From discussion to practice: RICS’ first-ever standard on responsible AI use is now in effect

RICS' first global professional standard for the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in surveying practice is now in effect for all members and regulated firms from 9 March 2026. We share insights from RICS members Paul Beeston FRICS and Nella Pang MRICS to support you in putting the standard into practice.

RICS brought together a group of practitioners at our Westminster headquarters in December 2025. The event marked the standard's publication and explored what it means for the profession.

The panel

• James Garner FRICS | Head of AI and Data, Gleeds; Member of the Expert Working Group | Host
• Onur Demirci | RICS Consultant: Subject Matter Expert (AI and Data)
• Nella Pang MRICS | Managing Director, Omega RE; Member of the Expert Working Group
• Paul Beeston FRICS | Partner – Head of Industry and Service Insight, Rider Levett Bucknall
   

Keeping pace with AI’s development

For Paul Beeston FRICS, Partner - Head of Industry and Service Insight at Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), the greatest challenge facing the profession is not data quality, compliance or legal liability. It is pace. All three demand attention, but pace is what keeps him up at night.

Beeston identified three distinct dimensions to this challenge:

1. Technology itself moves faster than firms can adapt their processes.
2. Staff enthusiasm for AI tools often outpaces the governance procedures firms need to follow before onboarding them.
3. Clients pull in opposing directions. Some demand faster AI adoption, while others insist on keeping it off their projects.
    

Beeston found that conversations about data quality and security often bring reluctant clients around. This points to an important role for surveyors: helping clients understand and manage AI-related risk.

The RICS’ AI standard addresses these challenges. It provides a structured framework for firms to govern their AI use, including requirements for risk registers, responsible use policies, and procurement due diligence.
 

Recognising the opportunity 

The panel was equally clear that AI presents large opportunities, which many surveyors are realising across the built and natural environment.

For Nella Pang MRICS, Managing Director of Omega RE and a Member of the Expert Working Group that developed the standard, AI’s greatest value lies in shifting practice from reactive to proactive.

Pang drew on her firm's experience. Omega RE manages around 70 properties across the UK for two portfolio clients. This requires regular reporting on sustainability metrics — energy, water and gas consumption. AI tools are starting to replace manual data collection with meaningful analysis: this frees surveyors to focus on the conversation with clients rather than the compilation of data.

She highlighted how AI levels the playing field for smaller firms, giving analytical capacity to compete with larger organisations.

“AI also evens the playing field for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) like mine. We’re able to compete with the global players, but offer a much more strategic personal relationship, allowing us as surveyors to be strategic in advice, as opposed to being busy writing a report.”

Paul Beeston challenged the profession to think beyond efficiency as the primary measure of AI’s value.

“Much of the talk now is about efficiency, whereas we should use AI to also focus on better outcomes for our clients. The opportunity to make a positive change in the built and natural environment is not just about efficiency. It will come if we focus on the outcomes that our clients are seeking and looking to improve those.”
 

Professional judgement: the surveyor’s irreplaceable contribution

The panel returned to one theme above all others: the role of the surveyor's professional judgement. Beeston described the risk of over-reliance on AI as automation bias.

“I do worry about automation bias — the view that it must be true because the computer says it’s true. The standard helps here as it talks about professional scepticism. This highlights the importance of the Chartered Surveyor (the person adding value to the equation) in curating the inputs and validating the outputs. The standard gives the profession the ability to demonstrate its worth to clients in an AI world."

The standard embeds this principle throughout: AI assists professional practice; it does not replace it. The surveyor remains accountable for every piece of professional advice, regardless of the tools used to produce it.

Nella Pang described AI as a valuable second perspective — one that helps practitioners' sense-check their thinking rather than substitute it.

“When you can ask AI certain questions to say, what have I forgotten? It offers you some security.”
 

Looking ahead: skills and business models will need to evolve

Asked for his boldest prediction about AI's impact on the quantity surveying profession, Beeston steered away from technology forecasting. Any specific prediction, he noted, would likely be out of date before long. Instead, he focused on people.

“AI will change the skills of the future Chartered Surveyor. We will increasingly need skills like critical and creative thinking alongside empathy. AI is not just a technology change but requires us all to evolve our skills.”

He also pointed to a structural disruption that the profession needs to prepare for. The long-established model of billing by time — whether at an hourly rate or a fixed fee — may not survive the shift that AI makes possible.

“What we are looking at before us now is potentially more disruptive to surveying practice than the abolition of fee scales many decades ago. We will need to adjust business models to suit and increasingly articulate the value we add to our clients.”

RICS provides a range of supporting materials, including sector-specific case studies covering:

• Construction
• Valuation
• Commercial property
• Residential property
• Land and natural resources
• Building surveying
• Risk management sample
• Client information note
• Frequently asked questions
   

Access all supporting materials here: Artificial Intelligence in the natural and built environment sector.