rics modus, global edition — june 2016

THIS IS WHAT 22,000 LOOKS

LIKETHE CASH ISSUE The great wall of Chinese money 24 / Infrastructure’s property pay-off 26 / Can housing inflation be tamed? 30

And it’s

a number we can

no longer

ignore / 16

@RICSnews

®#RICSmodus

rics.org/modus

JUNE 2016ASK THE BIG QUESTIONS

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0 4 RICS.ORG/MODUS

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JUNE 2016_MODUS 05

16 COVER STORYPutting the built environment’s climate commitments into practice

20 LESSONS OF THE PASTThe RICS members ensuring our heritage assets are up to modern standards

24 CHASING THE DRAGONOn China’s outward investment trail

26 BUY NOW PAY LATERFunding models for transport infrastructure

30 A BURSTING HOUSING BUBBLE …Why might our governments be so reluctant to curb house price inflation?

34 TROPHY HUNTERSAustralia’s most in-demand assets

36 NO MORE SPIRALLING COSTSCounting the building blocks of London’s Francis Crick Institute

08 DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONCould rural estates hold the key to the UK’s affordable housing shortage?We hear two points of view

09-15 NEWS IN BRIEFIndustry news, advice and information for RICS members

10 THINKING: ROB MAHONEY FRICSRICS’ Honorary Secretary on the importance of good governance

13 PRESIDENT’S COLUMNMartin J Brühl FRICS looks back on a year of greater collaboration, responsibility and engagement

“People will reward those countries and companies that are moving ahead, and name and shame those

that haven’t made good on their promises”TERRI WILLS, WORLD GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL

COVER STORY, P16

Views expressed in Modus are those of the named author and are not necessarily those of RICS or the publisher. The contents of this magazine are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. All information correct at time of going to press. All rights reserved. The publisher cannot accept liability for errors or omissions. RICS does not accept responsibility for loss, injury or damage or costs that result from, or are connected in any way to, the use of products or services advertised. All editions of Modus are printed on paper sourced from sustainable, properly managed forests. This magazine can be recycled for use in newspapers and packaging. Please dispose of it at your local collection point. The polywrap is made from biodegradable material and can be recycled.

MODUS JUNE 2016 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Contents

38-39 CAREERSWhat your body language says about you; Tottenham Hotspur’s Richard Serra MRICS

40 BUSINESSProfessional indemnity insurance pitfalls

41 LEGAL 101Defining a surveyor’s duty of care

43 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTClean up your anti-money-laundering act

45 SURVEYEDThe latest products for professionals

58 MIND MAPCBRE’s Andrew Jay MRICS on the evolving demand for data centres

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PLUS44 Benefits46 Events

47 Obituaries48 RICS Recruit

06 RICS.ORG/MODUS

To advertise your surveying services on Find a Surveyor visit ricsfirms.com/advertisewithus or call +44 (0)20 7871 2664

Find a SurveyorIn the last 12 months, 300,000 users have made a search on Find a Surveyor: an increase of 34% year-on-year.*

More than 1,800 firms choose to upgrade their Find a Surveyor listing every year.

Ensure your firm’s profile is working hard for you in 2016.New for 2016:· New advertisement packages to cater for surveying

firms’ needs and budgets· New account management· New trial opportunities.

‘Since upgrading my Find a Surveyor listing to a Showcase package, I am happy to say it paid for itself within the first month’Graeme Burton MRICS, Pridmore-Cox*Source: Google Analytics

21337-Find A Surveyor-AD-202x274mm-02.indd 1 04/04/2016 14:07

rics.org/modus

JUNE 2016_MODUS 07

FOR SUNDAY Editor Oliver Parsons / Art Director Christie Ferdinando / Deputy Editor Andy Plowman / Contributing Editor Brendon Hooper / Senior Designer Jess Campe / Creative Director Matt Beaven / Account Director Karen Jenner / Advertisement Sales Director Emma Kennedy / Head of Display Advertising Marlene Stewart / Senior Account Manager Milos Maguire / Production Manager Michael Wood / Managing Director Toby Smeeton / Repro F1 Colour / Printer Wyndeham Group / Published by Sunday, 207 Union Street, London SE1 0LN wearesunday.com / For RICS James Murphy and Kate Symons, RICS, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD

In May’s IN/OUT special cover edition, we invited readers to tweet their views on #Brexit. Here is a selection of the replies.

@SabrinaWagstaff (left) Even sunning myself in Greece ... I’m #In #brexit #ricsmodus #eu #bettertogether

@MarkLacey7 #IN #RICSmodus @RICSnews @alinea_LLP

@TomW_ARCADIS Good morning read of the latest #RICS #MODUS magazine. Interesting topics of discussion! #Brexit #devolution

@katiegreen_qs (left) Delighted to see this on the front page of the #RICS magazine #Brexit

@GEOFFHUNTBSS @RICSnews is it true the modus edition is advocating a political position re Europe referendum?

@InvAgentNW Still undecided. Going to read up more this weekend I think #Brexit #EUreferendum #RICSModus #investment

@jakesoden (left) @RICSnews Sorry. No selfie. And still undecided. #ricsmodus

Join the

debateREACTIONS AND RESPONSES

FROM PREVIOUS ISSUESDo you have a comment about this issue of Modus? Email [email protected],

or tweet us using #RICSmodus

FUNNY BUSINESSSir, There has been much mention in the property press about the Right to Rent code of practice, which results from the 2014 Immigration Act. Clause 3.1 of the code reads: “A residential tenancy agreement means a tenancy that grants a right of occupation for a property for residential use … whether or not the property can be used for any other purpose.”

This would appear to include shops, pubs and restaurants with living accommodation and relate to lettings, licences, assignments and informal rental agreements of less than seven years – or longer if incorporating a break clause.

There seems to be little awareness of the possibility that the Act could apply to business premises. This appears to be an unintended consequence of poor drafting. However, on asking my MP for guidance, he replied that he couldn’t give a legal opinion and that I should employ a solicitor. On pressing the issue, a senior parliamentary assistant thought that the Act did apply to business premises.

So, it does seem that landlords of commercial property with ancillary living accommodation may need to take note of the Act and related 2016 code of practice. Or do they?Christopher Hodgson FRICS, Sleaford

MEMBER STRIPSir, You recently published a letter from me (feedback, p5, May) but alas, you “stripped” me of my MBE. I can understand the policy of only printing RICS qualifications, but the MBE is an honour. Given it was awarded for services to quantity surveying, I thought it would be exempt from the editor’s scalpel!Thomas L Inglis MBE FRICS (retired), Fintry

Feedback

@RICSnews // #RICSmodus

USEFUL RICS NUMBERS CONTACT CENTRE+44 (0)24 7686 8555 Enquiries / APC guidance / Subscriptions / Passwords / Library / Bookshop REGULATION HELPLINE +44 (0)20 7695 1670 CONFIDENTIAL HELPLINE +44 (0)20 7334 3867 DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES +44 (0)20 7334 3806 SWITCHBOARD +44 (0)20 7222 7000 LIONHEART +44 (0)24 7646 6696

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RICSmodus

EU MUST BE JOKINGSir, I was horrified to receive the latest edition of Modus (May) with a large “OUT” on the front page. It was not until I read the relevant articles that I noticed the large “IN” on the rear page.

To favour “out” is clearly making a significant political point and there is an unquestionable bias from RICS towards the “out” campaign.

Not only do I completely disagree with this argument, I take great exception to RICS being so biased. I look forward to an equally large retraction in the next edition of Modus.Alastair Pannell MRICSThanks for your email. While every May 2016 edition had two covers, one for “in”and one for “out”, half were printed with “in” on the front, and half with “out” . There was no bias at all –we were simply aiming to stimulate debate.

FOLLOWING BORDERS Sir, The March issue of Modus features a debate on the construction skills deficit and rules for immigration (p14), while the President’s column considers the function of borders (p11).

In my career, I have worked in Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris. In light of the Brexit referendum, I would like to make two points. First, post-Brexit trade negotiations are uncertain. Would UK chartered surveyors still be able to work in the EU? Conversely, would EU professionals such as RICS President Martin J Brühl be able to work in the UK? Second, what happens if the negotiation is inconclusive? How long might the UK be in limbo? What is the worst-case scenario for UK professionals wanting to work in the EU?

My gut feeling is to support the remain campaign. In these uncertain times, however, I would welcome further insight into the process, length and outcomes of negotiations. Thomas Acker MRICS

08 RICS.ORG/MODUS

JOHN VARLEY ESTATE DIRECTOR, CLINTON DEVON ESTATES, AND CHAIR, ESTATES BUSINESS GROUP

RURAL ESTATES ARE BUSINESSES DEALING WITH COMPLEX, INTEGRATED AGENDAS. Trying to find common cause on a single topic, such as affordable housing,

is not straightforward unless understood in context of the overall business. The key is how housing fits into the wider estate strategy, which may have a horizon of well over 50 years – beyond any local plan or mindset of existing communities, politicians or stakeholders.

Private estates are usually family businesses, whose ethos is based on stewardship and the principle of handing over something “better than what was received”. Provision of affordable housing to encourage vibrant rural communities can be seen in this context. However, simply assuming that every rural estate will be delighted to hand over land for affordable housing would be misplaced. Such a plan must fit into the estate’s overall aim for its long-term sustainability, which may include retaining social housing in its portfolio. Estates may act in philanthropic ways, but they are not simply philanthropic institutions.

The best way to encourage estates to support delivery of affordable housing is for society, government and local stakeholders to recognise the huge contribution they make. The 2015 Budget announcement to restrict interest relief on residential rental property will not help in this regard. This blunt instrument will damage the ability of many estates to finance marginal projects such as affordable housing.

Local authority plans should work in line with estates across a set of common agendas, including affordable housing. Sustainable rural communities need sustainable estates.

MICHAEL NEWEY FRICS GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE, BROADLAND HOUSING, AND RICS PAST PRESIDENT

THE LACK OF AFFORDABLE RURAL HOUSING IS A CHALLENGE that faces many communities. Right to Buy has made home

ownership accessible to more than a million households, but often at a cost to the next generation. There are many villages where all the old council housing has been sold off and there are no affordable homes left to rent.

When looking for land for new rural homes it is essential to understand what motivates owners. The land market is normally driven by capital reward, but this is not always the case for rural estates. Sometimes the estate is looking for a rental income stream and so may be more interested in leaving a legacy of community benefit. Frequently they do not want to see their freehold ownership broken up, but they equally want to see local people able to stay living locally.

Broadland Housing has adopted three different approaches to meet Norfolk landowners’ preferences. In Fulmodeston the land was donated, provided the scheme was built to the highest possible environmental standards – in this case Passive House. At Framlingham Earl, we are negotiating the lease of 16 new-build properties at a cost that allows us to charge social rents, while at Edgefield we worked with the local estate to deliver a mixed-tenure development – allowing them to achieve much higher land values and ultimately release capital that was unobtainable without providing new affordable housing.

Successful schemes will only be built when a developer understands what motivates the landowner and recognises that it might not just be money.

How do we encourage rural estates to release land for affordable housing? Discuss.

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

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Intelligence News / Reviews / Opinions / Reactions

John Varley and Michael Newey will be speaking at RICS’ Rural Conference this month. Go to rics.org/ruralconference

www.rics.org/ruralconference

JUNE 2016_MODUS 09

LISTEN UP, BUDDYBusinesses in the EMEA region have increased the proportion of the real estate service requirements that they outsource to specialists

Source: CBRE EMEA

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Demand for UK commercial property brought low by Brexit

International businesses are postponing investment in Britain in the wake of uncertainty ahead of the country’s EU referendum, research from RICS reveals.

The RICS EU Referendum Paper included survey data that shows there has been a steady easing in international demand for office, industrial and retail property in the UK since the referendum was confirmed in May 2015.

Among the report’s key findings is that short-term uncertainty has contributed to falling international investment demand in central London, and that rental and capital value projections decreased after the 2015 announcement.

The demand indicator among international investors for UK commercial property is now at its lowest level since RICS records began in 2014. Just 5% of those surveyed reported increased interest from overseas companies over the last three months. This is a sizeable drop from 12 months ago, when the figure was 36%.

Uncertainty caused by the EU referendum has been cited by 38% of RICS members as the reason why international retailers and other businesses have been nervous about investing in Britain.

Should Britain leave the EU, 43% of respondents felt that it would have a negative impact on the commercial property sector. Only 6% thought “Brexit” would have positive impact.

The paper shows that a range of key industries have been hit by short-term uncertainty. However, in the longer term, steady growth is still predicted across rural, land and built environment sectors.

Download the EU Referendum Paper at rics.org/euref.

RAMPING UPMultistorey

warehouses like Segro’s X2

at Heathrow airport could

become a more common sight

Intelligence

NEWS IN BRIEF

rics.org/modus

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Landlords and occupiers need to do more to future-proof their logistics properties in cities and on their fringes, to meet the changing requirements of “omni-channel” retailing, says JLL.

Globally, supply chains are facing their biggest changes in centuries, the firm asserts. Driven by advances in online retailing, the New Industrial (R)evolution in the title of its report is predicted to disrupt more than manufacturing. Distribution networks will be transformed into consumer-centric “demand chains”, as “big data” improves the visibility of demand, the responsiveness of suppliers and the tracking of products.

JLL predicts that the use of big data will also reduce the requirement for logistics facilities to hold stock, and increase demand for facilities to handle the movement of products back and forth along the chain. Warehouses will also have to evolve. Demand for multistorey, ramped logistics facilities will grow in Europe, and distribution centres will be revolutionised by driverless vehicles and automated workforces.

Furthermore, rising labour costs in China, hidden costs related to long supply chains, quality issues and increasing logistical risks will lead to increased demand for industrial property in EMEA.

Guy Gueirard, head of EMEA logistics and industrial at JLL, commented: “Investors have an opportunity to tap into the changing landscape as demand for logistics property in the EMEA region grows, and as city logistics evolve in the age of ‘the Fourth Industrial Revolution’.”

DOWNLOAD JLL’S RESEARCH report at bit.ly/New_Industrial_Revolution

‘FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’ IS TRANSFORMING DISTRIBUTION MODELS

LOGISTICS®

STARTED BY Michael Foley,

a building surveyor at

Heritage House Consulting in

Kent, UK

LINKING I understand that replacing original boxed sash windows with modern units devalues a period property, but by how much?

Historic Environment Scotland no longer objects to UPVC on most listed buildings. We tend to take a view that the latest units are more convincing.Jeremy Watson

On a back-street terrace in a Lancashire mill town, modern windows will beat the old sash windows in terms of value every time. In a picture-postcard village, it may be a different matter. Valuers don’t make the market, they interpret it. If the market pays more for plastic, there ain’t much we can do about it. John Brownlow MRICS

Not so much a devaluation but more of a saleability issue. There will be buyers with a purist approach that are looking for a traditional building in every sense. Unless there is a legal issue or the replacements are defective, meaning windows have to be replaced, whether value is affected is very much subjective. David Lewis FRICS

REVIEWING THE LATEST DISCUSSION POINTS AT RICS.ORG/LINKEDIN

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www.rics.org/euref

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10 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Speaking at our inaugural World Built Environment Forum in Washington DC, Lawrence Summers, one of the

world’s foremost economic commentators, challenged built environment professionals to lead efforts to spur sustainable growth. In particular, he urged us to create confidence and trust among policymakers and investors that large-scale projects would deliver on time and within budget. Other prominent speakers at the April summit shone a spotlight on challenges such as climate change, technology, cyber security, and attracting talent.

If we fail to respond to these developments, our professional members and their clients will decide the profession is no longer relevant and we will join an inauspicious list of bodies that have lost their pre-eminence or disappeared altogether.

It is vital that we have the best possible strategy to meet these challenges. But strategy alone is never enough. It has become a cliche that reputations take years to build and can be lost overnight, especially in the age of WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden and the Panama papers. As our profile grows, we will attract more scrutiny. For these reasons, RICS needs world-class assurance to ensure we are running our affairs properly, and are seen to do so.

In the commercial world, good governance is rising up the agenda. The FTSE4Good series started in 2001 in response to investors who were seeking to measure the social, environmental and ethical performance of the companies in which they invest. Indices such as this can be used to develop financial products, as a basis of research into companies’ responsible businesses, and as

a benchmark to track the performance of responsible investment portfolios.

If investors are increasingly keen to know the responsible business credentials of commercial bodies, this suggests an opportunity for RICS to assist them through standards. It also suggests that professions will need to demonstrate that they are leading by example.

