RICS Modus, Global edition — July–August 2012

THE COASTAL

ISSUE

rics.org/modus

TURNING TIDE Finding new ways to live with rising sea levels p14SEA SURVEYORS Four members involved in marine roles p20 ENERGY SURGE Leading the way in harnessing wave power p32

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MODUS_July-Aug_p01_Cover.V5.indd 1 22/06/2012 12:45

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THE COASTAL ISSUEBy the end of the century, rising sea levels could submerge 30% of coastal plains

around the world. It’s a sobering thought, especially when you think that, by 2050,

70% of the global population will be living on them. This month, we look at the

threat of climate change to our coastlines, and our response in fi nding new ways to

live with water (page 14). The seas present opportunities as well as challenges, of

course – we meet four chartered surveyors in marine-related roles (page 20), and

visit the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney to see how the UK is leading

the charge in tidal energy generation (page 32). Elsewhere, we round up 10 exciting

global waterfront developments (page 26), and consider the current opportunities

for relocating to the sunnier shores of Australia and New Zealand (page 38).

VICTORIA BROOKES EDITOR

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Contents

Regulars04_FEEDBACKYour views on Modus and the profession, and the latest poll

06_INTELLIGENCEGlobal news, plus opinions, reviews and reactions

31_LAW ADVICEThe ramifi cations of proposed changes to fl ood insurance policy

37_BUSINESS ADVICEHow profession-wide limited liability could protect surveyors

Features14_PREPARING A DEFENCEHow coastal communities can be ‘climate proofed’ against extreme weather and rising sea levels 20_MARINE LIFE10 minutes with four surveyors working off shore or on the coast

26_10 COASTAL SCHEMESA roundup of the best waterside developments around the world

32_THE NEXT WAVEThe pioneering technology on test at the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland

36_SURGING AHEADFuture plans for the UK’s ever-growing off shore wind industry

38_BROADEN YOUR HORIZONSThe opportunities for surveyors in Australia and New Zealand

In formation43_RICS NEWSNews, updates, and a message from the new RICS President

51_EVENTSTraining and conference dates for your diary

53_RECRUITMENTThe latest job opportunities from across the industry

58_THE MEASUREFacts and global statistics on ports and shipping

20

around the world. It’s a sobering thought, especially when you think that, by 2050, around the world. It’s a sobering thought, especially when you think that, by 2050, around the world. It’s a sobering thought, especially when you think that, by 2050, around the world. It’s a sobering thought, especially when you think that, by 2050,

70% of the global population will be living on them. This month, we look at the 70% of the global population will be living on them. This month, we look at the 70% of the global population will be living on them. This month, we look at the

threat of climate change to our coastlines, and our response in fi nding new ways to threat of climate change to our coastlines, and our response in fi nding new ways to

32

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MODUS_July-Aug_p03-5_Content & Letters.v1.indd 3 25/06/2012 17:11

FOR SUNDAYEditor Victoria Brookes // Art Director Christie Ferdinando

// Contributing Editor Brendon Hooper // Sub Editor

Samantha Whitaker // Creative Director Matt Beaven //

Account Director Stephanie Hill // Commercial Director

Karen Jenner // Commercial Manager – Display Lucie Inns

// Commercial Manager – Recruitment Charlotte Turner

// Senior Sales Executive Faith Ellis // Recruitment Sales

Executive Angus Sharpe // Managing Director Toby Smeeton

// Repro F1 Colour // Printers Woodford Litho //

Cover Blom UK // Published by Sunday, 207 Union Street,

London SE1 0LN sundaypublishing.com

FOR RICSEditorial board Ian Fussey and Jaclyn Dunstan

RICS, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD

Feedback//

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The MODUS team//

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:EMAIL YOUR FEEDBACK TO [email protected]

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.

92,028 average net circulation 1st July 2010 – 20th June 2011

Join the RICS group at linkedin.com now to vote in our next poll: ‘Which is the world’s leading city: New York, London, Paris, Tokyo or Hong Kong?’

Due to the volume of correspondence we receive, we regret that we are unable to print all letters or respond to every one individually.

order to obtain any comparable evidence of recent sales (only involving the cost of a few quick phone calls). I am amazed this practice still goes on, and it is no wonder professional indemnity insurers worry about claims relating to the overvaluing of expensive period-type country residences. Will such surveyors never learn that, by off ering to pay a small amount of their fee to experienced local valuation surveyors, they could readily obtain much more reliable evidence! Peter Benham FRICS, Hampshire

PLAIN ENGLISHReceiving the Modus questionnaire reminded me to drop you a note. Get a new name for our magazine. I know Modus is Latin, but on its own has meant little to me. I’ve looked it up and, OK, I now see the link. But do we want to communicate to our readers, or just show some surveyors have studied Latin? Let us use simple English for goodness sake! ‘The Chartered Surveyor’ says it all. Geoff Williams FRICS

THE COVER IMAGEThis issue’s front cover shows false-colour aerial imagery of Southampton, on the south coast of England, taken from aerial surveying and remote sensing specialist Blom UK’s

MetroHD dataset. Using its Vexcel UltraCam D, Blom captured RGB digital imagery and combined it with near-infrared (NIR) band data to produce false-colour infrared images of the coastal area that highlight diff erent vegetation types. The images are high resolution and can be used for various applications including urban planning, vegetation management, land-use classifi cation, fl ood mapping, and property and asset management. For more information, visit blomasa.com.

NO NEED FOR HS2Prime Ministers are prone to vanity projects. Tony Blair had the Millennium Dome and David Cameron seems set on HS2. This project fails to stand up to examination on every count. Is it the need for greater capacity on the West Coast Main Line? If so, why build a line which the vast majority of travellers (for whom the solution is needed) will be unable realistically to use due to the distance from the stations. Is it to create jobs? Then why not improve schools, hospitals or the social housing programme needed by all citizens and which will create work across the whole country?

