Diverse and growing – the story of RICS in Switzerland

It’s that time of year again, when we welcome newly qualified professionals who completed their final assessments in the last few weeks in Geneva and Zurich. We have a total of 12 new MRICS, drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise and from new companies as well as RICS Regulated Firms. 

Facilities Management, Quantity Surveying and Project Management featured in the list of new members, all three more unusual for Switzerland. These were alongside our more regular Commercial Real Estate and Valuation candidates. 

When asked what his motivation was for RICS qualification, our new FM member, Lukas von Rotz MRICS, Senior Consultant & Team Leader, Drees & Sommer said: “In my daily job as a consultant, I realize that the world of real estate has been impacted by digitization, digital business models and digital transformation for some time now. This disruption is happening at a rapid pace, so the legislation often does not keep pace. In these areas, a strong organisation such as RICS is needed to define the "rules of the game" in a consistent and meaningful way. RICS international standards and regulation will become all the more important in the future and I would like to be actively involved in developing these cornerstones and representing them to industry stakeholders”.

Continuing on the theme of standards and regulation it is interesting to see that a large number of candidates, this session, came from two RICS Regulated Firms, namely Wincasa and Partner Real Estate Knight Frank, both looking to strengthen their relationship with RICS and our ethical and professional standards.  

Robert Curzon-Price MRICS, CEO & Partner or Partner Real Estate Knight Frank, said of the recent successes in his firm: “I am very proud of our newly qualified team members! In an unregulated market like Switzerland it is even more necessary for the profession to establish its own standards and those provided by the RICS mirror our own ethical and professional approach. Being RICS Regulated gives a clear statement to the market about our own beliefs and behaviours.” 

Anyone reading this who would like to achieve RICS qualification in Switzerland and see their name on the list next year should contact me and we would be very pleased to talk through the options and opportunities: mareynolds@rics.org

We welcome the following new members:

• Rubens Didier, Partner Real Estate - Knight Frank SA (Commercial Real Estate)
• Arnaud Duret, Partner Real Estate - Knight Frank SA (Commercial Real Estate)
• Peter Johnson, Jacobs Switzerland GmbH (Quantity Surveying & Construction)
• Tony Klose, Wincasa AG (Project Management)
• Morgane Kotecki, PwC (Valuation)
• Andy Kürsteiner, Wincasa AG (Project Management)
• Beatrice Landolt, Wincasa AG (Commercial Real Estate)
• Romy Liatard, CBRE (Valuation)
• Sébastien Martins, Partner Real Estate - Knight Frank SA (Commercial Real Estate)
• Thomas Riedener, Realstone SA (Planning & Development)
• Lukas von Rotz, Drees & Sommer (Facilities Management)
• Thomas Vangendt, Maus Frères SA (Property Finance and Investment)