Early in my term of office, Governing Council – our most senior RICS body – realised it needed to change its approach. In 2015, only 35% of professional bodies retained a Governing Council, and at 57 members, ours was far larger than most and our agendas had become operational and routine. Stakeholders who otherwise take an active interest

in RICS told us that Council was largely irrelevant to them and many of our professional members said Council felt like a detached entity. This is unsurprising: most are primarily concerned with issues in their specific market, which are best addressed regionally or nationally, rather than at a global level.

I am proud to have been involved in RICS governance reform that will both position RICS as the leading body in our sector, and protect our reputation. The aims are threefold: to become a leading model for setting our strategy; to improve our engagement and understanding of our customers; and to ensure that our work is properly overseen. This oversight objective depends on a sophisticated approach to identifying risks and managing them effectively.

Council will physically meet less often and make better use of virtual technology between meetings. This ought to allow us to be more agile in making decisions, and save time and money otherwise spent on travel and logistics. We will also streamline the structure of Council and ensure a more diverse spread of skills, knowledge and experience among its members. As we do this we will work closely with world regions to improve engagement with RICS professionals and external stakeholders regionally, so that we can be sure we are addressing the questions that matter most to them. These are the right changes at the right time, and I know my successor will pursue them energetically.

ROB MAHONEY steps down as RICS Honorary Secretary this month (news, opposite)

“RICS has an opportunity to assist investors who are increasingly keen to know the responsible

business credentials of commercial bodies”

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What’s that? Once a redundant steel factory, now the world’s largest vertical farm. Aerofarms’ new headquarters in Newark, US, contains an astonishing 69,000 ft2 (6,400 m2) of indoor growing space, stacked in plant beds 12 levels high. This summer, the vertical farming company expects to hit full capacity, which means around 900 tonnes of vegetables will be grown each year.How does it work? Leafy greens, herbs and salads are grown in specialised trays under LED lighting, and kept nourished using an “aeroponic” mist that Aerofarms claims uses 95% less water compared with outdoor agricultural techniques. Vertical farming has been touted as a revolutionary way to grow food in as little space as possible, as it needs only around 1% of the land required by conventional growing. Marc Oshima, Aerofarms’ co-founder, believes this makes vertical farming more than 75 times more productive per square foot compared with traditional agriculture: “We can take the same seed that might take 30-35 days to grow outside, and it will have a 12- to 16-day crop cycle in our system, so we can have 20 crop cycles a year.”And the downsides? There are limits to vertical farms’ usefulness, as they are unsuited to growing many types of vegetables, such as tubers, or fruit. Critics of the economics of vertical farming also worry that it makes little sense in areas with high labour costs or high real estate prices, and that the facilities take up scarce urban land that might be better suited to housing. aerofarms.com

Aerofarms’ vertical farm HQ

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capacity this summer, which is equivalent to

900 tonnes of crops a year

NEWS IN BRIEF

rics.org/modus

®

ON RECORD WHO’S SAID WHAT…AND WHY THEY’VE SAID IT

The financial, social and environmental performance of big capital investments is strikingly poorDR ATIF ANSAR Saïd Business School

As debate in the UK intensifies over Hinckley Point C nuclear power station, new research argues that oversizing a project makes it much more vulnerable to uncertainty, and impossible to “fix” once broken.

The potential loss of life from a sudden catastrophic collapse of the dam could be even greater than the 500,000 officially estimated. A 20m-high flood wave could hit the city of Mosul and then roll down the Tigris valley towards Baghdad.

It is going from bad to worse, and it is urgent. All we can do is hold our heartsNASRAT ADAMO former chief engineer on the Mosul dam, Iraq

Council reforms open Gater to Secretary to the Profession

On 28 June, Bill Gater FRICS will become RICS’ first Secretary to the Profession, combining the offices of Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer, which are currently held by Rob Mahoney FRICS and Gater respectively. Gater will serve on an interim basis while reforms to Governing Council are implemented. Subject to Council’s approval, the new position will become the focal point for assurance and oversight and a longer-term appointee will take office in 2018.

Gater commented: “Rob has made a remarkable contribution to the institution; I am honoured that Governing Council has allowed me to take up this role. I am determined to continue serving the best interests of the profession and our stakeholders: the World Built Environment Forum showed that we are at our most effective when we are outward facing and adding value to our members’ qualifications.”

President Martin J Brühl added: “I am enormously grateful to Rob Mahoney for his dedication to promoting the profession and upholding its reputation. Bill’s long-standing experience as Honorary Treasurer, Governing Council Member and accredited mediator ideally qualifies him for the challenges ahead.”

Joint venture facilitates new opportunities for FM sector

RICS has formed a partnership with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), which promises to transform the $1tn global FM industry. Together, they will be able to meet the growing demands of 25 million FM practitioners around the world, and support a single and compelling career pathway into the FM profession. The collaboration will also seek to address the global shortage of FM professionals.

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WINGS OF DESIREThe recently opened World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York is arguably the world’s most beautiful train station, and with a final price tag of $4bn (£2.78bn) – originally budgeted at $2.2bn (£1.53bn) –it’s definitely the world’s most expensive. Even this final bill represents a compromise on the part of architect Santiago Calatrava, whose original design allowed for the building’s sweeping “wings” to open and close; a feature that was shelved in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2007. However, the glass skylight is retractable, and will be opened on temperate days, and on 11 September each year.

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A FTER A YEAR AS PRESIDENT, I AM MORE THAN EVER CONVINCED THAT others look to us for trusted leadership. We must ensure that we uphold this reputation if we are to fulfil our public interest remit.

Responsible investment – in terms of sustainability and fiduciary duty – has been a key theme of my presidential year. Real estate investors are waking up to the financial and ethical value of sustainable assets. Nor can we ignore the impact of climate change on society, so we must ensure we keep the promises we made at the COP21 climate change conference in Paris last December. Fiduciary duty, meanwhile, requires us to practise state-of-the-art risk management. The calibre of participants at our investment risk management roundtables was testament to this. We are one of the few organisations that can convene such high-level figures worldwide.

In North America, the value of our strategic approach is already bearing fruit. Our inaugural World Built Environment Forum attracted one of the world’s leading economists, Lawrence Summers, who challenged us to ensure that real estate does more to drive sustainable growth.

We are well placed to meet this challenge, and we need to collaborate in order to be truly effective. We can play a leading role in bringing together professionals and other stakeholders from within our sector and beyond. Our recent agreement with the International Facility Management Association is an outstanding example of how, through a partnership, we can provide trusted leadership in real estate sectors. The agreement enables us to support 25 million facilities managers globally at an unprecedented level.

In common with many of you, Governing Council had long seemed remote to me, at least until I joined it. The changes we are now making to Council will help us better prepare for the high-level challenges ahead, while engaging RICS professionals locally on issues that matter most to you.

I have had a wonderful, challenging and busy year as President, building recognition for our credentials. This will be a never-ending task, and I am pleased to hand it over to my successor, Amanda Clack FRICS, who will bring all her energy and commitment to the role. Thank you for entrusting me with the responsibility of making a lasting contribution to our profession. Follow Martin on Twitter @MartinJBruehl

A LASTING CONTRIBUTION

The outgoing President looks

back on his efforts to help shape a more

responsible, collaborative and engaged

profession

Billions of pounds are to be injected into the UK’s shared-ownership market, in another attempt to improve housing and home ownership levels throughout the UK.

Targeting a fivefold increase on the current level of supply, the government has announced £4.1bn of funding to deliver 135,000 additional shared-ownership homes, equivalent to £30,000 per home.

Savills estimates there is potential for at least 60,000 additional shared-ownership homes a year. The markets with the greatest potential are those where affordability is most stretched and demand is highest, particularly in southern England.

It is hoped the initiative will open up new opportunities for development and investment into a historically undersupplied market as, for the first time, private developers will be able to bid for grant funding alongside housing associations.

“Investment activity in the sector has, so far, been limited,” said Mervyn Jones FRICS, director of Savills’ housing consultancy, “but there is now a clear opportunity for new investment vehicles that will speed up the delivery of shared-ownership homes and create stable returns for investors.”

The range of subsidised home ownership schemes available, such as Starter Homes, Help to Buy and shared ownership, means demand for each may overlap, reducing the potential rate of delivery across a site. However, Savills notes that developers of large sites will have an incentive to retain control of sales, to ensure that different products are effectively differentiated.

SHARED-OWNERSHIP MARKET’S £4BN BOOST

RESIDENTIAL

MARTIN J BRÜHL FRICS RICS PRESIDENT

30%




2014

2015

Other

54% 9

% 6%4

% 3%

6% 0

%

37%

51%



Transporthubs

Outlets Retailparks


Dutyfree

76 72

4520 18 18 15 8

ILLU

STR

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N B

ERN

D S

CH

IFFE

RD

ECK

ER I

MAG

E PA

IMAG

ES;

CO

UR

TNEY

VER

RIL

L; F

AMIL

Y M

OS

AIC

“Building recognition for our credentials is an endless task”

GREENWICH MEAN TILECharters Wharf, a Family Mosaic shared-ownership scheme in Greenwich, London, launches this summer

Intelligence

SHOPPING AROUNDHigh streets and shopping malls remain the most popular formats for expanding retailers across EMEA, Americas and Asia-Pacific (%)

Source: CBRE

14 RICS.ORG/MODUS

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More time surveying, less time typingOutSec is the UK’s leading web-based transcription company specialising in the property sector. We are dedicated to ensuring high-quality, perfected reports for our clients with a fast turnaround.

Our secretarial typing service offers:• No set up fees, contract, fixed costs or minimum spend • Dedicated British OutSec secretaries qualified in the property sector and familiar with all terminology, accents and nuances. • Reliable, fast, accurate and simple to use service tailored to your needs• Highly confidential with secure data transfer

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Specialist departments handle transcription directly into the RICS Worksmart iSurv system, ValEx or other third party surveying software (such as Quest) or into your own custom template.

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JUNE 2016_MODUS 15

18%

39%

-3%

1%

4%49%

-6%

71%

10%

18%

28%

20%30%

18%

-2%

9%

24%26%

-17%

N/A

-3%-3%-3%-3%

-6%-6%-6%-6%-6%

-17%-17%-17%-17%

-2%

-17%

20%

Hong Kong$103,20012.5M pop

Paris$78,20012.5M pop

Tokyo$69,80037M pop

Lagos$63,00012.2M pop

Dubai$58,3002.4M pop

Shanghai$43,70024.8M pop

Dublin$36,5001.7M pop

Miami$49,0005.8M pop

Moscow$48,30012.2M pop

San Francisco$66,3004.5M pop

Singapore$60,6005.5M pop

Sydney$49,5004.9M pop

Chicago$44,7009.6M pop

Los Angeles$48,60013.3M pop

Mumbai$28,40019M pop

Johannesburg$20,7008.6M pop

Rio de Janeiro$16,50012.4M pop

Berlin$27,7004.3M pop

New York$111,30020.2M pop

London$112,80014.9M pop

Throughout my 30 years practising in residential survey and valuation, I have made a conscious effort to

promote the role of the chartered surveyor. The job has changed in terms of knowledge, technology and liability, but is no less rewarding. I remain astonished, however, that the general public and, indeed, many of our clients, have no real idea of what we do and contribute as a multiskilled profession to the built environment and property-based assets of the economy.

This lack of awareness first hit home when I participated in a school careers fair some years ago. Despite putting on a bit of a show on my small stand, it was a quiet night, in direct contrast to the neighbouring displays from a legal practice, travel agent, the local paper and a vet. This put the role as a surveyor firmly in context: well down the hierarchy of desirable jobs generally.

In spite of the lack of interest shown on that evening, I have, over the past 20 years, been providing formal work experience placements to secondary school students through the local education authority. In this time, I have wrestled away from other careers 40 prospective surveyors and I know, having been contacted some years later, that half of these are now fully qualified.

Offering shadowing to students is not a difficult task. In fact, having to provide a narrative on the practical process of a survey is, in itself, a refresher course and therefore very useful for skills development, even among long-serving practitioners.

I seek neither recognition nor affirmation for my actions. There is, however, a more potent motive behind my promoting of the profession. I might want to retire in the next 10 years and that pool of prospective buyers for my business now has, through my small endeavours, an additional 40 interested parties. I call that a win-win situation.

COULD YOU be a Secret Surveyor? Email your musings to [email protected]

Intelligence

WHERE ARE THE HIGHEST ANNUAL LIVE/WORK* COSTS PER PERSON, AND BY HOW MUCH HAVE SUCH COSTS RISEN IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS?

Both London and New York have experienced massive rises in annual live/work costs over the past five years, calling into question their ability to attract new talent. Meanwhile San Francisco’s booming tech sector

has helped make it the second-most expensive American city, ahead of Los Angeles.

WILL LACK OF AFFORDABILITY put the brakes on booming cities? Tweet using #RICSmodus

NUMBER CRUNCH

SECRET SURVEYOR

“Over the past 20 years, I have wrestled away from other careers 40 prospective surveyors”

Source: Savills

*The Live/Work Index measures the combined

cost of residential and office rental per person per year, to work out how expensive

it is to accommodate an employee in a

particular city

BY 2050, OUR SECTOR

NEEDS TO REDUCE ITS

CARBON EMISSIONS

BY 84 BILLION TONNES

16 RICS.ORG/MODUS

his is the startling figure that the World Green Building Council (WGBC) and the International Energy Agency predict will be necessary to

limit global warming to less than 2°C. Emissions from existing stock must be reduced by 80%, and all new development must be net zero energy by 2050.

Meeting those targets will require a radical rethink, not just of the way we build and refurbish, but also of how properties are funded, valued, procured and managed.

It is a massive challenge, but the industry is planning a massive response, and it may be that we look back at the first-ever UN Buildings Day, held at last December’s

UN climate talks in Paris, as the moment when it all clicked. It was on this day that representatives of the entire global built environment sector met to agree a pathway to keeping global warming below 2°C. It was also on this day that the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction – a network that brings together countries, cities and the building sector – was launched, with RICS as an initiating partner.

Although the wider climate agreement from Paris has now been signed, maintaining the built environment sector’s momentum in helping to meet its goals will be crucial.

Setting higher standards within building codes provides certainty for investors and a level playing field, says Tatiana Bosteels, W

OR

DS

KAT

IE P

UC

KET

T

JUNE 2016_MODUS 17

THAT’S EQUIVALENT

TO TAKING 22,000

COAL-FIRED POWER

STATIONS OFFLINE

head of responsible property investment at Hermes Real Estate, and co-chair of the property working group at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative: “If everyone has to do it, it will be internalised into the investment models.”

This is the sector’s “tobacco moment”, Bosteels believes, equivalent to when the link between smoking and ill health became incontrovertible. “As a minimum, investors have to assess carbon risk and whether it’s material to the assets they have. They may not have an exposure, but no one can claim they didn’t know there was risk.”

Bosteels is a lead author of Sustainable Real Estate Investment, Implementing the Paris Climate Agreement: an Action Framework,

which explains how investors can meet their fiduciary duty to manage environmental, social, governance and climate-related risks.

In the future, further regulatory pressure will threaten to diminish the value of poorer-performing assets or make them obsolete, while rising energy prices and tighter carbon budgets will make inefficient buildings much more expensive to run. Longer term, there are the physical risks associated with climate change itself – the impact of extreme events on buildings or on the supply chain needed to service them.

Property professionals can make an important difference simply by asking whether these risks have been considered properly, says Roland Hunziker, director »

Climate change

18 RICS.ORG/MODUS

of sustainable buildings and cities at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). “As long as we don’t ask certain questions, they don’t show up as a risk. If you have to provide information and cannot, then an investor will ask why. Asking the question will drive the market to change.” These concerns should support the development of better- performing new buildings and underpin a business case for upgrading older stock.

Public opinion is also a powerful driver for action. At the Paris talks, 91 countries set building-specific targets within their emissions pledges, and they will have to report on their progress every five years. WGBC chief executive Terri Wills predicts that this openness will trickle down to the corporate sector. “People will reward those countries and companies that are moving ahead, and name and shame those that haven’t made good on their promises.”

W ills was struck by the way in which her home country of Canada was publicly ridiculed

by marchers at the UN Climate Summit in September 2014, when its prime minister failed to even turn up. In the future, failure to act could influence the outcome of trade negotiations: “You may have countries that are meeting their goals who say they don’t want to work with countries that aren’t doing their part.” Countries could, in turn, blame companies for blocking the way. Meanwhile, corporates are increasingly aware that recruits will favour companies with a strong record on social responsibility. “As people see the impact of climate change worsen over the coming years, this will increase the pressure,” says Wills.

Transparency is also likely to become an important market driver at asset level, as smarter buildings make it possible to track energy consumption in real time. This live data will eventually replace labels such as energy performance certificates or rating schemes such as BREEAM or LEED, that may bear little resemblance to actual consumption. “If you make information more transparent to people, they can make choices,” comments Rebecca Pearce, EMEA head of sustainability at CBRE. “They might choose to take no action, but if they don’t have the information, they definitely can’t.”