The economic viability of the project is highly questionable and is based on outdated and dubious statistics. The M6 Toll has not relieved congestion on the M6 itself and has again declared an annual loss, this time in the order of £45m, because people are not prepared to pay the small extra charge. Are people in Cornwall, Shropshire or Norfolk happy to pay £1,200 per household in extra taxes to fund a project they are unlikely ever to use? This is not Spain, China, Saudi Arabia, Australia or the US, to which comparisons were made. This is the UK, where distances are far smaller and the population density far greater. This project cannot be justifi ed and is not needed. R B K Dyott FRICS, Warwickshire

A RELIABLE SOURCEI refer to the Secret Surveyor article in the May issue (page 46] – just a comment from a retired surveyor. Years ago it used to be common for surveyors dealing with superior properties outside their catchment to try to ‘pick the brains’ of local estate agents in

FeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedback

THE MODUS POLL :WALES RECENTLY BECAME THE FIRST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD TO HAVE A NATIONAL COASTAL PATH NETWORK. SHOULD OTHER COUNTRIES FOLLOW SUIT?Total votes: 296

Don’t know 3.4%

Yes It off ers health & tourism benefi ts

64.5%

No It is a threat to safety

& environment

2.7%No

It is for landowners to decide 20.3%

NoGovernments must focus funding elsewhere

9.1%

THE COASTAL

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TURNING TIDE Finding new ways to live with rising sea levels p14SEA SURVEYORS Four members involved in marine roles p20 ENERGY SURGE Leading the way in harnessing wave power p32

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2 million commercial searches every month¹

34,000 commercial properties

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Office | Retail | Leisure | Industrial | Warehousing | Land | Development

Source: ¹ Average monthly commercial only searches performed on Rightmove, February – April 2012.

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Intelligence :NEWS :REVIEWS :OPINIONS :REACTIONS

MODUS_July-Aug_p06-7_Intel_opener_v2.indd 6 25/06/2012 13:28

Five years ago, during the initial stages of its estimated £50m restoration, the world’s sole surviving tea clipper was gutted by fire, which was later attributed to a faulty industrial vacuum cleaner. Fortunately, with around half of the ship’s planking already removed off site, it escaped catastrophic damage. Launched in 1869, the ship’s motto is ‘Where there’s a will is a way’, and after six years of restoration work, the Cutty Sark is standing tall in Greenwich once again – but this time she sails on a sea of glass. In a feat of superb structural work from Grimshaw Architects and Buro Happold, the ship has been raised 3.3m above the ground, which has helped to relieve the weight of the keel, and sits on top of a glass amphitheatre where visitors can walk under the hull and explore interactive exhibitions inside. ‘The challenges in raising the ship 3m into the air were considerable,’ says William Edgerley MRICS, trustee of the Cutty Sark Trust. ‘The ship was in a worse state structurally than we originally thought, and the ground conditions beneath the 1950s dry berth required additional works to support the new steel structure. Also, the complexities of integrating a Grade I listed ship with a modern architectural solution required frequent, detailed judgements.’rmg.co.uk/cuttysark

:CUTTY SARK GREENWICH, LONDON

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Intelligence//

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A £15bn Welsh Infrastructure Investment plan has been launched, with capital projects including roads, schools, hospitals and housing. Its priorities will be to improve transport and telecoms netwo rks, develop the energy industry, invest in housing, introduce effi ciencies in the NHS and upgrade schools. ‘We are

giving the private sector, public sector and third sector a clear vision of our priorities over the next 10 years,’ said Jane Hutt, the Developing Enterprise Zones Finance Minister. ‘This will help them to ensure they are well placed, adequately skilled and resourced to support the key projects we will be funding.’

The Americas is the best-performing global region for real estate investment value, according to CBRE’s Q1 2012 Capital Value Index. This is a shift from last year, when the Asia-Pacifi c region topped the index. ‘There has been a marked increase in investor interest in the Americas’ prime properties,’

said Dr Raymond Torto, CBRE global chief economist. ‘In Q1 2011 the Americas was showing respectable gains, but was far behind the 19% annual performance witnessed by the Asia-Pacifi c Capital Value Index. The year-over-year change in capital values for the Americas in Q1 2012 was 9.6%.’

UK // PLAN CYMRU Americas // TOP VALUE

Opinion

OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS MUST BENEFIT LOCALS

The East Anglian offshore renewable energy industry is at the start of its fl edgling life. Much work has already been done to enable it to grow and

prosper, and as long as the right policy and investment decisions are made, exciting times lie ahead for the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth areas. The future can be a bright one – with thousands of new jobs created and the economy rebalanced towards the regions, and towards engineering and specialised manufacturing, while at the same time providing the country with a source of energy that is clean, secure and stable in terms of price.

In 2015, work is due to begin on the East Anglia Array, one of the largest Round 3 wind farms with 1,000 turbines located 14km offshore. To capitalise on this, a new Enterprise Zone has been created in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, which will benefit from simplified planning rules, business rate discounts for fi ve years and superfast broadband. The Enterprise Zone and the CORE (Centre for Offshore Renewable Engineering) designation for Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth ports will help to promote manufacturing in the area, and support supply chain businesses. This will also reduce costs, making offshore wind more affordable and consolidating the UK’s position as a world leader in the sector.

The offshore renewables industry is footloose and investment flows to the most attractive destinations. It is important that the Electricity Market Reform – which aims for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity in the future – is delivered promptly and on a basis that gives confi dence to developers. The Energy Bill has just

embarked on its journey through parliament and the government is conscious that it needs to be enacted within a reasonable timescale. Planning decisions also need to be made promptly, with statutory consultees properly funded to cope with the increasing number of planning applications. So far the signs are encouraging, although I shall continue to liaise closely with both developers and the government to ensure that the process runs effi ciently.

