Risk Wise

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RICS: building resilience

Karen Gardham, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, UK

ounded in 1868, the Royal Institution of Chartered

Surveyors (RICS) provides the leading international

professional qualification in land, property, construction

and related environmental issues. With over 140,000 members

in 146 countries, across the public, private and third sectors,

RICS is one of the largest independent, not-for-profit profes-

sional bodies dedicated to serving the public interest. RICS

provides expert, impartial advice to governments, non-govern-

mental organizations (NGOs) and business worldwide.

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, many char-

tered surveyors contacted RICS to offer their help and expertise to the

relief effort. RICS set up a Major Disaster Management Commission

(MDMC) to address how built environment professional skills and

knowledge could be deployed to help vulnerable communities, at all

stages of the disaster management cycle. The commissioners are char-

tered surveyors and other built environment experts with many years

of experience in a range of disciplines and regions of the world, includ-

ing disaster-specific and international development work.

How do chartered surveyors work in disaster management?

Rob is a retired member of RICS, formerly of project and cost manage-

ment consultancy Faithful & Gould. He decided towards the end of

his career to give up his company Jaguar and travel to the volcano-hit

island of Montserrat. Rob started his professional life as a land surveyor,

becoming a quantity surveyor and member of RICS

because of the better pay. As a quantity surveyor, Rob used

his professional skills to assist the reconstruction work as

part of a humanitarian team for the UK Department for

International Development (DFID). He went on to work

for the British Red Cross in the Maldives, post-tsunami.

In Montserrat, Rob encountered initial scepticism

from government officials who were wary of outside

advice. However, the advice, skill-sharing and capacity

building that Rob helped achieve meant that the govern-

ment recognised the value of DFID’s work and

welcomed it. Part of Rob’s work was to oversee a mate-

rials grant scheme, which issued grants to households to

enable them to rebuild their homes either themselves or

through local skill-sharing cooperatives. Four hundred

and thirty houses were built through the scheme, all

individualized as people modified them to suit their

needs. In addition to supervising reconstruction work,

Rob identified a need for education on tenders and esti-

mates for local construction workers. He ran classes for

local workers on tendering, and on basic accounting,

which he also identified as a weakness. The result of this

was that he left behind a stronger infrastructure for local

businesses. Rob also encouraged local contractors to

form consortiums and work together to strengthen small

business and maximize the efficiency of rebuild efforts.

Rob felt that it was invaluable to have professional

skills available early following a disaster in order to plan

and prioritise effectively. He says that he felt his age and

experience were beneficial to working in challenging

conditions and an unfamiliar cultural environment. He

encountered many difficulties during his work in

Montserrat and the Maldives; political circumstances

were at times challenging, as foreign assistance is not

universally welcomed (often due to historical experi-

ences) and tact and empathy for local concerns was

important. In terms of his employers, the agencies Rob

worked for were familiar with what a land surveyor does

but not other surveying professions. Part of the problem

is that using professional firms charging commercial

rates was often prohibitively expensive, and as agencies

don’t fully understand the professional skills on offer,

such skills are simply not used. Raising awareness is an

area the MDMC at RICS is focusing on.

Mind the Gap

The MDMC commissioned an independent report,

Mind

the Gap!

which identified the gap between immediate

Plymouth, the old capital of Montserrat, about ten years after the first eruptions.

The ash now covers the top of the church steeple

Image: Rob Worthington