In Australia, Pearce’s home country, the government made disclosure of energy

ratings mandatory at sale, lease or sublease in 2010. “They didn’t say you have to have a minimum rating, just that you had to disclose it. So it was almost enforcing a market consideration of energy efficiency. Now there’s a self-sustaining market around having the most sustainable building that doesn’t depend on government legislation.”

In some emerging economies, electricity consumption may not even be billed at the level of individual buildings, says Pekka Huovila, coordinator of the UN Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme, which is led by Finland’s Ministry of the Environment. “In many cases, there may just be one meter for the whole block or group of buildings, so the individual consumer doesn’t see the impact of their own choices.”

Energy-efficient properties are not necessarily more expensive to build, but the costs can be distributed differently, comments professor Thomas Lützkendorf, director of the Institute of Sustainable Management of Housing and Real Estate at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. “If you have a fixed budget for your house, it’s up to you whether you spend it on the envelope or on a beautifully designed bathroom,” he says. “My strategy is always to convince investors to invest first in the performance-related parts of a building such as the envelope or HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] system.”

Costs will also be shifted to earlier in the construction process and the property life-cycle – investing

more up front to reduce energy costs later, spending longer on the design or involving members of the supply chain at an earlier stage. Fundamental decisions on the orientation of a building may not add cost but they do need to be considered at the earliest stages.

Huovila was involved in an office project in Nairobi where solar panels were installed

llFinancial teams in each company need to roll up their sleeves and get a lot more involved in sustainabilityll

JENNIFER CLARK Skanska

JUNE 2016_MODUS 19

Climate change

at an additional cost of 3%. “But the payback period was between 2.5 and four years, and after that they would have free electricity for the 30 years to follow. Life-cycle thinking means not just investing for short- term profit. That is going to require some transformation in the mindset of clients.”

The availability of specific data on actual building performance should enable better design decisions, but

there will also have to be a more integrated approach. Right now, investors, developers, designers, builders, managers and occupiers hand off to one another with very little communication between disparate links. The ideal scenario would be an industry that is a lot more collaborative, says Jennifer Clark, senior vice-president for green and corporate community investment at Skanska, with much earlier involvement from contractors and product suppliers: “It would be a lot more productive if the whole supply chain could sit around the table early on and work together.”

In order to embed sustainability into the process, it is critical that the commercial members of project teams take ownership of it. “I think the financial teams in each company need to roll up their sleeves and get a lot more involved with sustainability,” says Clark. “They need to take ownership of how it is reported, or how it is measured and turned into financial benefits.”

The WBCSD is also exploring ways in which property life-cycle thinking can be made more relevant for decision-makers: “It’s hard to drive a common vision when the investor and real estate communities speak a different language to [that of] the supply chain,” says Hunziker. “We need to learn how to translate technical language used to describe a building’s life-cycle into issues around risk and return.” The chief opportunity for professionals involved in costing and valuing buildings is to provide that translation, he adds.

For those professionals seeking to translate sustainability into a compelling business case, there is help at hand in the perhaps unlikely shape of wellbeing. In 2014, the WGBC published a report gathering together the evidence for how buildings affect their occupants’ health and, crucially, their productivity. It has gained market traction far more quickly than green building did – partly because

wellbeing is a more positive message than avoiding a distant apocalypse, but also because it comes with a more eye-catching business case. Whereas energy accounts for only 1% of a typical office occupier’s outgoings, staff costs account for 90%. Even a tiny increase in productivity can make a significant difference to an occupier’s bottom line.

Wellbeing is rising up the agenda for the occupiers of new offices, but it is potentially an even better argument for the refurbishment of existing buildings – 90% of which will still be occupied in 2050. The Renovate Europe campaign estimates that bringing EU property up to the right standard could cost an additional €150bn-€200bn (£118bn-£157bn) a year.

“That investment is a massive opportunity to renew the building stock for the next generation and improve the quality of life of the people who are living and working in our buildings,” says Adrian Joyce, campaign director of Renovate Europe and secretary general at energy efficiency trade body EuroACE. “A properly renovated building, combining the right materials, technologies, equipment and controls, gives a much healthier indoor environment, which improves wellbeing and productivity.”

Lützkendorf believes sustainability is often misunderstood as merely saving energy: “We also have to think about

comfort and user satisfaction – so first of all we are making good buildings and happy inhabitants, and then we are thinking about reducing resource consumption and impact on the environment.” Surveyors, valuers and advisers are best placed to hold all of these aspects in a balance and present them in a way that decision-makers can relate to.

Lützkendorf and his fellow professor at Karlsruhe, David Lorenz FRICS, are working with Ursula Hartenberger, RICS Global Head of Sustainability, to develop a training programme for valuers to integrate energy performance into economic valuations: “The RenoValue training shows that the valuer is a key stakeholder,” comments Lützkendorf. “If you convince one valuer, they will convince 100 of their clients.” n

DOWNLOAD the UNEP FI guide, Sustainable Real Estate Investment, Implementing the Paris Climate Agreement: an Action Framework, at bit.ly/UNEPFI_investor_risk

http://bit.ly/UNEPFI_investor_risk

20 RICS.ORG/MODUS

LESSONS OF THE

PAST

Nothing could have prepared residents of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for what greeted them on the morning of 27 July 2008. For inching slowly through the

streets was a 92-year-old, two-bed cottage. Annie Beck House was being towed four

miles across town to a new plot of land in a city park, in a desperate attempt to preserve the property. The eight-hour journey it required is an extreme example of the lengths to which people go to ensure old buildings survive, but it is by no means an isolated one.

As available land in the world’s most desirable cities becomes ever more scarce, developers are under greater pressure to think of new ways of breathing new life into old buildings, while ensuring they meet today’s strict environmental standards. But this, as John Edwards FRICS explains, is easier said than done. “People just don’t know enough about traditional buildings to make them more energy efficient and sustainable.”

Edwards is a director at Cardiff-based Edwards Hart Consultants, and runs a training course on how to retrofit older properties. “We’ve been treating old buildings for many decades as if they were modern

structures,” he says. “People need to properly understand traditional buildings in the first place and understand their pathology.”

This general lack of understanding means that many old buildings have been interfered with to their detriment, Edwards adds. “You have things like concrete floors being put in where there used to be timber. You have ground levels outside that have risen up the height of the internal floors, which is too high and you’ve got cement rendering on the outside. These are all the sorts of things that promote internal dampness.”

His concerns are shared by members of the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), a coalition of UK landlords who are working together to improve the sustainability of existing commercial properties.

Christopher Botten, programme manager at BBP, says members are aware that some of the retrofits that have taken place over the last few years have not delivered the kind of energy savings expected. “We have modern ways of constructing buildings, but we have a lot of historic buildings that are completely different in terms of how they were designed, the type of materials used and how they actually perform as buildings. Our level of understanding and skills has disappeared as we’ve developed more modern methods of construction,” he says.

In an effort to reverse this trend, the BBP intends to hold a workshop, during which members will explore ideas and techniques that will help to close the energy performance gap between historic and modern buildings. “It’s all about how can we re-skill the industry in how to best adapt this historic set of buildings,” says Botten, “without fundamentally damaging them, and ensuring that they’re actually fit for purpose in the coming years.”

The problems the BBP has identified are all too familiar to Lynda Jubb FRICS, director of Jubb & Jubb and Chair of the RICS Building Conservation Forum. Jubb’s firm is one of the few in the UK whose sole focus is on how to deal with historic buildings. She advises that, when tackling projects of this nature, it is vitally important that developers who have no knowledge of traditional building techniques and materials appoint specialist advisers, because sometimes enhancing the performance of older stock requires the use of non-standard approaches. »

Only by mastering the methods used to construct our historic buildings, can we hope to equip them for use by future generations

Photography Mary Beth Koeth and Sam Christmas

Words Simon Creasey

JUNE 2016_MODUS 21

Heritage

PORCH BEARERWarren Adams MRICS at Annie Beck House in Fort Lauderdale. The heritage specialist helped save the cottage from demolition

22 RICS.ORG/MODUS

DIFFERENT GLASSChloe DeBanks-Hirst in Kew’s Temperate House. The project manager is part of the team restoring the grade I-listed glasshouse

JUNE 2016_MODUS 23

Heritage

“These traditional buildings weren’t made from the sort of complex materials used in modern buildings,” she explains. “There was no plastic or cement. They were built with lime, stone and brick, and for damp-proofing, they might have relied on slate slips.”

Unsurprisingly, buildings that were not constructed from modern materials typically do not respond well to modern treatments, such as injection damp-proof courses. And the challenge of restoring and retrofitting old buildings can be further complicated by the nasty little surprises that often crop up during projects.

That has certainly been the experience of Chloe DeBanks-Hirst, a project manager at Turner & Townsend who

is in the final year of her APC. DeBanks-Hirst is working on the restoration of a grade I-listed Victorian greenhouse in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, which entails replacing the windows and patching up any problem areas, while retaining the structure’s historical features. As she explains, when handling a window frame that had previously been repaired in the 1970s, “we cut out a section to repair it and found that they’d cut away the rotten timber, but then resin filled it as much as possible. You can’t predict those things until you start pulling the building apart in its layers.”

But before a developer can even get on site and start unearthing these surprises, there is another hurdle to overcome when dealing with older stock: legislation – and not just the rules that apply to the preservation of historic buildings.

Jubb cites the Energy Act as an example: “The Act says that for a building to be let, it needs to be performing at level E or above, but a lot of historic buildings can’t get over E for technical reasons. They were built at a time when fuel was expensive; people didn’t heat every room and expectations were very different around technical performance.

“There is an exemption because listed buildings don’t always need to get an energy performance certificate,” says Jubb, “so it’s important people understand that legislation isn’t a massive stick with which to beat historic buildings.”

Listed status may offer some upsides, but it can also make life tougher for those tasked with renovating old properties. Residence One is a small, London-based luxury residential developer that regularly renovates listed buildings. One of the issues it often comes up against is the inability to replace the original windows with more energy-efficient double glazing.

“You just simply can’t do that on a listed property,” says Ben Wilson, director and co-founder of Residence One. “So we have to use secondary glazing, which is actually better performing than double glazing because of the amount of air space created between the windows. Planners don’t have an issue with secondary glazing because it’s considered to be a temporary structure.”

Although the property professionals who deal with old buildings typically face the same issues around the globe, some common problems are exacerbated by local conditions. Candy Chan MRICS, a director at Hong Kong- based Property Conservation, says that sustainability is often neglected in the restoration of historic buildings in Hong Kong, but that is mainly a result of the challenges presented by the climate.

“We have very hot summers,” says Chan. “Natural ventilation with a veranda and balcony worked in the old days, but with increased populations and density, it is inevitable to include air-conditioning when new use is introduced. But this usually creates the problem of condensation and, in some cases, fans are added to improve the ventilation and reduce the condensation. We do understand the need to allow older buildings to breathe. For example, we suggest the removal of impermeable paint over brick buildings, which will reduce the dampness locked in the brickwork.”

Dampness of a completely different kind is something the state of Florida – sitting barely above sea level on a layer of notoriously porous limestone – knows all about. Many historic homes line the coast, which is prone to flooding and hurricanes. But the bigger threat comes from development pressure,

suggests Warren Adams MRICS, a historic preservation specialist in West Palm Beach.

“The high property prices in South Florida lead to many owners of small historic homes demolishing them as, in many cases, the land is more valuable for development,” says Adams. “It’s rare that a property owner will take the time to save the original house.”

But that is exactly what happened with Annie Beck House. Adams oversaw the transfer of the cottage, which was

located on a prime site in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The owner of the site did not want to demolish the historic building, which had been home to one of the city’s pioneering first residents and had already been moved in 1977 to make way for a parking lot. Instead, she donated it to the Broward Trust of Historic Preservation.

It took around three years for the trust to raise the $100,000 (£70,000) required to move the cottage to its new site in Middle River Terrace Park, and make improvements such as adding a sliding door to aid air circulation. “The house was designated as a historic site once the move was completed,” says Adams. “It has now been restored and is used as a community meeting place.”

They have been literally moving houses in Florida for 100 years or more, but going to such dramatic lengths is not the easiest method of preserving buildings. The better option is for property professionals to gain a more in-depth understanding of how these buildings were constructed. This knowledge will make the process of breathing new life into old buildings, and preserving them for future generations to enjoy, much easier. n

TO FIND OUT MORE and join the RICS Building Conservation Forum, visit rics.org/bcf

llPeople just don’t know enough about traditional buildings to make them

more sustainablell

JOHN EDWARDS FRICS Edwards Hart Consultants

http://rics.org/bcf

24 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Sterling work: predictions for Chinese money in the UK (£bn) Over the next 10 years, more than £100bn of Chinese money is forecast to be invested in UK property and infrastructure

Sized up: top 10 Chinese overseas property deals in 2015

Chinese contractors in Western markets: where are they breaking ground?

Revamp of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge(with local contractor Halmar International)

$407mNew York City, USChina Construction America

Canberra Metro light-rail First stage, comprising 12km of track (contract won through Australian subsidiary John Holland as part of consortium)

$545.3mCanberra, AustraliaChina Communications Construction Company

One Nine Elms

$1.3bnLondon, UKChina State ConstructionEngineering Corporation

Airport City Enterprise Zone

$1.5bnManchester, UKBeijing Construction Engineering Group International

Royal Albert Docks financial centre

$2.4bnLondon, UKCITIC Construction

Where did it all go?Geographical split of Chinese outbound real estate investment in 2015

China’s slowdown is double edged: it may mean Chinese companies have less money to spend overseas, but it could also spur them to invest abroad, because there are fewer domestic investment opportunities.

$1,613m MassMutual Tower, Hong Kong (office) $1,170m

Meguro Gajoen, Tokyo (office)

$600m 7 Bryant Park, New York (office)

$506m Tower Place, London (office)

$1,950m Waldorf Astoria, New York (hotel)

Anbang Insurance

China Investment Corporation (joint venture, LaSalle Investment Management)

Bank of China Ping An Insurance

Evergrande Group

$820m111 Murray Street, New York (development site)

$755mOne HarbourGateWest Wing, Hong Kong (office)

$683mTebrau Bay Waterfront City,Malaysia (development site)

Shimao Property Taiping Life Insurance China Life Insurance Greenland Group

$906mNew Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6542, Hong Kong (residential)

2013 2014 2015

25.5Infrastructure

includingtransport

36Real estate

43.5Energy infrastructure

China GDP annual growth rate:a downward trajectory? (%)

Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

7.5 7.67.3 7.4 7.2

6.8 7 7 6.9

7.9

$420m 99 Bishopsgate, London (office)China Life Insurance (joint venture, Qatar Investment Authority)

The big players: top Chinese developers investing overseasBased on total property salesin 2014

China’s insurance policy: top insurers investing overseasBased on totalpremium income 2014

China’s total outbound investment in real estate, 2009-2015: sustainable… or a bubble in the making?($bn)

The long-term beneficiaries: who’s received the most Chinese real estate investment since 2006?

City focus: which are attracting the most Chinese real estate investment? ($m)

London

New York

Sydney andMelbourne

120 25

150895347 200

33 179

868

$37.7bn

$33.7bn

$25.1bn

$21.4bn

$20.6bn

Greenland Group

Vanke Group

Wanda Group

Poly Real Estate

Evergrande Group

$58.2bn

$49.6bn

$12.3bn

$10.6bn

$9.1bn

China Life Insurance

Ping An Insurance

China Taiping

Taikang Life

Anbang Insurance

2015201320112009 2010 2012 2014

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0.62.3

4.4 5.6

15.8 15.1

30

2015201320112010 2012 2014

2,376

1,472

2,949

1,104

5,960

4,1973,439

2,535

1,882

Chinese investors are attracted by global gateway cities. New York’s Manhattan, London, and Sydney and Melbourne together account for more than 40% of last year’s transactions

Australia$14.5bn

Japan$9.8bn

UK$20.1bn

US$35.4bn

Sector analysis: where did the money go in 2015?

Total

$27.99bn

$11.66bn

Office

$7.67bn

Development site

$5.20bn

Hotel

$2.13bn

Retail

$1.33bn

Industrial

In 2016, there has already been $10bn in outbound Chinese transactions, putting the market on track to exceed last year’s record total

Harvey Coe Real estate advisory leader, transaction advisory services, Greater China, EY

US

Australia

Other countriesUK

$2.13bn

Japan$1.57bn

Hong Kong

Singapore

$10.45bn

$4.58bn

$4.12bn

$4.04bn

Malaysia$2.52bn

$1.03bn

As Chinese money flows into the world’s real estate markets, the global balance of power shifts. Are we ready… and will it last?