People in Suffolk and Norfolk will require the necessary skills to take up the new jobs that will be created. Further education and apprenticeship policies currently being pursued by the government provide a basis on which to build, and Lowestoft College, for example, is doing what it can to provide relevant courses. Longer term, we will have to further promote science and maths in schools so that young people from the local area have the necessary academic grounding for the many exciting and well-paid jobs that will be on offer.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure a signifi cant dividend for the Waveney and Great Yarmouth areas. And although plenty of challenges lie ahead, we are defi nitely moving in the right direction.

Peter Aldous MRICS Member of Parliament for Waveney

BRIGHT FUTURE Coastal communities, such as Southwold in Sussex, are well placed to take advantage of the growing demand for off shore energy

MODUS_July-Aug_P08-13_Intel.indd 8 26/06/2012 10:10

01.11 // MODUS 09

:ONE BIG QUESTION WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CAREER?

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 09

Take part in discussions by joining the RICS group at linkedin.com.

South East That every job is diff erent and it’s in everyone’s interest for all the site team to be clued up – so never be afraid to ask questions. People on site are some of the most helpful you’ll ever meet.

West Midlands Don’t put off getting chartered! If you leave it too long, you’ll end up either being too specialised or the only QS in the company, which makes completing the diary a lot more diffi cult.

Barbados To keep studying for additional qualifi cations – it’s defi nitely worth the time and money. Also, watch out for fi lm stars and celebs, they take a long while to settle their fee accounts.

Gemma Batts-Charman MRICS, Carillion

Richard O’Rourke, WM Housing Group

Eric JD Butcher MRICS, Project Support Partnership Ltd

Northamptonshire People rely on two things: your trust and your expertise. Never let them down on either or you will destroy all the hard work you have put into establishing yourself and your contacts.

New York How resistant the industry is to innovation, and the ineffi ciency of polarised service delivery. There is a better way but it requires an epic paradigm shift; maybe we are that generation?

Coby Hughes AssocRICS, Gleeds

Ian C McRae MRICS, Chadwick McRae

IndiaDIGITAL COAST

Surveyors from the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services are using real-time kinematic GPS technology to map vulnerable areas of the country’s coastline, to create digital maps for coastal administrators to measure and mitigate the eff ects of tsunamis and cyclone storm surges. Primarily focusing on the low-lying state of Gujarat, the team is producing a number of diff erent maps, including a real-time tsunami inundation model.

AustraliaTOWER GATEWAYA 71-storey tower with space for 592 apartments has been approved for construction on the Southbank in Melbourne. The AUD$275m (£173m) Queensbridge Tower, designed by Bates Smart Architects and developed by Schiavello Group, will be the city’s second-tallest building at 276m high. ‘The tower will be a stunning addition to Melbourne’s skyline, with an innovative design to refl ect its location at a key gateway linking Southbank and the CBD,’ said Victoria’s planning minister Matthew Guy. ‘Southbank is a natural extension of the Melbourne CBD, and is an area that is constantly evolving, with architecturally inspiring development forging ahead.’

UKWAVE RESISTANTThe fi rst of three testing facilities at the new National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, Northumberland, has been completed. Built by Shepherd Construction with project management from Turner & Townsend, the facility will test tidal turbines in a controlled environment. ‘The 3MW drive train facility will mimic the extreme forces the devices will be exposed to in real sea conditions,’ said Shepherd’s Rob Laybourne MRICS. ‘We had to construct the building to withstand these forces, and with no margin for error.’ £1.3bn

The estimated construction cost of Meridian Water, a 200-acre regeneration

project in London’s Lee Valley park

£23.7mThe amount of money available from The

Crown Estate’s marine activities to be used in a new Coastal Communities Fund

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MASTERPLANMMO’s new planning framework will provide information and advice for users of England’s marine areas

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is creating plans for the future development of our seas – similar to plans already developed for

land. Currently worth more than £47bn to the UK annually, the marine economy has the potential to increase signifi cantly as the demand for space on land continues to rise and we turn to the sea as a key resource. Marine plans will inform and guide users and regulators of the sea across England, enabling them to manage the sustainable development of marine industries, such as wind farms and fi shing, as well as conserve and protect marine species and habitats. And where marine developments impact the land – for example, the cabling and converter station required for an offshore wind farm – land-use plans will also be taken into account. It will be the fi rst time that England’s sea users will be guided by a single set of plans for the entire marine area.

New marine works can create job opportunities for the local area including new ventures, such as tourism. By talking to local planning authorities who have a stake in the marine area, the MMO is already making sure that coastal communities are able to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by marine plans.

The East of England coastline has been selected as the fi rst area to benefi t from marine planning. Draft plans for the East Offshore and East Inshore marine areas – from Flamborough Head to Felixstowe – are expected to be ready for public consultation at the end of 2012.

In total, the MMO will develop and implement 10 marine plans by 2021. Comments are welcomed from the public, and an online interactive map – the marine planning portal – allows users to understand how busy our seas have become (planningportal.marinemanagement.org.uk).

By planning the long-term use of our seas on a broad scale, marine plans will enable future marine developments within environmental limits, while also ensuring the protection of designated sites and providing much more certainty for applicants around future uses of the marine area. It is important to note that marine planning focuses on future management of uses in and around England’s seas rather than single applications, which are managed separately by the MMO’s licensing team.

RUSSELL GADBURY is marine planning manager at the Marine Management Organisation. marinemanagement.org.uk

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Initial assessments of the state of the UK’s seas are being submitted to the EU, after the government launched a public consultation for the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive last March. The draft assessment also includes proposals for characteristics of Good Environmental Status for the UK’s seas, and proposals for more detailed targets and indicators of Good Environmental Status. The Directive is part of a package of EU policies to promote ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas’. The consultation documents can be found at bit.ly/KQ3JrL.

