Remembering Professor Peter Dale OBE FRICS (1936–2026)

It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Professor Peter Dale.

As a member of RICS, he was president of the Land Surveyors Division (1989-90), where he ensured that the profession adapted to technological change without losing sight of its public responsibilities. One of his many notable accomplishments includes his time as president of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), the global surveying body, from 1996-1999 – something only a few RICS members have achieved in its 150-year history. Here he strengthened its engagement with international agencies and reinforced the role of surveying in development.

Peter’s professional outlook was shaped by his early years in Uganda, instilling in him a lifelong understanding that surveying is much more than technique, it’s about people, land and institutions. He always acknowledged that he gained far more than he contributed, saying Uganda made him, “older but also wiser.”

He wrote numerous books including Cadastral Surveys within the Commonwealth (1976), Land Information Management (with John McLaughlin, 1988), Land Administration (1999) and Cadastral Surveys and Records of Rights in Land (FAO, 1995).

Peter was instrumental in some of the UK’s earliest efforts to modernise land and property information infrastructure. In the early 90s he established the RICS sponsored Domesday 2000 initiative, with a vision for a ‘national land information system’ and connectivity between the UK’s primary digital land and property databases.

He will be remembered for the way he encouraged, challenged and inspired in equal measure.

He is survived by his family.