Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

History

RICS was founded in London, England, as the Institution of Surveyors after a meeting of 49 surveyors at the Westminster Palace Hotel on 15 June 1868. The inaugural president was John Clutton (who founded Cluttons, a property firm still in business today). The organisation has occupied headquarters on the corner of Great George Street and Little George Street since then. It received a Royal charter as The Surveyors' Institution on 26 August 1881, The charter required RICS to "promote the usefulness of the profession for the public advantage in the UK and in other parts of the world."

The Surveyors' Institution became the Chartered Surveyors' Institution in 1930. In 1946, George VI granted the title "Royal" and in 1947 the professional body became the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The RICS (with the CIOB, CIBSE, IstructE and RIBA) was a founder member of the Building Industry Council, today the Construction Industry Council, in 1988.

In March 2025, RICS president Justin Sullivan "agreed to step aside" following criticism of his role as an expert witness in legal case regarding a £32.5 million moth-infested mansion. Sullivan referred himself to the body's standards and regulatory board. Nick Maclean, who is due to take over the presidency in 2026, was appointed as acting president temporarily.

Coat of Arms

On December 1967 the RICS was granted a coat of arms by the College of Arms:

International influence

RICS has close links with many national surveying institutions and is a founding member association of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). Within RICS the primary areas of practice represented at FIG are geomatics (land and hydrographic survey), environment, planning, construction and valuation.

RICS works in close collaboration with other professional bodies, central banks and international organisations such as The United Nations, World Bank and The European Union.

In 2013, RICS was a founder member of the coalition to develop International Property Measurement Standards, which launched its first standard – for measuring office space – in November 2014. It launched its second standard, for measuring residential buildings, in September 2016. In 2014 RICS was a founder member of the coalition to develop International Ethics Standards, standards designed to add greater consistency to developing and reinforcing professional ethics globally – these launched in December 2016.

To add greater consistency to the benchmarking, measuring, and reporting of construction project costs, International Construction Measurement Standards were published in July 2017. The coalition for International Land Measurement Standards – aiding consistency of interpretation and documentation of tenure – launched in June 2016. In each case, coalition member bodies are committed to implementing the new standards through training and guidance for professional practitioners.

The RICS is a founder member of the International Valuation Standards Committee.

Membership

In 2025, there were 113,000 RICS-qualified members of whom 105,000 are "Professional Members" ie Chartered Surveyors in nearly 150 countries. The majority of members are still based in the United Kingdom, but with large numbers also in mainland Europe, Australia and Hong Kong. There is also strong growth in membership globally, particularly in China, India and the Americas.

Entry to membership of RICS is via four main routes: academic; graduate; technical; and senior professional. RICS has links with universities worldwide, with whom they have accredited approved courses which satisfy part of the qualification requirements to become trainee surveyors. RICS also offers expedited routes to membership for qualified professional members of some partner associations.

RICS requires members to update their knowledge and competence during their working life through Continuing Professional Development. Professionals holding RICS qualifications may use the following designations after their name:

AssocRICS (Associate); previously members at this level were known as Technical Members and used the designation "TechRICS"

MRICS (Member); previously members at this level were known as Professional Associates and used the designation "ARICS".

FRICS (Fellow).

HonRICS (Honorary members)

Those with the designation MRICS or FRICS are "Professional Members" entitled to be known as Chartered Surveyors and variations such as "Chartered Building Surveyor", "Chartered Valuation Surveyor" or "Chartered Quantity Surveyor", depending on their chosen specialist qualifications and field of expertise.

Both AssocRICS and MRICS require the collation of a candidate's training and work experience to be assessed by RICS trained assessors,

although some may be eligible for direct entry based on international qualifications. MRICS has a higher technical bar to entry and there is an academic prerequisite which does not exist for AssocRICS.

Professional groups

RICS specifies areas of specialism, each with its own professional group, clustered into land, property and construction. Within each professional group there may be further specialisms.

Specialist accreditations

RICS aims to cover, among its practising members, property and construction related expertise generally. Specialised areas of practice expertise for which accreditation is available include:

Building Information Modelling (BIM) Manager Certification

Building Conservation

Chartered Environmentalists

Dispute Resolution

ECO Assessor Certification

Fixed Charge Receivership Scheme

Valuer Registration.

RICS Matrics

The junior branch of RICS, known as Matrics (pronounced "matrix"), provides educational support, charitable and networking activities for surveying students, trainee surveyors (of any age) and Chartered Surveyors with ten years or less post-qualification experience. It comprises some 40 local groups across the United Kingdom. Established in 1889 as the Junior Committee, it became the "Junior Organisation" ("JO") in 1928 and was re-branded as "RICS Matrics" in 2003. It also has links with the Young Chartered Surveyors in the Republic of Ireland.

Governance

The RICS is governed by a governing council, to which report a management board, a standards and regulation board, and an audit committee.

2019-2021 governance review

In January 2021, the RICS reversed a decision to suppress a 2019 BDO report critical of the organisation's financial governance. According to the Sunday Times, four non-executive directors had expressed concerns about the report's findings, but were dismissed in November 2019 by then president Chris Brooke. Following a letter from four past presidents, the RICS initially rejected an independent review, but, after the ousted directors also wrote a letter, then said its governing council would "revisit" the issue, and on 22 January 2021 announced it would initiate an independent inquiry into the affair. In 2019, RICS finances were reported to have been in a difficult position, the organisation having made a pre-tax loss of £4.7m on £91.3m of income from fees and commercial activities. It subsequently made 140 people redundant. In February 2021, the RICS president Kathleen Fontana said that, in addition to the independent review into the audit report, the governing council was agreeing a strategic review into the institution's governance and member engagement. Building reported member views that expensive membership fees did not reflect the benefits they receive, and that RICS' international expansion had been "at the expense of its core UK membership, which feels disengaged and neglected".