CHASING THE DRAGONResearch Roxane McMeeken Illustration Laura Cattaneo

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JUNE 2016_MODUS 25

Investment

Sterling work: predictions for Chinese money in the UK (£bn) Over the next 10 years, more than £100bn of Chinese money is forecast to be invested in UK property and infrastructure

Sized up: top 10 Chinese overseas property deals in 2015

Chinese contractors in Western markets: where are they breaking ground?

Revamp of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge(with local contractor Halmar International)

$407mNew York City, USChina Construction America

Canberra Metro light-rail First stage, comprising 12km of track (contract won through Australian subsidiary John Holland as part of consortium)

$545.3mCanberra, AustraliaChina Communications Construction Company

One Nine Elms

$1.3bnLondon, UKChina State ConstructionEngineering Corporation

Airport City Enterprise Zone

$1.5bnManchester, UKBeijing Construction Engineering Group International

Royal Albert Docks financial centre

$2.4bnLondon, UKCITIC Construction

Where did it all go?Geographical split of Chinese outbound real estate investment in 2015

China’s slowdown is double edged: it may mean Chinese companies have less money to spend overseas, but it could also spur them to invest abroad, because there are fewer domestic investment opportunities.

$1,613m MassMutual Tower, Hong Kong (office) $1,170m

Meguro Gajoen, Tokyo (office)

$600m 7 Bryant Park, New York (office)

$506m Tower Place, London (office)

$1,950m Waldorf Astoria, New York (hotel)

Anbang Insurance

China Investment Corporation (joint venture, LaSalle Investment Management)

Bank of China Ping An Insurance

Evergrande Group

$820m111 Murray Street, New York (development site)

$755mOne HarbourGateWest Wing, Hong Kong (office)

$683mTebrau Bay Waterfront City,Malaysia (development site)

Shimao Property Taiping Life Insurance China Life Insurance Greenland Group

$906mNew Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6542, Hong Kong (residential)

2013 2014 2015

25.5Infrastructure

includingtransport

36Real estate

43.5Energy infrastructure

China GDP annual growth rate:a downward trajectory? (%)

Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

7.5 7.67.3 7.4 7.2

6.8 7 7 6.9

7.9

$420m 99 Bishopsgate, London (office)China Life Insurance (joint venture, Qatar Investment Authority)

The big players: top Chinese developers investing overseasBased on total property salesin 2014

China’s insurance policy: top insurers investing overseasBased on totalpremium income 2014

China’s total outbound investment in real estate, 2009-2015: sustainable… or a bubble in the making?($bn)

The long-term beneficiaries: who’s received the most Chinese real estate investment since 2006?

City focus: which are attracting the most Chinese real estate investment? ($m)

London

New York

Sydney andMelbourne

120 25

150895347 200

33 179

868

$37.7bn

$33.7bn

$25.1bn

$21.4bn

$20.6bn

Greenland Group

Vanke Group

Wanda Group

Poly Real Estate

Evergrande Group

$58.2bn

$49.6bn

$12.3bn

$10.6bn

$9.1bn

China Life Insurance

Ping An Insurance

China Taiping

Taikang Life

Anbang Insurance

2015201320112009 2010 2012 2014

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0.62.3

4.4 5.6

15.8 15.1

30

2015201320112010 2012 2014

2,376

1,472

2,949

1,104

5,960

4,1973,439

2,535

1,882

Chinese investors are attracted by global gateway cities. New York’s Manhattan, London, and Sydney and Melbourne together account for more than 40% of last year’s transactions

Australia$14.5bn

Japan$9.8bn

UK$20.1bn

US$35.4bn

Sector analysis: where did the money go in 2015?

Total

$27.99bn

$11.66bn

Office

$7.67bn

Development site

$5.20bn

Hotel

$2.13bn

Retail

$1.33bn

Industrial

In 2016, there has already been $10bn in outbound Chinese transactions, putting the market on track to exceed last year’s record total

Harvey Coe Real estate advisory leader, transaction advisory services, Greater China, EY

US

Australia

Other countriesUK

$2.13bn

Japan$1.57bn

Hong Kong

Singapore

$10.45bn

$4.58bn

$4.12bn

$4.04bn

Malaysia$2.52bn

$1.03bn

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SOURCE PUBLIC DOMAIN

SOURCE TRADINGECONOMICS.COMSOURCE GLOBAL CONSTRUCTION PERSPECTIVES

26 RICS.ORG/MODUS

PAY LATERBUY NOW

Infrastructure

JUNE 2016_MODUS 27

Words David Blackman

Transport, telecommunications, power and water: McKinsey Global Consulting recently estimated that $57tn (£39.6tn) is needed to bring the world’s

infrastructure up to scratch by 2030 to keep pace with economic and population growth.

The problem is that cash-strapped governments, still recovering from the global financial crisis and facing competing pressures for scarce resources, are ill- equipped to furnish this scale of investment.

RICS President Elect Amanda Clack FRICS, head of infrastructure advisory, UK & Ireland at EY, believes there is definitely an appetite for infrastructure among private investors, namechecking the purchase in February of London’s City Airport for £2bn by a consortium led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. “Investors are seeing infrastructure as a really good investment,” she says.

But institutional investors such as insurers and pension funds tend to prefer the safe and steady returns offered by completed projects, and usually shy away from the risks involved in new-build schemes.

There is little doubt, though, that improved transport facilities often drive up property values. Research carried out last June by Groundsure and Property Week found that, along the route of London’s Crossrail line – due for completion in 2018 – house prices are estimated to have risen by as much as 73% between 2013 and 2015.

And there is growing interest worldwide in how these uplifts in property values can be captured to help pay for new transport infrastructure.

The problem, though, is one of chicken and egg. Without up-front investment, infrastructure cannot be delivered, meaning no knock-on rise in property values. But until land values have increased, sites will not generate the kind of cash needed to pay for what are, by their very nature, costly and complicated projects.

The UK’s community infrastructure levy (CIL) – the funding mechanism under which developers pay a sum to the local authority after securing planning permission on any scheme greater than 100 m2 (1,076 ft2) – offers an example of this time-lag problem. As Jeremy Edge FRICS, owner of Edge Planning & Development in London, explains: “The problem with CIL is the receipts coming forward in a timely way to make a substantial difference to infrastructure investment, which is needed up front.”

Hong Kong shows how these problems can be solved. The self-governing territory’s public transport agency, MTR, uses the profits from real estate development to directly pay for the costs of extending Hong Kong’s mass transit rail network. The results are illuminating for those struggling to get transport off the ground elsewhere in the world. Over the past 40 years, MTR has built hundreds of kilometres of rail lines without using a single Hong Kong dollar of public subsidy.

In 1979, the then British colony’s rail network consisted of a sole line running from the city centre to the Chinese border. Hong Kong’s mountainous geography meant the city would descend into gridlock if it had to rely on the private car, so any plans to ease congestion would depend on the extension of its rail network. Instead of offering subsidies to build new lines, the government at the time granted MTR development rights over the land above or next to planned railway stations.

Once it has worked out how much a new line will cost, MTR draws up masterplans for the land surrounding the stations along the route. The corporation then sells the sites to developers at values based on how much they will be worth once developed. »

New transport links increase the value of the areas they serve. Shouldn’t they get something in return?

IDEAL PLATFORMKowloon station is typical of MTR’s approach to funding rail lines in Hong Kong. Retail space has been built above, followed by new residential towers

28 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Nicholas Brooke FRICS, chairman of Hong Kong-based Professional Property Services and a past

president of RICS, has been involved with MTR rail and property projects since the concept was developed. He explains: “The government sells the sites to the MTR on a greenfield basis: they pay on the basis that there’s no railway there. They then sell on development rights with the benefit of the railway they are going to build.”

The beauty of the model is its simplicity, says Brooke. “There are clearly significant gains to be made by developing above a station: you take your cash up front and sell the development rights.”

Once it has sold development rights, MTR then extracts further value by entering into profit-sharing arrangements with the developers, which it generally takes either in the form of a cash payment or a chunk of the development.

MTR has accumulated a substantial property portfolio, including 13 shopping centres, which helps to generate around HK$3bn in rent a year. Each development usually includes a three- to five-storey

llBy developing above a station, you take your cash up front and sell the development rightsll

NICHOLAS BROOKE FRICS Professional Property Services

shopping centre that sits immediately above the station. On top of the retail space, MTR and its partners build up to 10 towers. While in suburban locations these will chiefly comprise flats, those in more central areas generally include a mix of hotels, office and residential accommodation.

MTR’s approach has sparked disquiet among Hong Kong residents about the “sweetheart” nature of the deals between what is now a privatised company and the territory’s government. However, the flipside is that MTR has been able to support the city’s growth while keeping the city moving. Focusing development so tightly around stations has helped increase the use of the territory’s mass transit network, which carries nearly half of all franchised public transport journeys made in Hong Kong.

MTR is now exporting its model to the Chinese mainland, where it is developing two “rail and property” projects. And its influence can be seen in the UK, where chancellor George Osborne used his March Budget speech to ask Transport for London (TfL) to investigate the scope for using land value uplifts to pay for upgrades to the transport network.

London’s transport agency has recently established a string of joint ventures to redevelop its spare and underused property assets. It has already imposed a top-up business rate on the capital’s large occupiers to help fund Crossrail’s construction. And it is using a tax increment finance (TIF) scheme (box, opposite) to pay for an extension of the Tube to serve the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station.

Such integration of transport and development can be a powerful spur for regeneration projects, suggests Laura Mazzeo, a partner at architect Farrells,

which designed Hong Kong’s Kowloon station scheme. “You are in a much better connected place to start with than on greenfield sites, because you are straightaway connected into existing services and high streets,” she says. “When Kowloon was built there was nothing round it. It was built on the assumption that if you built a transport hub meaningful development would come.”

“If you can get a deck built, you could say it’s just another brownfield site to spring off,” says Martin Rowark FRICS, a management consultant at the Nichols Group and a former commercial director of TfL. However, he cautions that the civil engineering challenges involved in building railway stations are not straightforward. “Infrastructure has a reputation for being very, very expensive: you can see the margins shrink in front of your eyes.”

Rowark, who is also chairman of the RICS Infrastructure Forum Steering Group, says the costs of station redevelopment projects are unpredictable.“It’s not because people in infrastructure are grossly incompetent, but because you are dealing with far more interfaces than you would ever expect in a building.”

These headaches often include trying to run a public transport system alongside a construction project. “If you could just close a station like London Euston for six years it would be just another brownfield building site, but if you try doing it while several million people are using it on an annual basis, you build it in a completely different way, piece by piece, which is incredibly expensive,” Rowark adds.

RAIL FARESTax increment finance has been used to fund the subway extension to Hudson Yards in New York (1), and San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center (3). London’s Crossrail (2) is being part-funded by an increase in business rates

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Infrastructure

The idea of harnessing land value increases to pay for transport infrastructure was pioneered by the state of California in 1952. Since then, local authorities in some of the US’s biggest cities have set up tax increment finance (TIF) zones to pay for transport upgrades. In a TIF scheme, any uplifts in property tax revenue increases within a ringfenced area can be used to pay back up-front investment in transport projects or other

improvements at a later date. A TIF has been set up in New

York to help pay for the 1.6 km extension of the No. 7 subway line from its current terminus at Times Square into Hudson Yards. This ambitious project involves constructing a 17.5m ft2 (1.63m m2 ) mixed-use development on a deck over 28 acres of in-use rail sidings. A new station serving Hudson Yards opened last year.

“Bonds have been issued, which are guaranteed by

the city or the state and the revenue is generated from increased values that will come from the real estate in the area,” says Alexander Jan, director of city economics at Arup. He compares the Hudson Yards project to the ongoing regeneration of the area around London’s King Cross station.

Looping back to California, TIF is also being used to provide a portion of the funding for the $4.2bn (£3bn) Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco.

Construction of the multimodal transport terminal is now under way, and is expected to serve 100,000 passengers per day on its completion in 2017.

A TIF set up to capture increased values resulting from the regeneration of the area around the terminal is expected to generate $1.4bn (£1m) over the next 45 years. Around 3m ft2 (279,000 m2) of offices will be developed along with 100,000 ft2 (9,300 m2) of shops and 2,600 homes.

US masters incremental arithmeticFUNDING MODELS

These complexities and costs mean that governments cannot be expected to rely on property redevelopment

to fully shoulder the burden of providing new transport infrastructure, particularly in less dynamic markets where uplifts will be smaller, such as the north of England.

However, Alexander Jan, director of city economics at Arup, believes there is a plenty of unexplored scope to capture more of the value that is generated by transport improvements. “We know that Crossrail has created windfall gains in terms of value uplift, which hasn’t been captured by the business rate supplement.”

He argues that more value could be captured by creating transport investment zones in a radius up to 1km surrounding station redevelopment projects, with the knock-on benefits that these could then be built to a higher specification.

Property professionals may bridle at being asked to furnish a bigger share of the public spending cake, but in this case at least it could be a win-win situation. n

HAVE YOUR SAY Tweet us, using #RICSmodus3

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Housing

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Housing

Housing finance expert Andrew Heywood considers whether the political upsides to house price inflation might just be too appealing for governments to truly get to grips with the problem

Trying to act decisively to damp down rampant house price inflation is a thorny issue for any government. Homeowners who benefit from such markets

outnumber buyers who are priced out of them, while rising values tend to induce the former into voting in favour of the existing government. Those unable to afford a home cannot simply be ignored, however, and public opinion compels governments to at least appear responsible – particularly after the last global banking crisis. The widespread overhauls of mortgage regulation in many countries in the aftermath of the global financial crisis are a case in point. But a tour of world housing markets suggests that action to stabilise them is rarely decisive.

The problem, of course, is that letting the housing market rip only works to an extent. As the global crisis of 2007-2010 showed, a bursting housing bubble can exacerbate an economic downturn, threaten financial stability and cause major dislocation and hardship; we all paid the price. However, old temptations have a remarkable habit of reasserting themselves.

The present situation in the UK is interesting. Values rose 7.1% in England and Wales for the year to January 2016 and the average house price now stands at £191,812, according to the Land Registry. Nationally, prices passed their previous November 2007 peak in July 2015 and are moving towards new records. How sustainable is this, particularly in areas where the inflation has been most pronounced?

Illustration Robert Frank Hunter

In London, average house prices are £530,409 in a city where median full-time annual earnings are less than £30,000 a year. Values passed their previous 2007 peak in May 2012 and are now 39% higher.

Ironically, London provides one example where limited government action has met with some limited success. The chancellor, George Osborne, has acted to dampen the top end of the market and place a modest brake on inward investors by raising stamp duty land tax on the highest priced properties, by increasing capital gains tax and by introducing a selective annual tax. Expensive boroughs such as Kensington and Chelsea and Camden are now registering relatively modest increases.

However, nothing decisive has been done to prevent either the London or national housing markets accelerating away from consumer prices and earnings. Indeed, the prevailing environment of record low »

JUNE 2016_MODUS 31

32 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Housing

interest rates that has been maintained for economic reasons has, arguably, driven house price inflation far more effectively than any government fiscal or regulatory intervention.

Globally, the picture is not so different. It is instructive to take some examples from Knight Frank’s Q4 2015 Global House Price Index on the countries with the fastest rate of house price inflation (graph, below).

In Turkey, the Erdogan government has been widely praised for promoting a strong housing market based on reduced interest rates on housing loans, and a progressive relaxation of restrictions on inward investment. There are now signs that the market may start to fall but, if so, this will be due to a failing economy, dissatisfaction with the present administration, and the ongoing situation in Syria, rather than decisive action to cool the situation.

House price inflation in New Zealand appears to be slowing, partly as a result of government interventions

such as increased taxes on capital gains for both domestic and overseas buyers on properties sold within two years of purchase. Further tax rises are also expected. Yet, at the same time as it imposed stricter loan-to-value ratios in Auckland, where values are still rising at a rate of 14%, the government relaxed them elsewhere and interest rates have now also been cut. Thus, while limited measures have probably deterred some speculative investment, doubts persist over what impact they will have overall.

Across the Tasman Sea, the Economist reports that Australian house prices are now overvalued by more than 30%, and the International Monetary Fund is warning of heightened market risk. Values have risen highest in Sydney and Melbourne, with the former recording a year-on-year increase of 20% in the third quarter of 2015. The key

upward drivers have been the maintenance of low interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia and an increase in overseas investment – particularly from China. The government has reduced capital gains tax on homes held for at least 12 months, and enhanced capital requirements for mortgage lenders have been imposed, but any slowdown in the market is likely to be driven as much by factors such as slower migration rates, uncertainty about overseas investment, affordability concerns, sluggish growth in personal incomes, high levels of household debt and increased new housing supply.