UKSEA CHANGE

Insight

LONG-TERM MARINE PLANS WILL HELP SAFEGUARD SEASRussell Gadbury Marine Management Organisation

TOP 5 EU COUNTRIES WITH BLUE FLAG BEACHESSpain 511Greece 379France 335Portugal 271Italy 246[UK & Ireland 208]

Intelligence//


01.11 // MODUS 09

Books :REVIEWS

Focusing on new-build projects, the BCIS Comprehensive Building Price Book 2012 is in two volumes: the Major and Minor Works.18770 // £165.99

Order from ricsbooks.com

The Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement (CESMM) is helpful in preparing contracts based on traditional ‘measure and value’ principles.19209 // £65

This guide discusses the experience of users across the industry and focuses on the implementation of good practice.19016 // £35

The Black Book consists of standalone guidance notes that assist those training, as well as competent quantity surveyors.19218 // £350 (£227.50 until 31 July)

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 11

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DubaiSUBMARINE STAYS

The emirate most famous for outlandish building structures could soon construct the world’s largest underwater hotel. Construction fi rm Drydocks World has signed a memorandum of understanding with BIG InvestConsult AG, a Swiss company representing Polish fi rm Deep Ocean Technology (DOT), to develop designs for an underwater hotel on Dubai’s coast. Although the project is at an initial design stage, the Water Discus Hotel in Dubai could feature disc-shaped structures both above and below the waterline, with 21 underwater two-person rooms, an underwater diving centre and a spa.

South KoreaOCEAN WAVEOne Ocean, a solar-powered, naturally ventilated pavilion designed by Vienna-based soma architecture has opened in Yeosu, South Korea. The building is the centrepiece of the city’s waterfront redevelopment, as it hosts EXPO 2012 this summer. Designed to keep visitors cool during humid weather, One Ocean’s glass fi bre ‘gills’ on the façade open to allow fresh air to circulate through the building.

GlobalSERVICED STRENGTH

The world’s serviced offi ce sector is growing by 10% per year, according to research by Instant, refl ecting a change in the way people work and how businesses occupy offi ce space. Since 2005, the sector has more than doubled in Hong Kong, while serviced offi ces in London have grown by 44%, in New York by 56% and by 59% in Sydney. ‘We believe one reason for this is the effi ciencies they off er property portfolio managers in the current economic climate,’ said Tom Sleigh MRICS, associate director of Instant. ‘They free up capital that businesses can put to better use in other areas.’

120,000m2The total area of what is set to become the world’s largest

swimming pool at Citystars Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

109,020The number of completed homes in the UK in

2011, less than half the number the government admits is required annually to meet demand

25The number of

locations in Hong Kong shortlisted for land

reclamation


08 r ics.org

Desert venturesMace and EC Harris have won a joint contract worth £72m to deliver infrastructure improvements in Qatar, under a five-year deal from the public works authority Ashghal. Elsewhere in the region, Halcrow has been chosen to redevelop Shahama Port in Abu Dhabi, upgrading the water basin and constructing commercial, recreational and leisure facilities.

Crowd creationThames Water has donated more than 10,000m2 of land to help a new crowd-funding website raise money to transform a neglected London dock, located between Canary Wharf and the Olympic Park. The Gasworks Dock Partnership hopes to raise around £140,000 through spacehive.com.

Youth supportApproval has been given for a new college to be built in the West Midlands to help train 14-to-19-year-olds with skills for a career in the construction industry. Sponsors of the West Midlands UTC scheme include CITB–ConstructionSkills, Wilmott Dixon and Balfour Beattie.

Floating ideasThe UK and US are to work together to develop ‘floating’ wind turbines to harness more offshore wind power in deeper waters, according to the UK government. Meanwhile, Japan plans to bolt wind turbines onto barges to build a 16MW pilot floating power plant off the coast of Fukushima.

12 rics.org

Opinion

GOVERNMENTS NEED TO MOVE FASTER TO CURB THEIR SHORTFALLSSimon Rubinsohn RICS Chief Economist

Austerity is rapidly becoming a dirty word. Whether it’s the challenges consuming the euro area, the pressure

on the UK government to backtrack or the emerging debate in the US, governments are struggling to hold the line on fiscal retrenchment in the face of, at best, fragile economic recoveries and, in some cases, a lurch back into recession. Programmes launched with the best of intentions are, often, now part of the problem rather than the solution. Of course, each country has its own issues but there is a common theme: the inability of the private sector to generate sufficient growth to offset the scaling back in state contribution. Critically, the hoped-for confidence boost has failed to materialise, leaving many businesses with their hands firmly in their pockets.

Bond markets are, naturally, tough task masters and their response to fiscal profligacy has been most apparent in parts of the euro area. However, beyond the single currency bloc, it has been harder to discern what is driving yields. For example, the US and the

UK governments are enjoying historically low borrowing costs – more likely due to the weak prospect for growth than any great commitment to rein in the budget deficit.

However, this could all be about to change as the US hits the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Agency has analysed the impact of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and automatic spending cuts on the Pentagon and domestic programmes, scheduled to take effect at the end of this year. They suggest that these measures could depress US growth in the latter part of 2012 before pushing the economy back into recession in 2013. There are different views on whether this is the right time to abandon austerity (or plans for austerity) – after all, budget shortfalls in many countries, including the US and the UK, remain in the high single digits when measured as a percentage of GDP. This is something that’s ultimately not sustainable but, in my mind, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify the speed at which governments, globally, are attempting to rein in their fiscal deficits.