In April 2021, Peter Oldham, the chair of the independent review of RICS's governance resigned "for professional reasons", to be replaced by Alison Levitt QC with completion delayed to June 2021 – later pushed back to mid-August 2021. On 4 June 2021, Building reported the "surprise" resignation and immediate departure of RICS' chief operating officer Violetta Parylo amid "a storm of calls" from members for reform. The RICS review of its purpose and relevance had been published in May 2021. Based on 9,000 responses, it reported members' trust in the RICS had plummeted by nearly a third, while satisfaction with membership had fallen to a historic low of 43%.

Levitt's governance review was delivered to the RICS in early August but not immediately made public, prompting calls for its full publication; the report was first reviewed by a five-strong subgroup of RICS's 26-member governing council. Property Week columnist Peter Bill said "a private tiff has ballooned into a crisis of confidence in the 130,000-member institution" with a defensive management facing a small but powerful group of disaffected members. After the August departure of RICS managing director Matthew Howell, RICS CEO Sean Tompkins resigned on 9 September 2021, when the full Levitt Review was published; Tompkins also forfeited a £190,000 bonus payment. In light of the Review findings, RICS president Kathleen Fontana, the interim chair of the governing council Chris Brooke, and management board chair Paul Marcuse also resigned, and RICS terminated its relationship with London law firm Fieldfisher, criticised by Levitt for being "demonstrably and inappropriately partisan."

Governance review over fire safety

In January 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was reporting to be planning legislation to enable regular reviews of the RICS's governance. Ministers were said to be frustrated by a RICS decision in December 2021 to maintain its valuation advice requiring External Wall System forms (EWS1s) on blocks under 18m high. Richard Collins, the RICS's interim CEO, publicly questioned the need for the proposed new law to monitor RICS's governance.

Presidents

The first president was John Clutton, who was elected in 1868. The first female president was Louise Brooke-Smith, who was elected in 2014.

Administration

RICS headquarters is in London, with its main support functions in Birmingham. There are regional offices in the United Kingdom, across mainland Europe, in China, Singapore, Australia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America and Brazil.

Guidance

BCIS

BCIS, the Building Cost Information Service, was established in 1962 and provides independent cost and price information to the construction industry and others needing comprehensive, accurate and independent data. It was spun out of RICS in 2022, becoming an independent company.

Isurv

Isurv is an online information service for expertise in natural and built environments. Launched by the RICS in September 2003, it provides insight from verified legal experts and industry practitioners relating to construction.

Rental valuation of public houses, bars, restaurants and nightclubs in England and Wales

The primary RICS professional guidance on this subject is covered at VPGA 4 Valuation. It provides practical assistance to valuers dealing with public houses which are valued and assessed in a completely different way than other commercial businesses.

Public houses are valued by the profits method of valuation, often referred to as Fair Maintainable Trade Or Turnover (FMT). The FMT method applies to tens of thousands of commercial properties in England and Wales and is the basis of rateable valuation by the Valuation Office Agency, who also follow this method. RICS guidance ('The Red Book') emphasises that a valuer specialising in such valuations are regularly involved in the market, as practical knowledge of the factors affecting the market is essential to analysis of comparable transactions.

SMM

The Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) published by the RICS consisted of classification tables and rules of measurement, allowing use of a uniform basis for measuring building works. It was first published in 1922, superseding a Scottish Standard Method of Measurement which had been published in 1915. Its seventh edition (SMM7) was first published in 1988 and revised in 1998. SMM7 was replaced by the New Rules of Measurement, volume 2 (NRM2), which were published in April 2012 by the RICS Quantity Surveying and Construction Professional Group and became operational on 1 January 2013. NRM2 has been in general use since July 2013.

SMM7 was accompanied by the Code of Procedure for the Measurement of Building Works (the SMM7 Measurement Code). Whilst SMM7 could have a contractual status within a project, for example in the JCT Standard form of Building Contract), the Measurement Code was not mandatory.

NRM2 Is the second of three component parts within the NRM suite:

NRM1 – Order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works

NRM2 – Detailed measurement for building works

NRM3 – Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance works.

Commercial leases

A commercial lease code was published in 2020 as part of an RICS professional statement to promote best practice, replacing a code of practice for commercial leases first developed in 1995, with updates issued in 2002 and 2007. The initial code was seen as an attempt to balance relationships between landlords and premises renters, especially in the small business sector. The code adopted in 2020 reflected a perception that "the lettings market became more evenly balanced between landlords and tenants" by this time. The code operates as a professional statement with mandatory obligations applicable to RICS members and regulated firms, and separately as a "good practice" document without the mandatory requirements, for use outside a professional context.

Charitable works

Lionheart is the benevolent fund for past and present RICS members and their families. The charity was established in 1899 and provides financial support, health and well-being packages, and work-related counselling and befriending support. RICS also supports the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust, which helps young people enter the profession through apprenticeships; Charity Property Help, which provides property advice to charities and voluntary organisations, and The Chartered Surveyors' Voluntary Service (CSVS), a registered charity providing free property advice to people who would otherwise struggle to access professional assistance.