The list of examples can be extended. In Sweden, lower interest rates and property taxes have contributed to rapid price rises. In Iceland, the government has attempted to avoid a second price crash in a decade by shortening maximum mortgage terms and encouraging buyers not to use index-linked mortgages – one of the key drivers of the previous crisis. Nevertheless, they are still the preferred choice of most borrowers and house prices have kept rising. Values in the US have climbed 31% over the past four years, driven by very low interest rates promoted by the Federal Reserve.

One exception to this pattern is Singapore. According to Dexter See, RICS’ ASEAN Managing

Director, authorities in the city state have introduced lower loan-to-value limits and increases in stamp duty, plus a qualifying certificate – effectively a tax – on foreign developers. The aim has been to curb property speculation and, to that end, first-time buyers have been excluded from the measures. Singapore’s Monetary Authority noted last November that its efforts appear to have been successful: property prices, transactions and mortgages could have been higher by as much as one-third had these measures not been implemented. This suggests a tougher approach can pay off if a government has the courage to apply it.

The subprime crash and subsequent global downturn was widely heralded as precipitating a new era of stability for housing markets, as governments committed themselves to tighter regulation and various forms of counter-cyclical intervention. But in the end, it appears that old temptations and dilemmas have resurfaced. No party wants to alienate voters or be accused of slowing down economic growth, especially when fiscal austerity measures risk doing that in any case. All governments want to be seen as responsible, but only up to a point when it comes to deciding between short-term growth or long-term stability. There may be a price to be paid for this in the not too distant future; the question is, by whom? n

ANDREW HEYWOOD is a consultant who specialises in housing and mortgage markets, regulation, governance and European issues. He is editor of Housing Finance International and a visiting fellow of the Smith Institute, an influential UK thinktank.SOURCE KNIGHT FRANK GLOBAL HOUSE PRICE INDEX

18.4%

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Icel

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9.2%

Luxe

mbo

urg

FASTEST HOUSE PRICE INFLATION Q4 2105

JUNE 2016_MODUS 33

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SeiSmic ShiftS are taking place down under. aS auStralia’S once-booming mining industry slows down, the markets that have been powering the country’s economic growth are shifting from extractives to real estate and the service sector. Meanwhile, offshore investment into property, particularly from Asia, is reaching record levels.

“Offshore investors now own 17% of Australian office stock, around twice as much as they did five years ago,” says Daniel Lees, associate director in research at Colliers International, Sydney.

For a relatively small market – comprising just 1% of global office floorspace – Australia’s central business districts (CBD) are proving remarkably popular with investors. With a strong economy, high level of transparency and low sovereign risk, the country continues to be attractive to investors, and Sydney in particular could be at the start of a three-year boom period. Strong tenant demand from international firms and a dearth of new supply are squeezing vacancy rates and pushing up rental prices.

This activity is reflected in figures from Knight Frank, which show that in 2015 offshore groups accounted for 59% of total sales in the Sydney commercial market, or A$3.7bn (£2bn) – a huge increase on the five-year average of A$1.9bn (£1bn). The strongest capital inflows came from China, dominated by the purchase of the Investa Property Group portfolio by the China Investment Corporation for A$2.45bn (£1.3bn) in July.

David Rees MRICS, head of research at JLL Australia, says 2015 was a record year for both inflows and outflows – so it is not all a one-way street, as domestic investment has been very strong. But, he explains, offshore investors – particularly from Asia – have become far more active in the Sydney market, while yields have been compressed to around 5%.

EAST MEETS WESTUpper West Side, a A$1.4bn scheme in Melbourne’s CBD that includes more than 2,000 flats (1), is being developed by the Hong Kong- based Far East Consortium

NINE, DANKESydney’s distinctive Deutsche Bank Place was one of nine towers in the Investa Property Group portfolio, bought last July by China Investment Corporation for A$2.45bn (2)

TROPHY HUNTERS

1 2

Asia-Pacific investors have pushed volumes in Australia’s business districts to record heights. Brendon Hooper reports

JUNE 2016_MODUS 35

professional service firms, for an offshore-based tenant, opening an office in Sydney is potentially around 35% cheaper than it was in 2011.”

Melbourne is also experiencing heightened attention from global investors and multinationals. JLL’s March 2016 investment intensity index shows the city is punching well above its weight in attracting real estate investment – while Sydney sits fourth in the worldwide rankings, the capital of Victoria is an impressive 10th place.

Furthermore, Melbourne recorded the 11th highest level of cross-border office investment in 2015, globally, according to Richard Jenkins, research director for Victoria at Knight Frank. As a result, vacancy rates in Melbourne’s CBD fell to their lowest level in three years, down from 9.1% to 7.7% over the 12 months to January 2016, and supply is forecast to remain below the historical average over the next three years.

Typifying the wave of Asian investment into Melbourne’s inner city is the four-tower Upper West Side project. Hong Kong-based developer Far East Consortium is still on site at the A$1.4bn (£753m) mixed-use complex, and already has plans for an additional four towers. When complete, the scheme will boast more than 2,600 flats and 488 hotel suites.

“Investor interest in Australia, particularly in Sydney, has not diminished as many had feared – even after China’s latest currency devaluation and with demand for natural resources weakening,” says Matt Whitby FRICS, head of research and consulting at Knight Frank Australia. “The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Qualified Domestic Individual Investor [QDII] schemes are expected to drive more Chinese investment in the Australian property market.”

However, competition for office stock is only going to intensify. In the next few years, Lees believes a growing challenge for offshore investors will be the difficulty in accessing stock, thanks to the small size of the market. “Although the main Australian CBD markets contain 15.5m m2 [166.8m ft2] of offices, most offshore capital continues to target Sydney and Melbourne, which reduces the amount of stock available to less than 10m m2 [107.6m ft2].” n

“Chinese investment has expanded very sharply from a low base only a few years ago,” says Rees. “We’re seeing a lot of Chinese development coming in, increasing the supply, but they are also selling the stock to Chinese investors. This has also had the effect of making Australian banks more conservative in funding and lending to projects.”

KPMG and the University of Sydney’s Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia, published in April, predicts that Chinese companies will invest more than $90bn (£48.4bn) into Australia over the next decade across mining, infrastructure, real estate, leisure and tourism, technology services, food and agribusiness. Significantly, the report notes, Chinese direct investment has reached a turning point – the focus is now much less on resources and more towards real estate, infrastructure and consumer sectors.

Although US and European investors still dominate, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that China is now the fifth largest investor, holding 4% of investment stock. “By value, Chinese investors spent more on Australian commercial property in 2015 than any other nation,” says Lees.

The spike in international interest can also be attributed to the Australian dollar, which has lost around 30% of its value from the heights recorded in 2011. According to Cushman & Wakefield, this is accelerating economic growth in Australia’s service industries. John Sears, national director of research at Cushman in Australia, says: “With wages and rent making up around 52% of total costs for Australian IM

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WHO’S OFF TO OZ?Investors from Canada, the US and Malaysia have dominated foreign investment in Australian commercial property for five years, but China and Singapore are on the rise.

Source: JLL

BEDDING INA weakening dollar is not only attracting tourists from China, but hotel investors also. A 228-room Ritz-Carlton is planned at Melbourne’s Upper West Side (left), while Zhengtang has funded Grocon’s A$700m (£356m) Ribbon scheme in Sydney (left)

Up-to-date Australian real estate news for first-time buyers, property investors, sellers and developers realestate.com.au/blog/newsJLL’s Investment Intensity Index compares the volume of direct real estate investment in a city over a three-year period relative to the city’s current economic size bit.ly/JLL_III

Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia KPMG and the University of Sydney’s April 2016 report bit.ly/KPMG_UOSColliers International’s Australia CBD office research and forecast for H1 2016, with video analysis bit.ly/ColliersCBDCushman & Wakefield analyses the location considerations of regional headquarters in Asia-Pacific bit.ly/APACHQ

REFERENCE POINT REPORTS AND RESOURCES

Briefing

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36 RICS.ORG/MODUS

NO MORE SPIRALLINGCOSTS

EXTERNAL FACTORSThe cladding is a mix of concrete-backed terracotta panels with triple-glazed windows, which should help the building meet its BREEAM “Excellent” target

Cost management does not get muCh more challenging. Named after the molecular biologist who co-discovered the structure of DNA, the Francis Crick Institute will provide 926,000 ft2 (86,000 m2) of laboratory facilities for 1,250 researchers and support staff. Construction of the £500m scientific research centre, behind London’s St Pancras station, will be completed this summer.

The institute is a partnership involving the Medical Research Council – which provides more than 40% of the funding – Cancer Research UK, University College London, Imperial College London, King’s College London and the Wellcome Trust. Project manager Turner & Townsend (T&T) provided cost modelling, feasibility studies and procurement solutions.

When the consultant was appointed in 2008, it had only an area schedule to work with. Its design work was helped by an intelligent laboratory cost model, says cost director Ross Hanson: “This helped refine requirements, so many of the ‘nice to have’

The Francis Crick Institute is one of Britain’s biggest publicly funded construction schemes. How did its project manager keep control of the budget? Will Mann reports

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Client Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King’s College London, Medical Research Council, UCL, Wellcome Trust Cost consultant Turner & Townsend Main contractor Laing O’Rourke Mechanical and electrical Arup Architect HOK/ PLP Architecture

JUNE 2016_MODUS 37

Case file

items were removed. The original brief was 20% more expensive than the client could afford, and by challenging the amount of space scientists required, we brought the scheme back within budget.”

The massing of the building also caused issues. “Neighbours include St Pancras and the British Library, and the design had to be approved by the Mayor of London and Camden Council,” says cost manager Mark Jennings MRICS. This led to a considerable amount of the facility being pushed underground. Four floors out of the 12 are in a 15m-deep basement.

T&T decided on a two-stage procurement route, but the basement was included in the stage one tender to maximise competitive tendering. “We worked with architect HOK and engineer AKT II to develop the basement design, which had to meet stringent technical requirements for waterproofing, environment and vibration,” says Hanson.

Laing O’Rourke was appointed as main contractor in 2011 and the basement,

BUILDING BLOCKSThe facility has been built with a concrete frame, with structural steel used for the atrium and plant space above, topped by a curved, aluminium louvre roof

HELICAL STARThe £500m institute will be one of Europe’s largest biomedical research facilities, housing 1,250 researchers and support staff on 12 floors

CONTROL SUBJECTSSuppliers such as the lab equipment manufacturer had payment schedules set up for them to ensure they remained solvent during the recession-hit build

which was constructed using a diaphragm wall, took a year to build.

T&T has had to manage the construction phase through a recession and into the current boom. “We’ve kept a close eye on the supply chain because of insolvency risk,” Hanson explains. “We had concerns over the laboratory furniture supplier, so we set up a payment schedule and monitoring regime to ensure they were kept solvent.”

The consultant has used value engineering to make £25m in cost savings on the project. “We focused on areas that were less visually and functionally important,” says Hanson. “On the west face, we opted for punched windows rather than full glazing, so the cost is half that of other elevations: £600/m2

[£56/ft2] as opposed to £1,200.” Other savings have been identified

through BIM. “We worked with the architect to develop our model, and used it for cost and quantities checking,” explains Jennings. “This was useful for identifying where subcontractors had over-measured.”

The biggest savings came from challenging the main contractor’s costs. “We reduced Laing O’Rourke’s prices by 25%,” says Jennings. “There were sizeable variations. The price for enclosure of lab furniture was based on a wider scope than necessary, encompassing blockwork as well as dry lining, and we reduced this by two-thirds.”

Laing O’Rourke’s view is that collaborative working between contractor and consultant “brought tangible benefits” on a complex project. A spokesperson says: “As is typical on many projects, a base design and scope is initially priced, yet through discussion the team is often able to rationalise the design or amend unnecessary scope, offering cost savings to the client.”

T&T’s eight-year involvement with the project is nearly over. For Jennings, it has constituted a significant part of his career development: “I joined the business in September 2011, started work at Crick four hours later, became chartered while on the project, and was promoted by T&T.” nIM

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It was psychologist Albert Mehrabian’s pioneering research into non-verbal communication in the 1970s that famously concluded only a tiny percentage – 7% to be exact – of communication actually involves spoken words. By far the largest factor, he suggested, was a person’s body language: 55% of the time. These are the postures, gestures and facial expressions people cannot hide because they are subconsciously made. So it makes sense, does it

not, to understand a little about what they reveal?“Body language is what gives away people’s internal

thoughts,” says corporate body language expert India Ford. “Although it’s something everyone picks up on, not everyone knows what to look for, so knowing a little can help you understand the mood of the room and what you might need to do to turn people around.” Failure to use eye contact, slumping, or making minimal movement, are all telltale signs that people are creating barriers, she says.

Robin Kermode, communication coach and actor, adds: “A room of people with tight shoulders, who have their arms folded, shows a classic defensive mood. If you see this, they’re not buying into you, and you need to try another tactic. You need to be looking for ‘open’ postures – open hands, longer eye contact, blinking; these are all things that reveal a person is willing to trust you.”

Most people will think they know some body language basics – touching the nose, looking away or demonstrating reassurance behaviour such as rubbing hands together –

if people are not telling the truth, or are being evasive. “Broadly this does ring true,” says Geoff Beattie, professor of psychology at Edge Hill University in Lancashire and former psychologist on TV show Big Brother. “People do touch themselves when they’re anxious.”

Beattie adds: “Even insincere smiles are a giveaway. Fake smiles leave the face quicker than real ones, while controlled smiles also tend to be asymmetrical in nature too.”

However, although knowing a little about body language can be helpful, there is also a danger that perfectly innocent signals could be misinterpreted. “Being too simplistic is dangerous,” says Kermode. “Some people’s ‘neutral’ expression can be misread as demonstrating anger, when actually they can be very engaged in what’s being said.”

The key to avoiding this is to first establish what the experts call people’s baseline behaviour. “Doing this gives you something to compare against, so you don’t misjudge people,” says Ford.

Because body language works faster than conscious thought, it has been suggested people can do very little to control what signals they themselves are giving off. However, Ford believes people can train themselves: “I call it ‘fake it, till you make it, and become it’,” of how she advises clients on some essentials, such as standing up straight, not looking down, standing square-on and being open-armed.

“This might be initially uncomfortable for someone who is shy,” Ford says, “but just doing this makes people feel better, and soon it can become habitual, normal behaviour.” The truism “it’s not ‘what’ you say, but ‘how’ you say it” really could not be more appropriate.

ANYBODY’S GUESS

Look for the eyes When we get nervous we look for an escape

route. Darting eyes are a giveaway of

people saying one thing, but believing

something else.

Go micro Look for micro-expressions:

the movements that happen before conscious thought

has taken hold.

Touchy touchy Pacifying behaviour, like touching the neck or the dimples of the chin,

even fidgeting, are all signs of lying.

Fighting talk Be aware of anything that shows attitude – such as

people leaning back and preening themselves. The chin being raised is another classic aggressive posture.

FoundationsCareers / Business / Legal / Training

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EVERY BODY’S TALKINGCAREERS A person can say so much without uttering a word, so learn to read and understand your colleagues’ gestures and expressions

Sorting out your own body language is essential if you are going to impress at interview. More at rics.org/bodylanguage

ON RICSRECRUIT.COM

rics.org/modus

http://rics.org/bodylanguage

JUNE 2016_MODUS 39

Foundations

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HEAD OF PLANNING, TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC, LONDON

MY WAY

Richard Serra MRICS

TIMELINE

1989 Studies for degree in building management at Northumbria University

1993 Graduates and lands a job as a site surveyor at Tolent Construction

1995 Switches profession and joins Tynedale District Council as a planning technician

2000 Becomes chartered while at Healey & Baker in London

2001 Joins GVA Grimley as an associate

2006 RTPI membership

2015 Leaves Quod to become head of planning at Tottenham Hotspur FC

THE BEGINNINGI was always interested in making things – right back to being a Lego enthusiast as a boy. So I took the perfect course, building management, at Northumbria University. Back in 1989, it was quite groundbreaking, as it was designed to train in “both languages” of design and construction. I graduated in 1993 in the depths of recession, and was lucky enough to get a job at Tolent Construction. It was a great grounding, helping me get to grips with the building process.

THE CAREER BREAKWorking on building sites wasn’t quite for me, so I found a job as a planning technician with Tynedale District Council. However, I was keen to become more professionally qualified, which wasn’t possible with that local authority, so in 1997 I joined NAI Fuller Peiser in Sheffield, who eventually became part of BNP Paribas. While there, I took a diploma in surveying at the College of Estate Management.

