RICS Archives - Facilities Management Forum | Forum Events Ltd
Posts Tagged :

RICS

RICS unveils manifesto for the built environment
By:

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched its manifesto for the built environment, titled Empowering a Sustainable Future, in advance of the next UK General Election.

RICS says the UK’s built and natural environments face large-scale challenges ranging from climate change to a cost-of-living crisis, creating additional difficulties for a housing sector experiencing crucial supply shortages. Endemic skills shortages undermine development in the industry while the workplace has become more fluid post-pandemic, with the built environment needing to reflect the change in workforce behaviour.

It also cites United Nations data that says the built environment generates around 40% of global carbon output, and hopes to lead the industry on the response to climate change by introducing new standards, guidance and toolkits that will speed up the decarbonisation of the industry.

The RICS manifesto sets out a ten-point roadmap, which includes points focussed on creating safe, sustainable, and affordable homes for all, building safety, and future skills for a sustainable built environment, among many other important factors.

Key asks within the manifesto include:

  • Increase supply of rented homes to meet demand and slow rent rises
  • Deliver a joined-up quality and sustainability strategy
  • Review skills shortages to tackle targets
  • Hit housing targets with a housing delivery strategy
  • Action the recommendations from the recent RICS Decarbonising UK Real Estate that call for reform to how building performance and EPCs are presented.
  • Develop the much-needed National Fire Strategy as called on by industry to raise competency, standards and mitigation. This must include the UN-endorsed International Fire Safety Standards (IFSS) Common Principles.

A senior RICS delegation will present the manifesto and its key messages at the Conservative Party and Labour Party conferences.

RICS CEO, Justin Young, said: “As a leading representative of the built and natural environment sectors in the UK and globally, RICS advocates policies with solutions to some of the most critical challenges of our time. The public needs safe, sustainable, energy-efficient, and affordable homes; businesses need high-quality commercial spaces that align with the decentralised digital economy, while the industry needs a more robust pipeline of diverse talent that fulfils the skills demands of the sector so that it can deliver its goals.

“The RICS manifesto provides food for thought for the parties as they develop their policy platforms for the next General Election, and we look forward to engaging with their policy teams at the upcoming party conferences.”

RICS launches Whole Life Carbon Assessment second edition following public consultation
By:

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) launched the second edition of its Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment (WLCA) standard.

First published in 2017 for the UK’s built environment sector, this 2023 edition is a global version of the standard that provides a considerably more developed understanding of the carbon costs and benefits of design choices in construction and infrastructure projects and assets.

The new standard was produced in partnership with the UK’s Department for Transport and Net Zero Waste Scotland.

Following a public consultation in March 2023, which received over 1,300 responses, RICS has now updated the standard to be used globally and to cover all built assets and infrastructure projects throughout the built environment lifecycle.

According to the United Nations, the Built Environment contributes around 40% of all global carbon output and 50% of extracted material, making the second edition crucial for meeting global emissions targets and achieving net zero. Carbon reporting and accounting is a priority across all sectors, and this Professional Standard is relevant not only to those undertaking carbon assessments, but also to clients, investors and property managers.

In the UK, a Net Zero Carbon Building Standard is being developed incorporating the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment Professional Standard’s methodology to assess upfront, embodied, operational, user and whole-life carbon. It is hoped that the global focus of this new edition will lead to more nations incorporating its methodologies into their regulatory structures.

RICS will be promoting the new standard at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, where the organisation is an accredited partner.

RICS Chief Executive, Justin Young, said: “The second edition of Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment encapsulates RICS’s role as a global leader in the built environment and its duty to steer the industry towards decarbonisation.

“This second edition is a truly global standard for a global problem. I want to thank our members from every world region, our staff, partner specialists and the Department for Transport and Net Zero Waste Scotland for their hard work and crucial support, which made this a reality.

“At this year’s COP28, where RICS is a UN-accredited observer organisation, we will promote this standard and ensure it is at the heart of the built environment’s crucial response to climate change.”

RICS Director of Surveying Standards, Charlotte Neal, said: “The built environment has been crying out for tools to measure its impact on climate change, which is crucial for developing mitigating practices to significantly reduce the industry’s carbon output.

“By providing a consistent methodology to assess the carbon output of buildings throughout their entire lifecycle, the second edition of WLCA will significantly improve the industry’s ability to measure and manage its impact on climate. Thank you to RICS’ members, staff and partners for your unceasing support of our work in leading the built environment towards a sustainable, net-zero future.”

Minister of State for Decarbonisation, Jesse Norman, said: “The UK is a world leader in decarbonising transport. This new standard will help reduce the carbon footprint of not only transport projects, but also from projects across all buildings, as the UK works to grow its economy and reach its net zero goals.”

