2014, and still chairs its Commercial Property Forum. Amongst other roles, he is a founder member of the Cambridge Land Economy Advisory Board.

Helen McKeown MRICS

Director – Building Consultancy, AECOM

Helen is a Building Surveyor and a Director at AECOM, focusing on technical due diligence (TDD) and dilapidations service lines with more than 20 years post qualified experience across a broad range of building surveying including building pathology and project management. She speaks regularly at conferences on various topics and has developed and delivered internal training courses to enhance and build the skills of building surveying and engineering colleagues. She has delivered TDD and dilapidations instructions for major institutional investors and some of the largest firms and property companies in the world. Working across all sectors in the UK and across Europe, Helen has advised clients on hotels, student accommodation, offices, logistics and specialist sub-sector logistics assets, as well as more esoteric assets such as arenas, pharmaceutical manufacturing, distilleries and theme parks, including assets being purchased with a view to conversion to life sciences labs. Helen has previously worked for JLL, Watts and Manchester based SME’s. Helen is an active member of the RICS and is an APC Assessor for the Building Surveying pathway. Her interests are in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion within the RICS.

In addition to the Chair and Deputy Chair, the Chairs of the Professional Group Panels (PGPs) are members of the KPC.