Like many, I was drawn to London, and joined Healey & Baker in 2000 where I became an RICS member. Later, I moved to GVA Grimley and spent five years accruing enough experience to also gain membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2006. Dual qualification is really important to me. I don’t think

“You have to have an appreciation of the mechanics of property development to provide rounded [planning] advice”

you can really advise on town planning in isolation. You have to have more than a basic appreciation of the mechanics of property development to provide more rounded advice.

THE PRESENTI moved back north to Leeds in 2006, taking up a directorship at Hepher Dixon, who later merged with Savills. Tottenham Hotspur FC was one of the firm’s clients, so as early as 2007 I’ve been advising the club on planning.

After a spell at rapidly growing practice Quod, Spurs’ chairman asked me to oversee their planning affairs, including the delivery of the club’s new 61,000-seat stadium. It’s been a full-time job steering the proposals through, as it’s involved liaising with the local authority and community on the wider regeneration around the stadium.

I’m at the stadium three days a week, but I have great flexibility in being able to work from home in Leeds. I’m lucky to be involved in such an exciting project and, personally and professionally, I’m so excited to be helping deliver an amazing new stadium for Spurs.rics.org/richardserra

http://rics.org/richardserra

40 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Professional indemnity insurance (PII) might appear to be one more box to tick but it deserves more serious attention. Get it wrong and you could face a claim that could ruin you financially – even years into retirement.

The first area where you can manage risk is when buying or renewing your PI policy. RICS has agreed a minimum policy wording with its listed insurers in the UK. However, “you are welcome to arrange more comprehensive cover and that may make more sense depending on the nature of your work”, says James Creasey, RICS’ Regulatory Development Executive.

Of course, as your activities become riskier, so insurers will charge a higher premium and the cost of PII is a particular headache for valuers (box, opposite). Creasey says: “In the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, insurers are wary of valuers. Insurance is available, but premiums are high.”

Nicholas Abbott, underwriter, professional, at insurer XL Catlin, adds: “Some RICS member firms are currently paying as much as 25% of gross fee income for their PII, which can have a major bearing on the firm’s profitability.”

RICS is working with insurers to try to reduce premiums – for example by introducing Valuer Registration. Creasey says: “Valuer Registration is improving standards, and insurers have given us really positive feedback, but they

still want to see what claims are like during a future property downturn before changing their view of valuers.”

Peter London, senior account executive at Howden, advises choosing a broker that keeps you up to date with any foreseeable changes in insurance rates throughout the policy year. “This should help you budget for any likely rise in premium.”

London adds: “Start the renewal process at least eight weeks ahead of renewal and allow plenty of time to complete the proposal form to ensure that your broker has sufficient time to negotiate with insurers.”

Even with a suitable policy in place, being hit with a claim can severely test your business. Abbott says: “In most cases, insurers will cover these costs, but your firm will need to pay the excess. So take all possible steps to mitigate the likelihood of a claim.”

When starting a job, Abbott advises nailing down who the end client is and the purpose of the instruction: “These points should be clearly addressed in any instructions received and reports issued. Outline in any dealings with your client those surveys or reports that provide information only and those that provide advice.”

Next, try to limit your liability by setting the terms and conditions of instructions instead of allowing the client to impose them. Abbott recommends identifying “any contractual obligations you are agreeing to that may extend your duty beyond the norm”. Where possible, limit your liability to a multiple of your fee and include a third-party non-reliance clause, which excludes you from future liability.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGEEnsure that communication, both written and verbal, is crystal clear. “Breakdown in communication remains a key driver of PI claims,” says Abbott. “Depending on your client, your report may be relied upon by lay people. So avoid overly technical language and, where it is used, explain the meaning of the terms. Also, record in writing all dealings with the client – a court will prefer this to oral evidence.”

It is also vital to inform your insurer of any new activities. Dominic Guest, head of PI at Axa Insurance UK, cautions: “If you, for example, recruit someone to offer a new service, your existing policy won’t cover the new business area.” Although RICS’ minimum policy wording includes an innocent non-disclosure clause – which means insurers may not penalise you for unwittingly failing to tell them about

RELAX, WE’VE GOT IT COVERED

BUSINESS PI insurance is one of the biggest headaches for a surveyor, but it need not be

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Don’t buy more cover than you need But

conversely, ensure you are fully covered

for riskier activity.

Start your renewal process early At least eight weeks ahead of expiry is preferable.

Limit your liability Set your own terms and conditions on instructions, and

ensure all communication can be understood by a lay person.

Keep your insurer informed All new business activity, including

new hires, must be reported.

Don’t forget run-off cover You are still liable for work carried out even after closure or retirement.

FIVE-POINT PRIMER

RELAX, WE’VE GOT IT COVERED

BUSINESS PI insurance is one of the biggest headaches for a surveyor, but it need not be

JUNE 2016_MODUS 41

relevant activities – this will only stretch so far. Guest says insurers are “unlikely to cover you for a claim relating to an entirely new activity that you hadn’t disclosed”.

A final area that surveyors must address is run-off cover: insurance for claims made after the company has ceased trading. If you retire or close your business, “your work remains in play, so you still need a live policy”, says Creasey. RICS recommends that you cover your work for at least six

years. Creasey is concerned that not all surveyors are making adequate provision, which could have serious consequences.

London warns: “If run-off cover is not purchased, the individual could open themselves to being held personally liable for any claims which may arise.”

The good news is that, once you put run-off cover in place, it tends to cost a decreasing amount each year. Cover is usually bought on a yearly basis. It may be possible to buy a policy that covers three to six years, but this is increasingly rare in today’s market.

Managing PI risk, then, is not simply a matter of buying a policy. It is crucial that you do everything possible to limit your liability, minimise the risk of claims and prepare well for the years ahead.

Defining a ‘duty of care’LEGAL 101

When a surveyor signs a contract in the UK, they can also be imposed with a “duty of care”. It depends on the terms agreed with an employer, but a typical expression of a surveyor’s duty of care might be that they will exercise the reasonable skill and care of a qualified person performing a similar role on a project of similar size. Do surveyors owe any wider duty? Beyond a surveyor’s contract is the law of negligence, which is a legal yardstick against which all professionals are measured. This is an objective standard, and three essential components have to be considered: do you owe a duty of care to the other person; have you fallen short of – in other words, breached – that duty of care; and has the other person suffered loss or damage as a result? How can we know if the duty of care has been breached? It essentially boils down to: what would your peers have done?A surveyor is judged on whether what they did fell within the range of reasonable responses that their peers would have given in similar circumstances. The surveyor would not be in breach if they find themselves positioned at the bottom of that range, as long as they are within that range.

However, surveyors should take care over the

terminology used when agreeing to any higher standard: for example, “diligence” requires your careful and persistent effort, and “best endeavours” obliges you to do everything possible, no matter the cost. Both of these may be difficult to deliver and difficult to insure. What liability is there for a breach? If the duty of care has been breached, it is advisable to accept the employer’s “reasonable” losses: accepting an “indemnity” makes you pay every single item of loss, no matter how remote or absurd. Surveyors often fall foul of their insurers if they offer an indemnity, as their insurance will only cover reasonable losses. Can anyone but my employer sue me? In contract law, yes; if the contract intends to give rights to the third party. Contracts often seek to exclude third-party rights. A collateral warranty to a third party also creates an express contractual relationship.

In negligence, also yes; if you owe a duty of care to the other person. You might use specific exclusion wording. For example, state specifically what the report is being prepared for to exclude other purposes, or express that the report is prepared solely for your employer’s benefit to exclude third parties.

Obviously, the best way to avoid a claim is to not breach your contract or your duty of care. Putting that into practice, however, can be much more difficult.sintons.co.uk

There is useful advice for valuers in RICS’ report: Balancing Risk and Reward: Recommendations for a Sustainable Valuation Profession in the UK.

The report explains that regulations put the onus for assessing the value of the property on the valuer:

“Valuers should therefore carefully examine the contract offered to them … and seek to limit their third-party liability.”

RICS standards must also always be followed: “Comply with Red Book requirements,” says XL Catlin’s Nicholas Abbott, because these are what “a court will use as a benchmark when assessing the competency of a surveyor’s conduct”.

Read the report, and get much more advice for valuers, at the Small Business Hub. Go to rics.org/pii and click on “PII and valuation guidance”.

Foundations

VALUABLE LESSONS

“Some firms are paying as much as 25% of gross fee income for their PII, which can have a major bearing on profitability”

NICHOLAS ABBOTT XL Catlin

KEVIN ANDERSONConstruction specialist, Sintons

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42 RICS.ORG/MODUS

The professionals in concrete

repair

Get it right. Get a professional.

Insist on CRA www.cra.org.uk

All CRA members:Are accredited to BS EN ISO 90001 and BS EN ISO 14001

Comply with BS EN 1504

Can demonstrate a proven track record and capability

Comply with the CRA’s stringent codes of practice

A member of:

4

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www.kentroof.com/ballcam

JUNE 2016_MODUS 43

Report anything suspicious Regulated firms must ensure systems are in place to prevent money laundering. They are required to report suspicious activity, through their money-laundering reporting officer or designated officer, as soon as possible to the National Crime Agency. It may also be necessary for unregulated firms to submit a Suspicious Activity Report. Know who you’re dealing with Members should always meet clients or customers in person, and verify their identity using an original ID. If this is not possible, then be extra careful in verifying a person’s identity. Furthermore, when clients want to perform large cash transactions, or the source of the money is unclear, make sure to conduct further investigations and thoroughly understand the business relationship.

Keep records Retain all relevant financial documentation, and seek advice if something does not seem right about a particular client, customer or transaction. Be particularly vigilant when dealing with countries that are considered a high risk for money laundering.

SHULA DE JERSEY is principal lawyer, business crime and regulation, at Slater & Gordon slatergordon.co.uk

Be vigilant In the present state of the UK housing market, members should be aware of property deals being used to launder the proceeds of crime. Such transactions are highly appealing to criminals, as they can disguise or hide significant amounts of cash.

Don’t neglect due diligence As workloads increase, you might be under pressure to neglect due diligence to cope with larger volumes of work. However, it is essential to effectively manage such risks. This means being prepared to recognise and address the potential risks of money laundering from an early stage. This can only be achieved through the appropriate education and development of employees.

Get your Act together The most relevant legislation for surveyors to be aware of is the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, in particular sections 327-329, as well as offences that

concern “tipping off” and prejudicing an investigation. Money-laundering regulations also exist to support businesses in identifying the risks, and explain the steps that must be taken to guard against criminal activity.

The CPD Foundation offers UK members a convenient and comprehensive way to meet their CPD goals for one annual payment. Sign up at rics.org/cpdfoundation

CPD: ON DEMAND

MANAGING COMMERCIAL BUILDING SERVICESHeating, ventilation and air-conditioning expert David Green of Hemlow (above), gives a tour of technical services within commercial buildings. cpdfoundation.com/webcasts/197 ››CPD hours: 1

WITHOUT PREJUDICE & SUBJECT TO CONTRACTVivien King HonRICS (above) of Hatherleigh Training looks at thetrue effect of the above phrase. cpdfoundation.com/webcasts/210››CPD hours: 1

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY (PI) AND LIABILITY FOR QUANTITY SURVEYORS Chris Green FRICS (above), Capita’s director in property and infrastructure, outlines what quantity surveyors need to understand about PI insurance. cpdfoundation.com/webcasts/184››CPD hours: 0.5

CPD boosterRelated content from RICS

NO PLACE TO HIDE

Foundations

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Recent revelations over offshore ownership of property have brought anti-money-laundering regulations into sharp focus

www.slatergordon.co.uk

www.rics.org/cpdfoundation

https://cpdfoundation.com/webcasts/197



Through the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 – otherwise known as the Construction Act – an employer has always been required to issue to the contractor interim payment notices, setting out the amount which the employer considers due. Yet, until recently, there has been little or no effective consequence for failing to comply with this and, until fairly recently, it has not been clear what happens if no notice is provided.

To provide greater clarity and more structure around payments in construction contracts, amendments to the Act were introduced for contracts entered into on or after 1 October 2011 in England and Wales, and 1 November 2011 in Scotland.

By virtue of the amendments, consequences do now exist and, more often than not, come in the form of added costs.

In the absence of a payment notice from the employer – even if no amount is due – the contractor may make its own application for payment, which will be treated as the default payment notice. In the event that the employer believes it has reason to pay less than the notified sum, it must issue a pay less notice, detailing the basis for its calculation. If no notice is issued, then the default notified sum is payable in full. Any failure to pay will usually result in a swift referral to adjudication.

Employers would usually rely on a counter-adjudication to pay only the true value of the works. However, the

case of ISG Construction Ltd v Seevic College [2014] provides a useful insight into why it is vital for employer agents to issue valid contractual payment notices promptly, and the potential consequences if they fail to do so. In what was the first case to test the new payment scheme, the judgment demonstrated that the Technology and Construction Court is now taking a firmer stance. No longer will the counter-adjudication be an employer’s means of escape.

The failure to issue a payment or pay less notice meant the employer was bound to pay almost the entire sum requested by the contractor, instead of what could have been a much smaller sum had a valid notice been issued in time. In addition, the employer had to cover the costs for the contractor’s application for summary judgment.

Construction professionals acting as employer’s agents – commonly project managers and contract administrators – can be contractually responsible for issuing payment notices and are now ever more exposed to potential negligence claims for breach of their professional duty.

This type of breach – and many other negligence claims – arise from a lack of understanding of the contractual terms and obligations. It is therefore important that construction professionals are fully versed in what is expected of them, and are confident that they have the requisite experience and capabilities.

HOWDEN IS RICS’ PREFERRED PARTNER for PI insurance. Contact Greg Harrison at [email protected]

BENEFITSTo view the latest offers, new partners and promotions, visit rics.org/benefitsplus

Fail to issue your payment notices in time and the consequences could be costly

HAND IN YOUR NOTICE

AS GOOD AS OUR WORD

Nimbus Maps

44 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Advertorial

www.rics.org/benefitsplus

rics.org/modus

JUNE 2016_MODUS 45

Foundations

AconexIt is: an online electronic document management system (EDMS) that can help international teams

connect and collaborate on large projects. It enables construction professionals to work together securely and efficiently, in the cloud, on construction, infrastructure, energy and resources projects.How does it work? BIM’s revolutionary potential is underpinned

by technology, and one of the key catalysts is an EDMS. I use it every day, because it is essential for successful BIM project delivery. It gives everyone working on a project real-time access to all relevant information, where they can read progress updates and comment

on activity, eliminating the need for lengthy email chains.

It is especially useful on global projects that involve multiple teams working across different time zones.

ANNA THOMPSON MRICS is an associate director at Turner & Townsend

Booksrics.org/shopSURVEYED

Is there a book, website, or app you could not be without? Email [email protected]

“I COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT” ANNA THOMPSON MRICS

The increasingly complex nature of infrastructure projects means the highest degree of accuracy is required when setting out and defining reference heights. Collecting this kind of data can be demanding, but Leica’s LS15 Digital Level should make the task a lot less stressful.

The automated level uses an electronic bubble to set up the instruments, and tilt checks are made automatically before each measurement at the push of one button. An integrated autofocus finds measurement targets fast, and improves accuracy by maximising the contrast of the staff.

You can transfer the data from the digital level via USB or Bluetooth on to Leica’s Infinity software, where you can create easy-to-understand displays of complex levelling data. For example, you can combine tables with graphics, or cross-check project data in one window for an overall view of level lines, line calculations or adjustments.