UKDOT.COM SHOPSOnline retailers such as Amazon could set up shop in the high street in the coming years, according to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). As town centre values continue to fall, the firm believes integrating online sales strategies with town centre regeneration could help revive the declining high street sector. ‘The UK consumer has totally adapted to online retailing, and we have more online sales than France and Germany added together,’ said Guy Grainger, head of retail at JLL. ‘But online is not the Holy Grail and the property sector is not going to be killed by online – quite the opposite. A property strategy linked directly to online strategy is the key ingredient.’

BrazilCITY VISION

A masterplan for a new city in north-eastern Brazil, Convida Suape, has been unveiled. Designed by Broadway Malyan for clients Moura Dubeux Engineering and Cone S/A, the scheme will be an urban extension of the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho near Recife to accommodate up to 100,000 people. Built in four phases across 10 districts, it will provide 25,000 new homes, along with space for sustainably built offices, health centres and leisure facilities.

35%The percentage jump in the

average value of a construction dispute in the UK in 2011

(to £6.5m, up from £4.8m in 2010), according

to EC Harris

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Climate proofi ng//

MODUS_July-Aug_P14-19_Climate proofing_v6.indd 14 25/06/2012 15:09

RISING SEA LEVELS ACROSS THE GLOBE ARE AN INEVITABILITY.

SO HOW SHOULD WE PROTECT OUR COASTS, ASKS KATIE PUCKETT

No wise weatherman would stake his reputation on predicting a barbecue summer or a white Christmas. Long-term climate trends, on the

other hand, are a different matter. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) now describes the fact that the climate is changing as ‘unequivocal’, very likely caused by emissions of greenhouse gases linked to human activity. It’s too late to prevent some change – even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, the momentum in the climate system means that changes caused by past emissions will continue to be felt for centuries.

We therefore have no choice but to adapt – and it is the world’s coasts that will be at the frontline of that adaptation. As global temperatures rise, snow and ice are melting

and sea levels are rising. The additional energy in the climate system will also make our weather more violent and unpredictable – storms now regarded as one-in-100-year events will lash our coastlines more frequently. But whether our response will be to fi ght the tide or fi nd new ways to live with it very much depends on where you are, how valuable that coastal land is, and how much money is available to protect it.

Exactly how much the climate will change is still the subject of some uncertainty. According to the IPCC’s projections, global temperatures will rise anywhere from 1°C to 6°C by the end of the century, depending on the rate at which we continue to emit greenhouse gases. Since the IPCC outlined its emissions scenarios in 2002, global emissions have risen faster than even its most fossil-fuel-intensive predictions, putting us on track for a rise of at least 40C. The resulting sea-level rise is expected to submerge 30% of coastal wetlands around the world, and put 300m more people at risk of fl ooding.

As for the UK, the latest set of climate projections predict that the sea level will rise between 13cm and 76cm by 2095, but there is also an unlikely but worst-case ‘High ++’ scenario that foresees a rise of up to 1.9m. Not included in those projections is the fact that the South East is already sinking at a rate of 1-2mm per year, as the Earth’s landmasses gradually rebalance after >>

Illustration by Jörn Kaspuhl


head of global water management at Dutch engineering firm Arcadis. ‘This is where the majority of the world’s population lives, and the majority of worldwide economic growth is generated.’ Mass migration to urban areas and industrialisation of former agricultural land are making coastal areas much more vulnerable. When floods hit Bangkok, Thailand, last year, the repercussions were felt across the world from Japanese carmakers to Silicon Valley technology companies, says Dircke.

The good news is that the world’s engineers are working feverishly to protect coastal communities from the rising waters. The Dutch are, of course, past masters at this, given that two-thirds of the Netherlands is below sea level. There, the government is planning as far ahead as the year 2200, and anticipates a sea-level rise of between 0.5m and 1.5m. ‘These are figures that we can deal with,’ says Dircke. ‘We have plenty of time and we can engineer ourselves out of it. If it goes faster than that and we see a couple of metres in a shorter time, there comes a point where places like the Netherlands will have a hard time to engineer themselves out of the problem.’

The Dutch are spreading the cost of adaptation over time, Dircke explains. ‘If you do it in small steps, it becomes affordable – €500m or €1bn [£400m or £800m] a year is a very small fraction of our total GDP.’ He has been working in New Orleans, in the US, where an outlay of US$15bn (£10bn) before Hurricane Katrina struck could have prevented US$100-200bn (£65-130bn) worth of destruction. ‘They could have avoided that damage if they invested a fraction of the cost before it happened. But that’s one of the biggest questions: when is “before”?’

the last ice age. The Environment Agency (EA), the body responsible for monitoring flooding and coastal erosion, is planning for an average rise of 40-50cm by 2080. That average conceals dramatic regional differences, and some terrifying peaks, particularly on the east coast. Of the approximately 6,000km of coastline around England and Wales, about 3,500km is considered at some risk from sea flooding, while 1,550km is actually eroding – much more potentially dangerous. By 2035, the EA says the annual budget for flood defences will have to double to more than £1bn at today’s prices. According to its latest estimates, around 1,000 homes and 1,350 non-residential buildings could be affected by coastal erosion over the next 50 years, assuming current policies continue to receive funding (though this is far from a given).

The UK is unusual in that only about 5% of the population lives on the coast, but most of the world’s major cities are on coastal plains, and by 2050, 70% of an estimated global population of 9bn people will be living on them. ‘The coastal zones, and deltas and estuaries in particular, are the most densely populated areas on Earth,’ says Piet Dircke,


Networking//

That’s what Aecom is trying to work out in the Bay Area of San Francisco, assessing when and where the rising waters will strike, and how much damage they will cause. ‘The impact depends very much on what kind of infrastructure you have in that area,’ explains Claire Bonham-Carter, principal and director of sustainable development. ‘In the Bay Area, there is a port, an airport, a state highway, Amtrak line, the rapid transit line, a lot of freight traffic, and communities and businesses that all live within the inundation zone. Often it’s technically very difficult to protect everything, so working out what’s really important is the first step.’

