Update from Richard Collins, Interim CEO - May 2022

One of the most important parts of my job is hearing member feedback and ensuring it is acted on. For me, this is essential for making sure RICS gives you the right support in your work, and I am always impressed and grateful for the commitment that members bring to helping improve the workings of RICS and strengthening the bonds that exist across the profession.

With that in mind, I am delighted at the amount of member-led and member-focussed activity taking place right now. The free local engagement events that members requested are under way, with over 1,500 members in 19 countries meeting so far to network and share expertise in person and online. Funding for more member-led events and initiatives has been agreed with World Regional Boards, so look out for these in your area, and feel free to contact your regional RICS lead with ideas for your own events.

Alongside more localised event and networking opportunities, we are also committed to simplifying communications and ensuring you are receiving regular and relevant updates from your World Regional Board (WRB) chairs. It’s great to see the new monthly Chair e-newsletters being read by so many of you, with an email open rate of up to 70%+ in some global regions.

This is all testament to the great work by Rory Murphy FRICS and other members on the Member experience, engagement and value (MEEV) Working Group to bring this to life. You can visit the Member Value Hub for the latest on the Group’s work and to access your CPD Support Pack, but Rory will be providing a more detailed update on how this member-led group is delivering for members in the coming days.

A further opportunity to share your views is this year’s Survey of the Profession, which is open until 30 May. As President Clement Lau FRICS and the Presidential Team said at this year’s launch, members of RICS play a vital role in shaping RICS priorities, so this is an important moment when you can share your thoughts, and for RICS to listen and take action. Please check your mailbox for the survey invitation link and do contact us if for any reason you cannot access the survey.

Lord Bichard is of course due to present his review findings to Governing Council by the end of next month, and I would like to reiterate how grateful I am to everyone who took the time to give feedback and engage with his call for evidence. I am sure you feel as I do that this will be an important moment for the profession, and I look forward to seeing the recommendations when they are published.

Finally, I am proud to share with you a Memorandum of Understanding RICS signed in April to drive collaboration and progress on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This commits built environment bodies representing over 350,000 global professionals to collective action in this important area, and is a major step towards shaping the more equitable and inclusive profession that we want to see.

Alongside indications of renewed and growing confidence in our sector – with professionals reporting sentiment at the highest levels since Q4 2019 – I am encouraged by this kind of positive progress, and hopeful that we will continue to move forward together as a profession in 2022 and beyond.

Richard Collins

Interim CEO