PRICE from £6,000 (inc VAT, prices vary) leica-geosystems.com/ls15_ls10

Also this month››Online collaboration platform TenderSpace helps property and construction professionals connect and work smarter. Its “toolbox” function can help you analyse and better manage the complex processes involved in construction-related projects. thetenderspace.com››Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking, by Amir Kfir and Stephen Hecht, provides practical information and easy-to-follow exercises to help resolve issues of conflict. Price: £9.99 through Amazon.››Watch futurist Parag Khanna deliver a fascinating TED talk on how megacities, supply chains and connective technologies are moving the world away from states and borders. bit.ly/TED_Khanna

LEVELLING THE FIELD

EQUIPMENT

CABLE CALMLS15 has

Bluetooth connectivity to wirelessly

transfer data collected on

site to your own systems

BCIS Guide to Estimating for Small Works 2016 Still the must-have book for estimating and pricing domestic-sized extensions and loft conversions up to around £60,000.£66

A Practical Approach to Planning Law Provides a step-by-step guide to planning law and practice.£54.99

BIM for Construction Clients With the government deadline for BIM Level 2 upon us, there is a need for everyone in the built environment to embrace the advantages of BIM-enabled working.£40

www.leica-geosystems.com/ls15_ls10

www.thetenderspace.com

www.bit.ly/TED_Khanna

46 RICS.ORG/MODUS

EVENTSFull RICS events listings online at rics.org/events For enquiries, call +44 (0)20 7695 1600. All prices are +VAT

››RICS Diversity and Inclusion Conference29 June, LondonThis event moves the discussion on RICS’ Inclusive Employer Quality Mark (IEQM) to the next level. With countless companies pledging their support for IEQM, the event will build upon this with discussions around the IEQM online self- assessment tool, launched this March.CPD: 5.5 hours £195 rics.org/diversityconference

››RICS Planning and Development Conference30 June, LondonDiscover key updates to the housing and planning bill, and what these changes mean for practitioners. Attend this event to get fully up to date with the latest case law and policy, and update your technical skills in viability in practice and placemaking. CPD: TBC £250 rics.org/plandev

UNITED KINGDOM››RICS UK Summit 7 June, QEII Centre, London A forum to debate and discuss the dynamics shaping the future of the UK’s built environment, and the thought leadership emerging as a result. Features keynote speeches and discussions delivered by speakers at the forefront of their profession.CPD: 4 hours £195 rics.org/uksummit

››RICS CPD Days8 June, Cardiff; 15 June, Lincoln; 5 July, Bristol/OxfordRegional conferences full of CPD within land, property and the built environment, with breakout sessions tailored to meet your specific learning requirements.CPD: 6 hours £145 full day, £90 half day rics.org/cpddays

››It’s Your APC8 June, London; 21 June, ManchesterAnnual conference tailored to provide a step-by-step guide for building surveyors at every stage of their training. Sessions will focus on the final assessment submission and will include a mock interview and competency refresher sessions. CPD: 6.5 hours £100 rics.org/itsyourapc

››Strategic Facilities Management Conference14 June, LondonThis conference will discuss client needs and requirements from the occupier, developer and CEO perspectives. Discussions will centre on what FM has to offer in this changing sector and how that can impact the work of the facilities manager.CPD: 6 hours £250 rics.org/fmconf

››RICS Rural Conference15 June, Cirencester Keynote speaker John Varley, from Clinton Devon Estates, takes a closer look at how rural estates can contribute to the UK economy. Further sessions will explore rural housing challenges, valuation, and what to expect in a compliance visit.CPD: 5.5 hours £125 rics.org/ruralconference

››RICS Commercial Property Conference, Scotland 16 June, Edinburgh Get up to date with the latest government drives including business rates, rating revaluation, and minimum energy efficiency standards and discover the impact they will have on property transactions.CPD: 5.5 hours £125 rics.org/commercialscotland

This year’s conference will unpick the changes proposed by the housing and planning bill 2015-16. Our expert speakers will examine its impact on affordable housing and the private-rented sector. Personalise your CPD whatever your specialism. Dedicated, technical breakout areas for survey, valuation and agency will provide best practice examples to improve and enhance your business.CPD: 6 hours £155 rics.org/residentialconference

6 July, London

RICS RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY CONFERENCE

INTERNATIONAL ››RICS Cities in a Digital World 13 July, Marina Bay Sands, SingaporeAs cities respond to the increasingly complex array of challenges brought by urbanisation, this conference brings together internationally eminent thought leaders to discuss the practical impact of such growth.CPD: 6 hours S$550 (£278) rics.org/digitalcities

››COBRA 201619-22 September, Toronto, CanadaIn partnership with George Brown College (Canada), RICS presents the world’s leading annual construction, building and real estate research conference dedicated to providing stimulating debate and discussions between researchers from around the world, providing the basis for new areas of research for construction. CPD: TBC £576 rics.org/cobra2016

rics.org/modus

rics.org/events

http://rics.org/diversityconference

http://rics.org/diversityconference

http://www.rics.org/plandev

http://www.rics.org/uksummit

http://www.rics.org/cpddays

http://www.rics.org/uk/training-events/conferences-seminars/its-your-apc---london/london/

http://www.rics.org/uk/training-events/conferences-seminars/rics-strategic-facilities-management-conference/london/

http://rics.org/ruralconference

http://rics.org/residentialconference

http://rics.org/digitalcities

http://rics.org/cobra2016

www.rics.org/commercialscotland

JUNE 2016_MODUS 47

››Louis Roy Kinsler FRICS, 1924-2015Stanmore››Kenneth Lindsay MacKenzie FRICS1924-2015, Wallington››Mark Gordon Nicholas MRICS, 1960-2016 Harrow››Alasdair Robinson MRICS, 1987-2016London››Bernard Henry Skinner FRICS, 1921-2015London››Charles Thomas Syred MRICS, 1936-2016South Croydon

NORTH WEST››Kenneth William Broad FRICS, 1948-2016Congleton››John Thornton Dean FRICS, 1927-2015Knutsford››George Noel Fare FRICS 1929-2016, Warrington››Ronald Herbert Jones FRICS, 1930-2015, Bury››Charles Rex Lewis FRICS, 1932-2016, Wirral››Paul Taylor FRICS1951-2016, Stockport››Andrew John Thompson FRICS1956-2016, Preston

SOUTH EAST››James Mccleary Anderson FRICS1926-2012, Uckfield››Neville Henry Andrew FRICS, 1940-2016Littlehampton››Brian Dudley Beer MRICS, 1938-2016, Ryde››Lewis James Duke FRICS, 1910-2011Littlehampton››John Eastwood MRICS1928-2014, Surrey

››Colin Desmond Ellmore FRICS, 1950-2016, Witney››Kenneth Hookham FRICS, 1928-2015Eastbourne››Ronald Frederick Lankstead FRICS1927-2015, Brighton››Robert John Leonard MRICS, 1924-2016Southampton››Edward William Lusher MRICS, 1919-2016Tunbridge Wells››Michael Philip Michaels FRICS1926-2016, Surbiton››Peter Sydney Morrish MRICS, 1924-2015Tonbridge››Richard Pearce MRICS1951-2016, Fareham››Eric Albert Sieler FRICS 1931-2016, Ryde

SOUTH WEST››Donald Bishop MRICS1922-2015, Sount Brent››Frederick George Clatworthy Libby FRICS1930-2015, Launceston››John Gerald Pearson FRICS, 1931-2015Wimborne››Edward Pope FRICS1920-2014, Gloucester

WEST MIDLANDS››Peter Denis Abbott1933-2016, Birmingham››Peter Dugdale FRICS, 1930-unknownTamworth››Jack Hewitt FRICS1925-2015 Wolverhampton››Norman Richardson FRICS, 1928-2016Ross-on-Wye

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER››Ernest Edward Heath FRICS, 1926-2015, Leeds››John Lane1936-2016, Sheffield

SCOTLAND››Allan Watson Dalrymple FRICS1929-2015, Edinburgh››James Mathieson Dickson MRICS1928-2015, Erskine››John Malcolm Hunt FRICS, 1925-2016Edinburgh››Iain Alasdair Niall Illingworth MRICS1960-2015, Crieff››Ronald Patrick Thorburn FRICS1926-2015, Peebles

WALES››George Eric James MRICS, 1927-2015Cardiff››Ieuan Morris Jones MRICS, 1923-2016 Ruthin››Ryszard Stepan HonRICS, 1926-2015Pwllheli››Louis Tecwyn Owen Thomas FRICS1920-2015, Caernarfon

NORTHERN IRELAND››Aidan Quinn MRICS1948-2016, Cookstown

ASEAN››Chee Seng Kwok MRICS, 1952-2015Singapore››Anthony Eden Netto1936-2015, Singapore

If you are facing hardship after the loss of a family member, or if you are considering leaving a legacy, contact LionHeart, the charity for RICS members and their families. Call +44 (0)24 7646 6696, email [email protected], or visit lionheart.org.uk.

OBITUARIES

EASTERN››Donald William Clark FRICS, 1930-2016Hertford››Paul Cohen MRICS1954-2016, Herts››Peter Charles Coles MRICS, 1926-2016Rickmansworth››Malcolm Francis Major Dartnall FRICS1923-2015Frinton On Sea››Richard John Dunthorne FRICS1934-2013Downham Market››Stuart Harry Charles Marston FRICS1929-2015, Holt››Andrew Newland MRICS 1961-2016, Maldon››Robert Elwood Wilson MRICS, 1927-2016 Norwich

EAST MIDLANDS››Peter Anthony Beaumont FRICS1928-2015, Sleaford››Peter Gunn MRICS1930-2016, Nottingham››Robert Henry Hunter FRICS, 1926-2015Nottingham››Michael Allison Pertson FRICS, 1941-2016 Nottingham››Heaton Edward Spires MRICS, 1930-2011Peterborough

LONDON››Philip Leslie Case MRICS, 1971-2015Bromley››Ivor Cooper AssocRICS1926-2014, London››Ronald Gerard FRICS1925-2015, Barnet››Martyn Gerrard MRICS1936-2016, London

Please email obituary notifications to [email protected] or call +44 (0)870 333 1600

Well-known East Anglian agricultural surveyor, auctioneer and valuer Gordon Brown FRICS died earlier this year aged 93.

Born in Beckenham, he joined the RAF in 1942, training in radar in Lincolnshire. He met his late wife, Jean, and his time there left him with a lifelong love of the Lincolnshire countryside. He qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1950 and in 1954 joined Charles Hawkins & Sons in King’s Lynn,

where he remained for the rest of his career, becoming senior partner in 1976.Gordon was an extremely capable and well thought of agricultural valuer and

auctioneer. In 1985 he was elected president of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and, during his tenure, arranged a visit to the Sandringham Estate, by kind permission of Her Majesty the Queen.

In 1982, he negotiated the sale of Charles Hawkins to a newly formed subsidiary of Lloyds Bank and the firm became the first Black Horse agency in the country, the first sale of a practice to a financial institution, and the forerunner of many.

Gordon had a number of interests outside his professional life. First and foremost was his family of Jean and their four children, Colin, Wendy, Sally and Richard, plus more recently grandchildren – one of whom is also a chartered surveyor – and great-grandchildren. In later years he quietly took up motorcycling and would often go for a spin into his beloved Lincolnshire and north Norfolk countryside.

GORDON BROWN FRICS 1922–2016

Notices

www.lionheart.org.uk

48 RICS.ORG/MODUS

The July/August issue will be published on 12 July Recruitment copy deadline

Wednesday 8 June

You’ll Be Pleased You Called us FirstRESIDENTIAL SURVEYOR VACANCIES (AssocRICS/MRICS) Full-Time and Part-Time. All Greater London/M25 required-N/S/E/W. Plus: Abingdon, Barking, Barnet, Barnsley, Basingstoke, Basildon, Bedford, Birmingham, Bishops Stortford, Blackheath, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Bromley, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Chingford, Colwyn Bay, Croydon, Derby, Devon N, East Anglia, Enfi eld, Epsom, Essex, Guildford, Greenwich, Halifax, Horsham, Huddersfi eld, Huntingdon, Ilford, Inverness, Kent E/Sth, Kingston, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Loughborough, Maidenhead, Maidstone, Manchester all, Mansfi eld, M.Keynes, Medway, Newcastle, Northants, Nottingham, Oldham, Ormskirk, Oxford, Plymouth, Preston, Reading, Romford, Saffron Waldon, Sevenoaks, Sheffi eld, Slough, Southend, Southport, Staines, Stockport, Sutton, Swindon, T.Wells, Torbay, Truro, Welwyn, Wigan, Wimbledon, Winchester, Worcester, Woking. Also: Prestige Staff Surveyors: CT,PO,OX,BA,SW,TN,RH,M,IP,CO,EX,ST,TA,BA,LS,BD

Experienced in mortgage vals, HBR’s or building surveys ideally. Employers include many smaller local practices and all major surveying organisations and lenders. Outstanding remuneration and benefi ts packages. London basic salaries to £65k (£90-120k OTE).

Call Jeff Johnson on 07940 594093 or email your CV in confi dence to: [email protected] Or to connect via linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeff-johnson-6615b714

NEW VACANCY LOCATIONS DAILY. 21 years expertise fi nding the right job for you www.mlarecruit.com

RICS Recruitricsrecruit.com / To advertise, email [email protected] or call +44 (0)20 7101 2772

Commercial property management consultants seek a suitably qualified individual to assist with the management of a varied portfolio of properties located in the South of England. Excellent opportunity to progress with a view

to acquiring the business at a future date.

To arrange an initial discussion please contact 07802 666 055 or email CV to [email protected]

MANAGEMENT / INVESTMENT SURVEYOR / RECENTLY QUALIFIED RICS

Do you want to work for a private firm with a corporate attitude - a firm that is quality driven and that has a strong tradition of VALUING its surveyors as INDIVIDUALS.

Valunation is part of one of the country’s largest independent and privately owned Estate Agency groups with over 200 branches and we’re looking to further expand and strengthen our national team of residential valuation surveyors.

This is your opportunity to make a positive and rewarding change to your working life and join a leading name in the residential surveying marketplace where we pride ourselves on the emphasis we give to the quality, rather than the quantity, of what we deliver.

We have vacancies for RICS qualified and registered experienced residential surveyors, who are highly motivated. You must be familiar with undertaking valuations and surveys for both lenders and private clients

There are immediate vacancies in London and the South East, North Leeds and Derby but new vacancies are being added all the time, so send us your CV and we will contact you when a vacancy comes up.

We offer a competitive benefits package including private medical care, life insurance, BMW car scheme or car allowance, together with a generous bonus scheme. We are also happy to consider part-time or flexible working.

If you are interested in joining us we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email your CV directly to [email protected] or call Paul Lancaster on 07974 090 113 or David Atter on 07973 543 010 for a confidential chat.

Residential Valuation Surveyors

www.ricsrecruit.com

JUNE 2016_MODUS 49

RICS Recruit

Get on the dog and bone:0115 9517 517Or, email your CV to:

[email protected]

www.sdlsurveying.co.uk

DO YOU WANT TO LEAD THE PACK?

Don’t be one of the sheep!Having pioneered iPad technology, we continue to drive surveying forwards.

Whether you’re fresh out of

the traps or looking for a new

leash of life, we’re recruiting

Assoc RICS and MRICS

qualified surveyors today.

50 RICS.ORG/MODUS

To view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.comTo view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.com

Requirements: VRS Essential, Associate RICS considered

Due to ongoing growth we have vacancies in London and the Home Counties for quality individuals that want to be part of a successful business.

Email [email protected] for more information or contact Dominic Easterby on 01932 736 540

Part of the Badger Holdings Group

Work.Life.Balance If you are a surveyor looking for the best of both when it comes to

work, life, balance then look no further...

Excellent earning potential

Choose your working week

Great benefits available

Feel valued and appreciated

Be part of a great team

JUNE 2016_MODUS 51

RICS RecruitRICS Recruit

QUANTITY SURVEYORS AND SENIOR QUANTITY SURVEYORS OF ALL LEVELS SOUGHT TO MEET RAPID COMPANY EXPANSION

Location Nationwide

Excellent Salaries + Car/Car Allowance + Generous Pension + PHI

Sector Experience Sought- Gas, Oil, Nuclear, FMCG, Utilities, Commercial and Traditional Building

Hargreaves Jones is a Commercial and Project Services consultancy serving the Oil, Gas, Nuclear, Utilities including Overhead Transmission Lines, Pharmaceuticals, Fast Moving Consumer Goods sectors (FMCG), and Commercial and Traditional Building sectors. We pride ourselves on delivering commercial & project services

to clients engaged in capital construction and engineering activities on both large and small infrastructure projects for blue chip clients, or their respective design and project management service providers.

The continued expansion and success of our growing business, presently averaging 34% year on year since 2006, and recently acknowledged as placing Hargreaves Jones in the top 50 QS Firms in the UK, is reliant upon fi nding enthusiastic, motivated professionals to join our growing business.

For a confi dential discussion please contact Liz Moore on 0161 817 3340, alternatively send a recent copy of your CV to [email protected]

www.hargreavesjones.com

HARGREAVES JONES RECRUITMENT 2016

Financial Incentives can play a key role in supporting the viability of projects and also reward companies for engaging in national priorities such as investment in green technologies, R&D and brownfield development.

We currently provide advice to a range of large property corporates, developers and national house-builders and are experiencing a significant increase in the demand for our services. We are therefore looking to recruit two new members to our team.

You are likely to be a surveyor from a contractor, house-builder or consultancy practice who is seeking a new challenge and wanting to expand their expertise into the areas of finance and taxation whilst still using your core QS / BS skills. You will be given full training and will work within a strong team environment.