Aecom is assuming a sea-level rise of 16in (41cm) by 2050 and 55in (138cm) by 2100, towards the upper end of California state guidance. But the crucial point is how those higher levels will interact with the increased frequency and severity of storms, and in the event of an earthquake. Aecom has produced a series of high-resolution aerial photographs with inundation levels superimposed. In 2050, during a one-in-100-year event, there are swaths of blue over the airport. By the end of the century, dark blue submerges the whole area. Other maps show exactly where the water is encroaching over existing barriers – detail that is crucial for adaptation strategies. ‘You may already have a revetment or a levee and there may be a 10in area that is letting in water. You can just raise that point rather than building a whole new levee,’ says Bonham-Carter.

What the engineers can’t do is decide what should be protected. That’s up to the politicians, and it will mean resolving difficult questions of economics and social justice. ‘People with fantastic oceanside properties are going to fight and lobby hard,’ points out Bonham-Carter. ‘People living in poorer areas will be less able to do that.’

The less advantaged will be disproportionately hit by the consequences of climate change on a global as well as a local level. In developing countries, people live next to water at much higher densities and much closer to subsistence level. Euroconsult Mott MacDonald is working for the World Bank to assess the impact on coastal communities in Djibouti, Sudan and Yemen. Their combined coastline of 3,400km is host to a range of unique low-lying ecosystems, and a significant proportion of the countries’ populations and infrastructure – in Djibouti, for example, 88% of the population is located in coastal

areas, and this is projected to increase as more frequent droughts inland force people to the sea to survive. ‘The coastal zones of the Southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are particularly vulnerable to climate variability, and climate change will exacerbate social and environmental problems,’ says environmental specialist Wandert Benthem. ‘Many people are dependent on coastal and marine resources as their primary protein source, and for their livelihood.’ Rising sea levels will cause flooding, erosion and increase the salinity of bays and vital groundwater supplies, which will be further compounded by other impacts of the changing climate.

So how can coastal communities be protected? Over the past decade, thinking has shifted from building barriers to working with nature as a more practical and economic solution. ‘If you try to defend the coast by >>

Climate proofing//

IF YOU TRY TO DEFEND BY POURING CONCRETE INDEFINITELY, YOU’LL INCREASE THE RISK ELSEWHERE


pouring concrete indefinitely, you’re going to increase the risk elsewhere,’ says Nick Hardiman, coastal adviser at the EA. ‘It’s increasingly unsustainable financially, and possibly even technically, to maintain these defences. Even just to maintain the status quo, we’re going to need a lot more money.’

The hard truth is that there is little economic justification for indefinitely shoring up isolated coastal communities. To find other ways of doing it, in 2010 the UK government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs offered £11m worth of grants to local authorities under its Coastal Change Pathfinder programme. Potential solutions included purchasing vulnerable properties and leasing them back to their owners, or granting planning permission for new homes on land not currently designated for housing, so that the displaced owner benefits from the planning gain.

It’s not only financial constraints that make barriers unviable in the long term. Rotterdam is protected by the Maeslant barrier, completed in 1997 and expected to last for at least another 80 years. While its

vast gates now close once every 10 years, this will need to double by 2050. But shutting the seawater out means shutting the river water in. ‘We live in a delta where the Rhine and the Mosel drain to the sea,’ explains Bas Reedijk, senior coastal engineer at BAM Infraconsult. ‘We need the storm surge barrier at the mouth of the river, but we also have higher water in the rivers themselves.’ Instead, Dutch engineers are looking at rerouting the rivers and widening their channels to give the water more space.

The Dutch are also facing the reality of living with the water lapping around their feet, as pressure for residential land pushes people on to the polders. ‘In the past, banks would not give mortgages for floating homes, but more and more are now being built,’ says Reedijk. ‘We are also looking at building floating cities. If houses are able to float, we can store more water on land.’

This is not something that the UK’s EA will currently countenance – it recommends that no development should take place in flood-prone areas. But the founders of Floodline Developments argue that, not only can such development be safe, it can actively reduce the risk of flooding elsewhere. They propose developments of ‘can-float’ homes surrounded by a predominantly dry landscape punctuated with channels. ‘It’s a very attractive environment in which to live,’ says director Justin Meredith MRICS. ‘We expect water will enter the site, but we manage where it goes and how we dissipate it.’ According to his colleague Faruk Pekbeken, ‘Instead of the tide randomly flooding an area of 2km2 at a depth of 1in, we can change it so that it floods over 1km2 at a depth of 2in.’ The homes themselves rest on a flotation cell – a concrete box that sits in a dry moat at lower-ground level. When water floods the site, it enters the moat and the house rises. One such home has already received planning permission on the banks of the Thames at Marlow (see box, right).

Where new barriers are being built, the idea of living with water recurs. Bonham-Carter is a fan of ‘super levees’, so big that they feel like a natural feature. ‘People think of seawalls as big barriers, but you can design them as parks, which accommodate the flooding and claim space for people,’ she says. There’s another good reason to disguise defences: ‘If you’re talking about 2050 or 2100, that’s a very long way out. It’s important to do things now in such a way that they don’t look crazy because the sea hasn’t risen yet.’


:LIVING WITH WATERINNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS

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Elsewhere in the world, a greater threat is causing some countries to think even bigger. Arcadis’ Dircke is working on a project in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, which is naturally sinking by up to 10in (25cm) per year. This is easily matched by the rapid growth of the city itself, one of Southeast Asia’s economic powerhouses. ‘It’s almost like a race,’ says Dircke. ‘There are already 10m residents officially, maybe 20m unofficially, and 30m in the urban region around it. But within a couple of decades, the city will go underwater.’