Stephen Boyle, Built Environment Manager at Zero Waste Scotland, said: “This landmark publication will be a key driver for circularity as it provides a vital standard for assessing carbon over the whole life of a building.  This whole life consideration prompts built environment professionals to confront the carbon impacts a building has before, during and after its use.  Circular economy principles can provide a solution to this problem by encouraging use of secondary materials to displace virgin ones, to use renewable low-carbon materials and to use digital tools, such as materials passports to create end-of-life value.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

RICS releases global best practice for measurement of land
By:

In a significant move, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has published what it calls a ‘pioneering’ draft guidance for the measurement of land.

Once adopted, RICS says the guidance will have far-reaching implications for development surveyors, planners, architects and government administrators around the world as the new standards become global best practice for the consistent calculation of land measurement and associated metrics.

Instigated by the RICS, the new guidance has been lead-authored by pre-eminent British chartered surveyor and town planner Jonathan Manns. Consultation on the draft Guidance Note on the “Measurement of Land for Planning and Development Purposes” runs until 17 September 2019, prior to formal adoption at the end of the year.

The draft Guidance provides clear definitions for those measurements which are widely used in the property and planning sectors, advocating consistency worldwide. The following five core definitions have been proposed to assist with the global measurement of land:

  • Land Area: This should be used to refer to the legal title area of land, and is of particular relevance to agents and lawyers as it is the legally demised area of land
  • Site Area: This should be used to refer to the area of land used for planning application purposes and is of importance to those involved in the development process as it is the area to which any permission for development relates
  • Net Development Area: This should be used to refer to the area from which financial value is directly derived, by virtue of either being income-producing or for sale, and is of relevance to development surveyors and valuers
  • Plot Ratio: This is the ratio of Gross External Area (GEA) of a building or buildings at each floor area, under the International Property Measurement Standards, to the site area, and is already used as a standard metric for planning and design in certain sectors and jurisdictions
  • Site Coverage: This is the ratio of the building footprint’s GEA to the site area at ground-floor level, and again is already a standard metric for planning and design in certain sectors and jurisdictions

Consultations to this guidance note are open until 23:59 on 17 September 2019.

Belfast top city for office investors
By:

The Belfast office market is performing better for investors than the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and London. 

A report produced by Ulster University and MSCI in collaboration with RICS commercial property firms, entitled The Northern Ireland Commercial Property Investment Review, benchmarked the Northern Ireland and Belfast market against UK and European markets. 

The report claims that commercial property in Northern Ireland posted a total return of 1.7 per cent in 2018, down eight per cent the year before, but points out that the income return of seven per cent for NI exceeded that recorded for other UK nations in 2018, with NI continuing to perform, with the Belfast office market seeing returns of 12.4 per cent, well above the UK average of six per cent and European average of eight per cent.

RICS Regional Manager, Susan Mason, said: “This is the only independent analysis of the Northern Ireland commercial property sector that benchmarks it against other regions and cities, so it is an extremely valuable report that will be of significant use to surveyors, investors, and others in the property sector.”

London’s high office space costs leading occupants to move South East…

 800 450 Jack Wynn
By:
0

According to the Annual Occupiers Survey 2016 conducted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the next five years will see South East-bound office occupiers expanding their portfolios at a faster pace compared to those in the capital.

Produced in association with Savills and EY, the survey found that 20 per cent of UK property decision-makers expect to increase the amount of office space they own or rent in the South East; in comparison to decreasing (seven per cent). In addition, a net balance of 13 per cent more respondents in the South East expect to increase rather than decrease their property portfolio – equating to almost double the seven per cent in London.

RICS director of UK commercial property professional group, Paul Bagust, said of the results: “Among those who expect to expand (41 per cent), more than half cited quality of facilities (57 per cent) as the key driver for selecting their office space. Proximity to transport links and amenities is the next most important (39 per cent), with a third (35 per cent) citing technology and digital connectivity.”

He continued: “The figures indicate those taking on more property are doing so to find better quality spaces, which are better managed, and are equipped to deliver greater value to business – helping with recruitment and contributing to the bottom line. Occupiers are undoubtedly getting smarter about understanding the value good, well-managed premises can deliver.”

Elsewhere, when asked about the importance of location and the quality of workplace premises impacting employee performance and satisfaction, the top five factors recorded in the survey are: pay and benefits (64 per cent); company culture and reputation (62 per cent); proximity to transport links and amenities (49 per cent); flexibility of working arrangements (43 per cent); and quality of premises and facilities (34 per cent).

IFMA and RICS collaborate in celebration of World FM Day…
By:

Further to the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) collaboration — which was announced in April of this year — both parties have publicly continued to commend the approximate 25 million facilities management (FM) professionals around the world for the variety of fundamental roles they play.

Consistent with the ‘Empowering people for a productive world,’ theme of this year’s World FM Day (July 13), the collaboration was created to enable facilities management professionals to connect via a global network of education, research, best practices, events, and support.

Celebrations are expected to progress around the world until July 15.

To find out more about the collaboration, click here