A SURVEYING CAREER WITH A DIFFERENCEBirmingham I Salary £25k-£45k plus bonus & benefits

To find out more and to request a full prospectus please email your CV to [email protected]

At Bruton Knowles, we're not interested in off-the-peg recruitment. That's why we only hire on a direct basis - no agency applications considered.

You see, we pride ourselves on creating tailor-made roles designed around our people as individuals.

To you, that means the chance to play to your own particular strengths, skills and interests - and enjoy the perfect mix of challenge and reward.

If that sounds the perfect fit, upload your CV now at www.brutonknowles.co.uk/speculative

And see how we measure up.

Made to measureBespoke career development tailored to your skills and aspirations

52 RICS.ORG/MODUS

To view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.comTo view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.com

With a two decade sector association, wide ranging (and often exclusive) client base and in-depth knowledge of each company through years of close working, we welcome enquiries (in confi dence, without obligation and however speculative) from: • Residential surveyors already

working in the sector • Residential surveyors who left the

sector post 2008, but would like to return with refresher training

• Semi-retired surveyors (with residential experience) keen to keep active on a part-time/fl exible basis

• MRICS-qualifi ed surveyors with relevant – although perhaps not direct – inspection or valuation experience.

• Staff Valuers/ Residential Surveyors keen to work client side

We can help you achieve: • An improvement in earnings, be

that basic salary or a bonus scheme that off ers greater incentives

• A reduction in hours or a move to part-time or zero hours working

• A reduction in the volume of work that you are expected to handle

• An improvement in the general quality of your instructions

Current vacancies include:

Opportunities for experienced Residential Surveyors within corporate environments: All London postcodes (N, NW, W, SW, SE & E), Essex (SS, CM, RM, CO, IG & E), Hertfordshire(AL, SG, WD, EN), Bedfordshire/Luton (LU, MK), M4 Corridor generally (SL, RG, OX, SN), East & West Sussex (BN, TN, RH),

Dorset, (DT, BH), Hampshire (SO, PO), Surrey (CR, TW, KT, SM, GU), Kent (ME,TN, CT, BR, DA), Plymouth, Gloucestershire (GL), Bristol (BS), CB, S, NR, Cardiff /South Newport (CF, NP), Chichester, Basingstoke Aberdeen, Northants, Uxbridge, Harrow, Twickenham, Swindon, Leicester, Yorkshire. Remuneration includes a basic salary of £40-65k (depending on location), bonuses (based on fee income), a car (or allowance), healthcare and pension.

Opportunities for fi rst time entrants / Trainee Residential Surveyors nationally Our client is an independent, well-established and growing fi rm of chartered surveyors undertaking the full range of survey and valuation services for main lenders and private clients. They are able to train enthusiastic chartered surveyors from most backgrounds so previous residential surveying experience is not essential. Opportunities currently exist in London, Kent, Sussex, Bucks, Midlands, Wales and Cheshire, with additional vacancies following weekly. Basic salary to £50k + Bonuses + Car allowance

Opportunities within panel– appointed, non-corporate practice-based environments Our clients are traditional, independent private practices who service main lender, private client and in-house (agency) instructions undertaking the full range of residential reports for high average fees. Their ethos is quality

over quantity (but not at the expense of security) and, as such, surveyors working for them are not put under the same pressures as they might be elsewhere in the sector. Vacancies exist in the following locations immediately with additional needs following on a near weekly basis: South London, South Hampshire (Portsmouth/Southampton/ Winchester), Chilterns, North West London, North East London/Essex, Kent, Oxford, Bristol/Bath. Chichester, North London, Reading, St Albans, Bromley, Dartford, East London, SW London, Loughton/ Chigwell, Romford, Colchester, Chelmsford, Milton Keynes. Basic salary circa £50k+ with excellent “zero threshold” bonus scheme, quality car and benefi ts.

To fi nd out more or apply, contact:

James Irving 0208 514 [email protected]

We are recruiting nationally for both high street and specialist lenders who require experienced Valuers to work in-house in the following locations (with additional following on a weekly basis):

Croydon (CR), East London (E), North Northampton (NN), Watford (WD), Slough (SL), Surrey (KT)&(TW), Bristol/Bath, Midlands, Aberdeen, Hull, Essex, Kent, Oxford, North London, Manchester, Medway, Coventry, South Yorkshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon

Would you like to focus on quality over quantity with a single reporting format, a workload comprising mostly Mortgage Valuations (no Building Surveys), a tight-knit patch, market leading tablet technology and an outstanding remuneration package that isn’t commission led?

Opportunities for Staff Surveyors / Valuers UK wide

Opportunities for Residential Surveyors UK wideWith pay reviews completed, withheld bonuses paid and 2016 well and truly underway, how does your current deal stack up against the various other opportunities out there? You could respond to a variety of adverts and run the risk of someone discovering your curiosity… or…you could speak to the agency whose client base makes up the bigger picture and explore the market discreetly with no obligation or risk…what have you got to lose?

To fi nd out more (without obligation), apply for one of our immediate needs or register (in confi dence) for future vacancies in your patch please contact:

Greg Coyle 0208 514 [email protected]

Suitable Surveyors will need to meet the following criteria: • MRICS/FRICS qualifi cation (though

AssocRICS may be considered with suffi cient levels of experience)

• VRS accreditation• PII claim free• Strong track record

in their chosen patch • A stable career history demonstrating

strong commitment to past and present employers.

As well as the obvious workload, lifestyle and team benefi ts, successful Staff Surveyors can expect a remuneration package comprising: • High basic (up to £65k)

depending on location • Profi t share or bonuses based

on multiple (quality) factors as opposed to volume only

• High quality prestige company car• 6 weeks holiday to start • Market leading Pension• A wide range of health, lifestyle

and wellbeing benefi ts• Preferential staff mortgage rates

JUNE 2016_MODUS 53


With a two decade sector association, wide ranging (and often exclusive) client base and in-depth knowledge of each company through years of close working, we welcome enquiries (in confi dence, without obligation and however speculative) from: • Residential surveyors already

working in the sector • Residential surveyors who left the

sector post 2008, but would like to return with refresher training

• Semi-retired surveyors (with residential experience) keen to keep active on a part-time/fl exible basis

• MRICS-qualifi ed surveyors with relevant – although perhaps not direct – inspection or valuation experience.

• Staff Valuers/ Residential Surveyors keen to work client side

We can help you achieve: • An improvement in earnings, be

that basic salary or a bonus scheme that off ers greater incentives

• A reduction in hours or a move to part-time or zero hours working

• A reduction in the volume of work that you are expected to handle

• An improvement in the general quality of your instructions

Current vacancies include:

Opportunities for experienced Residential Surveyors within corporate environments: All London postcodes (N, NW, W, SW, SE & E), Essex (SS, CM, RM, CO, IG & E), Hertfordshire(AL, SG, WD, EN), Bedfordshire/Luton (LU, MK), M4 Corridor generally (SL, RG, OX, SN), East & West Sussex (BN, TN, RH),

Dorset, (DT, BH), Hampshire (SO, PO), Surrey (CR, TW, KT, SM, GU), Kent (ME,TN, CT, BR, DA), Plymouth, Gloucestershire (GL), Bristol (BS), CB, S, NR, Cardiff /South Newport (CF, NP), Chichester, Basingstoke Aberdeen, Northants, Uxbridge, Harrow, Twickenham, Swindon, Leicester, Yorkshire. Remuneration includes a basic salary of £40-65k (depending on location), bonuses (based on fee income), a car (or allowance), healthcare and pension.

Opportunities for fi rst time entrants / Trainee Residential Surveyors nationally Our client is an independent, well-established and growing fi rm of chartered surveyors undertaking the full range of survey and valuation services for main lenders and private clients. They are able to train enthusiastic chartered surveyors from most backgrounds so previous residential surveying experience is not essential. Opportunities currently exist in London, Kent, Sussex, Bucks, Midlands, Wales and Cheshire, with additional vacancies following weekly. Basic salary to £50k + Bonuses + Car allowance

Opportunities within panel– appointed, non-corporate practice-based environments Our clients are traditional, independent private practices who service main lender, private client and in-house (agency) instructions undertaking the full range of residential reports for high average fees. Their ethos is quality

over quantity (but not at the expense of security) and, as such, surveyors working for them are not put under the same pressures as they might be elsewhere in the sector. Vacancies exist in the following locations immediately with additional needs following on a near weekly basis: South London, South Hampshire (Portsmouth/Southampton/ Winchester), Chilterns, North West London, North East London/Essex, Kent, Oxford, Bristol/Bath. Chichester, North London, Reading, St Albans, Bromley, Dartford, East London, SW London, Loughton/ Chigwell, Romford, Colchester, Chelmsford, Milton Keynes. Basic salary circa £50k+ with excellent “zero threshold” bonus scheme, quality car and benefi ts.

To fi nd out more or apply, contact:

James Irving 0208 514 [email protected]

We are recruiting nationally for both high street and specialist lenders who require experienced Valuers to work in-house in the following locations (with additional following on a weekly basis):

Croydon (CR), East London (E), North Northampton (NN), Watford (WD), Slough (SL), Surrey (KT)&(TW), Bristol/Bath, Midlands, Aberdeen, Hull, Essex, Kent, Oxford, North London, Manchester, Medway, Coventry, South Yorkshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon

Would you like to focus on quality over quantity with a single reporting format, a workload comprising mostly Mortgage Valuations (no Building Surveys), a tight-knit patch, market leading tablet technology and an outstanding remuneration package that isn’t commission led?

Opportunities for Staff Surveyors / Valuers UK wide

Opportunities for Residential Surveyors UK wideWith pay reviews completed, withheld bonuses paid and 2016 well and truly underway, how does your current deal stack up against the various other opportunities out there? You could respond to a variety of adverts and run the risk of someone discovering your curiosity… or…you could speak to the agency whose client base makes up the bigger picture and explore the market discreetly with no obligation or risk…what have you got to lose?

To fi nd out more (without obligation), apply for one of our immediate needs or register (in confi dence) for future vacancies in your patch please contact:

Greg Coyle 0208 514 [email protected]

Suitable Surveyors will need to meet the following criteria: • MRICS/FRICS qualifi cation (though

AssocRICS may be considered with suffi cient levels of experience)

• VRS accreditation• PII claim free• Strong track record

in their chosen patch • A stable career history demonstrating

strong commitment to past and present employers.

As well as the obvious workload, lifestyle and team benefi ts, successful Staff Surveyors can expect a remuneration package comprising: • High basic (up to £65k)

depending on location • Profi t share or bonuses based

on multiple (quality) factors as opposed to volume only

• High quality prestige company car• 6 weeks holiday to start • Market leading Pension• A wide range of health, lifestyle

and wellbeing benefi ts• Preferential staff mortgage rates

5 4 RICS.ORG/MODUS

To view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.com

Work is offered on a non-exclusive, Ltd Co or Self-employed basis with FULL PI Cover provided by our client enabling suitable surveyors to enjoy all the financial benefits of consultancy working with none of the usual drawbacks (i.e. not being able to service existing clients, expensive

PI premiums & run off cover etc..). Whether you seek supplementation of existing workload, your first consultancy agreement or simply an improvement on the terms you currently work under we would like to hear from you.

To express your interest in confidence or discuss further without obligation please contact: Jamie Davies Direct: 0208 911 [email protected]

Our client, a top tier national panel manager URGENTLY seeks Freelance Residential Surveyors for high quality fee sharing opportunities in the following locations IMMEDIATELY

Scarborough, Thames Valley, Cumbria / South Lakes, Essex, All Kent postcodes, All London postcodes, Cambridge, Norfolk & Suffolk, Yeovil/Somerset, Carlisle, Peterborough, Northants, Winchester, Chester/ North Wales, Bangor, Luton, Welwyn, Wakefield, Bradford, Lincoln, Enfield / Hertfordshire, West Tyneside Colchester

Freelance and ZH Surveyors required nationally (LTD Co and Self Employed)

This may well apply to some things, I guess, but as a skilled professional you will have been trained to understand that true professional values are something to be respected and maintained. At Metropolis, we want to work with you, respect your judgements and values and help you achieve as much personal satisfaction from your career as you can.

So if you are an FRICS/MRICS and have experience of residential valuations, please email me your CV and I will come to meet you to discuss the Metropolis way. It may not be bigger, but I think you’ll find it may be better!

Please [email protected]

So why, exactly,is bigger, better?

Consultants urgently required in: CB, NR, PE, NE, SR, CT, S, BH, CA, DT, LD Postcode areas


JUNE 2016_MODUS 55


To find out more about life at e.surv, contact one of our team today for a confidential discussion:

Russ Hewitt (Operations Director) 07775 544842Paul Marcus (North) 07775 544866

Tim Wood (South) 07800 705547David Blagden (Consultants) 07968 932017

Alternatively, email your CV to our Talent Acquisition Team:[email protected] or call Matt on 07794 392858.

There’s no doubt that our industry is changing, but we welcome that. That’s why we’ve spent the time and effort to revolutionise the way our surveyors work, introducing exciting new iPad technology across our business.

As a surveyor, you know that a healthy work/life balance can be a challenge in today’s market.

This is a technological leap forward for our industry and when you factor in our compact postcode coverage, you start to understand why we’ve been the UK’s leading residential surveyor for so long.

We’re genuinely excited about the improvements our new technology will bring, enabling our surveyors to work smarter, earn faster, and deliver a more efficient service to our clients and customers.

But don’t just read about it. Contact our directors listed below and they’ll be more than happy to share their excitement with you.

There’s really never been a better time to join e.surv.

Our package includes a competitive basic salary, generous incentive scheme, and excellent benefits including private medical care, life assurance, share-save, additional holiday purchase and much more.

We are seeking employed and consultant surveyors in many key locations including London, Maidstone, Reading, Slough, Swindon, Bedford, Bishops Stortford, Leeds, Colwyn Bay and Inverness.

We also have a live requirement for an Area Manager covering the key South East London Regions and would welcome applications from experienced senior chartered surveyors.

There’s no doubt that our industry is changing, but we welcome that. That’s why we’ve spent the time and effort to revolutionise the way our surveyors work, introducing exciting new iPad technology across our business.

Celebrating success since 1987

IT’S GETTING EXCITING AT

For a full list of our opportunities, visit www.esurv.co.uk/jobs

e.surv

56 RICS.ORG/MODUS


TIME FOR A CHANGE OF DIRECTION?We are recruiting residential surveyors (both experienced and recently qualified) as well

as surveyors from other RICS disciplines with relevant experience wishing to transfer their skills, to carry out residential valuations and surveys in the following locations:

South Birmingham • Reading • Camberley • Slough/Uxbridge • Plymouth • Watford • East London/Essex • Norwich • Leeds • Oxford • Preston • Dartford

For the right people we will consider any location in England and Wales and also offer flexible/part time working arrangements.

Are you an Assoc RICS surveyor and Registered Valuer and want to work for a company run by surveyors for surveyors? If so we would be very interested in talking to you.

If, for you, quality comes ahead of quantity and you like the idea of working with us in a culture of partnership, please email your cv to our Operations Manager, Jon

Charlesworth, FRICS, [email protected] or call 07825 634137

LEASEHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT SURVEYORSWe are looking for surveyors with expertise in Leasehold Reform matters

to work in partnership with our Professional Services Division. We are interested in surveyors with experience across London and the South East and particularly

those with good experience in Prime Central London.

For an informal discussion please call Martin Geoghegan, MRICS on 07484 039 321 or email [email protected]

JUNE 2016_MODUS 57

RICS Recruit

MB19837_Modus_SweetDeal_aw.indd 1 29/04/2016 11:39

HOW IS DEMAND FOR DATA CENTRES EVOLVING? Everyone is

grappling with how to get into China from a macro perspective –

there are very different regulatory and tax

considerations, and ownership is difficult

in the country.

Data centre demand is peaking

in the big cities, where companies can best provide

their services. London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam are the three strongest markets

in Europe, and there is a real clustering of cloud

companies in Dublin.

Mind map

Andrew Jay MRICS Head of data centre solutions, EMEA, CBRE

ILLU

STR

ATIO

N D

ANIL

O A

GU

TOLI

in the big cities, where companies can best provide

their services. London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam are the three strongest markets

in Europe, and there is a real clustering of cloud

58 RICS.ORG/MODUS

Hotspots for data centre

demand in Asia-Pacific are Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and

Sydney.

For example, data centres in

Tokyo use measures such as floating buildings to

reduce risk from seismic activity, while in some

countries, armed guards are needed to protect

data centres.

The basic standards for data

centres are mostly the same from a power, cooling

and security point of view. The biggest regional differences

involve voltages, types of cooling infrastructure,

and any local risks.

www.rightsure.co.uk

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rics modus, global edition — june 2016

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