With such pressure on the land, the only direction the city can expand is into the sea – and that’s exactly what has been proposed, by building a new Jakarta a couple of miles into the bay, covering several thousand hectares, which will be sold for very high values. Dircke compares it to Singapore, which has long combined flood protection with high-value urban development by reclaiming land. It’s extremely expensive, but the city’s economic boom will pay for the new land it needs to sustain it.

In fact, it is the developed world that will have far fewer choices and opportunities in the future, Dircke believes. ‘We wonder how Asian cities are going to deal with this, but they will because they have the resources. Older cities like New York, New Orleans or London have already been in decline for 50 years or more, so they’re going to struggle.’

It’s a startling perspective – turning the established world order on its head. In the battle against climate change, it may be the erstwhile rich emitters of greenhouse gases that are the poor relations struggling to keep their heads above water. Which should give us even more impetus to cut our emissions before it’s too late to do anything but surrender to the sea.

Climate proofing//

IT’S ALMOST LIKE A RACE. WITHIN A COUPLE OF DECADES, THE CITY WILL GO UNDERWATER

AMPHIBIOUS HOUSE BERKSHIREEarlier this year, planning permission was granted for the UK’s first amphibious house, to be built on the banks of the Thames at Marlow. Designed by BACA Architects, who specialise in architectural solutions to living with water, the building normally rests on fixed foundations. When a flood occurs, it rises and floats in its dock.

BLACKPOOL SEAWALL LANCASHIREIn Blackpool, an Aecom project has replaced damaged seawall with a series of beautifully sculpted ‘Spanish steps’, providing a sweeping walk from the promenade to the beach for pedestrians. The steps also defuse the energy of crashing waves and provide protection to a popular section of the Golden Mile when the water is higher.

FLOATING HOMES HAMBURGHigh property prices drove Hamburg’s city authorities to allow development of new homes on rivers and canals. Some of the most stylish, by architect Martin Förster, float on rafts and range from 114m² to 225m² over two storeys. They are constructed from a steel or wood skeleton with an aluminium sheeting outer shell.

CLAVELL TOWER DORSETUnable to countenance the loss of this 19th-century folly on the Dorset coast, the Landmark Trust spent £900,000 relocating it 25m back from the crumbling cliff. Each of 16,272 stones was removed, numbered and photographed, to be paid for by rental income from holidaymakers. It won an RICS Award for Building Conservation in 2009.

PORTZED SHOREHAM PORTA proposed mixed-use seafront development designed by Bill Dunster’s ZEDfactory, this is one of a number of demonstration projects funded by the government to explore ways of adapting buildings to the changing climate. It is designed to cope with a sea-level rise of up to 2m by 2100, with a sacrificial 2.5m-deep car park in the base of the building.


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‘This is a really interesting time for the marine sector with so much change happening, new types of renewable technology being developed and unprecedented amounts of new legislation. The Crown Estate owns 55% of the UK’s foreshore, including harbours, ports, marinas, pipelines, half the tidal river beds and virtually all of the UK seabed. For five years I was involved in coastal property management, but for the past year I’ve focused on marine energy, which is very much a growth sector because of government aspirations and targets, largely to be met through offshore wind farms.

‘The UK already has the largest installed capacity for offshore wind power in the world. The Crown Estate has 16 fully operational wind farms, along the east coast from the north of England down to Kent, off North Wales and in the Irish Sea. A further eight are partially operational, and four are under construction; they tend to be built further out now in deeper waters.

‘One of the big things I’m involved in is trying to get industry agreement on what is a safe distance between offshore wind installations and cabling. The seabed is becoming an incredibly busy place; as well as oil, gas and wind turbine cables there’s a huge amount of telecoms cabling – 95% of our international voice and data traffic travels by sub-sea cable. If a ship’s anchor snags a cable it can slow down the internet.

‘One of the exciting things about my job is the variety. I deal with a unique portfolio and a lot of different kinds of people, from large corporations to single individuals. There’s no such thing as a typical week. I could be on site visits to different parts of the UK coast, or helping with policy positions on the development and stewardship of the seabed. Most weeks I travel somewhere – it could be Aberdeen or Kent, where I recently did some emergency sea survival training and learnt about climbing safely at heights up and down wind turbines.

‘The Crown Estate is in a unique position because we take a very long-term view: we are concerned with the stewardship of the seabed hundreds of years from now. We have to balance commercial aspects with this long-term view when we are negotiating leases. One of the most exciting negotiations I was involved with was the Olympic site for sailing events around Portland and Purbeck near Weymouth a couple of years ago. The Crown Estate owns the foreshore at Portland and we had to develop legal agreements for the new marina and sailing academy, which are part of the Olympic legacy.

‘But there’s nothing unusual about much of the legislation regarding the seabed – it’s good to think of it as simply land that happens to be covered in water. Marine estate work is becoming ever-more important with the wave and tidal energy sector now emerging, as well as wind farms. I already have a handful of demonstration leases to manage for wave and tidal, and am about to go to Orkney to have a look at the testing being done there. It’s a fascinating time to be involved with both the renewable sector and coastal estates.’thecrownestate.co.uk

MARINE LIFE

ON LAND AND SEA, WE MEET FOUR SURVEYORS WHOSE VARIED ROLES HAVE

TAKEN THEM ALL OVER THE WORLD

CHARLES GREEN MRICSMARINE ENERGY ASSET MANAGER FOR THE CROWN ESTATEPhotography by Thomas Ball

Interviews by Cherry Maslen and Brendon Hooper

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DIANE DUMASHIE FRICSINDEPENDENT PROJECT MANAGER SPECIALISING IN REGENERATION AND COASTAL LAND DEVELOPMENT

‘I have an undying passion for the sea. It links all three of my professional areas of expertise: UK regeneration, Africa land economics and coastal policy and communities. My work in coastal and waterfront development means that I’m involved in regeneration plans that are often at seaboard sites, and I regularly visit Africa to advise on land governance, and land economics allied to poverty alleviation and security of tenure.

‘What I like about working in coastal areas is that problems and solutions are multi-disciplinary. There’s usually a huge number of stakeholders so a project approach grounded in negotiation, facilitation and mediation is required. This is combined with the technical aspects: I could be dealing with a whole suite of engineers, environmentalists, stakeholders and community members. With a diverse project application, it’s about effective and efficient leadership. I’ve headed up teams to come up with a masterplan for the regeneration of an area, for example, a Devon seaside town. And I was development surveyor

for the regeneration of Osprey Quay in Weymouth, Dorset, an ex-Navy site that was transformed into an industrial and mixed-use scheme ahead of the 2012 Olympics. The solution is not always mixed-use schemes; for example, we put together a proposal for a coastal ex-oil refinery to be regenerated into a working port, enabling the landowner to gain a financial return from liquefied natural gas.

‘I find one project normally takes up two or three days of the week, so I usually work on two or more projects concurrently. At the moment, though, I’m also preparing for a three-day workshop in Nairobi on land governance. It’s a big issue in many parts of Africa with multiple layers of complexity. One such layer is where coastal land is sold to developers who want to build resorts. Here there’s often “traditional ownership”, where local people have customary rights over the coastal land, including the beach, palm trees and the sea for fishing. What happens is that the local community is paid a small amount, then when the resort is developed they are

excluded from beaches above the high water mark, which belong to the tourist resorts.

‘The workshop I designed and facilitated in Zanzibar, with the help of an RICS research grant, helped to give local communities a voice and encouraged them to think in terms of “futures”. We developed an “agenda for action” with the local people so that they understand the terms to negotiate with (often international) buyers to maintain their access, which is fundamental. Those who attended the workshop are now ambassadors who can spread the ideas to other communities.

‘I’m lucky that I can combine my passions. I started my career in London working for large firms, then moved into corporate life, project leading on major UK land and property developments. I set up on my own in 1999 to explore both coastal and regeneration projects, and to complete a PhD in coastal management. I now live near the sea in Dorset, where I can actively pursue windsurfing, and dinghy and yacht sailing – as much as time allows.’dumashie.co.uk

Photography by Victoria Birkinshaw


Profiles//

‘I went straight into the oil and gas industry as soon as I left college, working for the same company as I do now. At that point, 13 years ago, the business was based in Berkshire, but as all the oil companies and our customers are in Aberdeen, the company relocated up here. I’m originally from Somerset but I’ve been living in Aberdeen since 1998, and my wife and I are very happy to stay here. It’s great living by the sea and we’re only a short drive from the most beautiful landscapes, so we can make the most of the outdoor life.

‘I spent eight years working offshore, mainly providing surface and sub-sea positioning services during ROV (remotely operated vehicle) and diver inspections of seabed assets, and installations of pipelines and structures where we position these assets to within centimetric accuracies in water depths up to 2,000m.

‘Apart from working offshore in the North Sea, being a hydrographic surveyor has meant that I’ve travelled all over the world. One of my career highlights was spending time

working in and out of South Korea, Japan and Singapore, where we were conducting an annual inspection of a client’s sub-sea pipeline using an ROV mounted with high-tech survey sensors. The Far East is like a different world in the way life and business is run, an experience I’ll never forget.

‘I still travel sometimes but I’m now based onshore, overseeing offshore projects rather than working at sea. I really enjoyed my previous role but the downside was that I couldn’t plan much socially as I’d get a call to be on a plane the next day and go halfway round the world. Now my travel is planned further in advance. I’m going to Brazil soon, as a large six-month construction project is coming to an end and I’ll need a debrief, and will hopefully be able to line up some more work.

‘I’m now the company’s business development manager responsible for bringing in new business, which gives me a lot of satisfaction. Once we’ve won the work I then review the tenders and create the contracts working with our MD, detailing all the technical aspects and preparing project procedures. One of the reasons I like my job is that we’re a small company so the type of work I do is very diverse and I have multiple roles. In a typical week I could be dealing with several projects – we have eight construction and inspection projects running at the moment with 33 surveyors offshore working on the client vessels.

‘It’s quite a fast-changing business, so I have to keep up with what’s going on, including technical developments. I’m currently secretary of the Hydrographic Society in Scotland, a branch of the UK Hydrographic Society, which is based here in Aberdeen and through which we promote our industry. We are very active in Scotland, running various presentations and lectures throughout the year to introduce and promote our industry to graduates, most of whom are doing land survey, engineering or oceanographic degrees, and to enable members and companies to demonstrate and discuss new developments and share their knowledge and experiences.

‘Hydrographics is still quite a small sector of surveying, but it’s a growing industry so we need to encourage more young surveyors to join us. When I completed my APC through RICS I was the only person in the company with an APC in hydrographic surveying. RICS has been hugely influential for me and I have learnt a lot from them.’andrewssurvey.com

ANDY DARE MRICS HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYOR AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT ANDREWS SURVEY IN ABERDEEN

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 23

Photography by Peter Sandground


Profiles//

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‘Brazil is a very large country. It has more than 7,400km of coastline with many rivers, inlets and islands, which present a lot of geodetic challenges. As the chief surveyor for Fugro, I’ve had to get to know as much about the country’s geography as I can. We also have to make sure our local Brazilian staff are well trained and competent in geomatic skills to ensure they can deliver those services, too.

‘Although I work in the marine sector, I no longer travel offshore – as I did for a number of years working in countries such as China, Egypt, Nigeria, India, UAE and Sri Lanka. Now I’m firmly office-bound, but my desire to return to work offshore is always there. In a typical day, I do a lot of multi-tasking, as we provide services to many clients on a number of different levels. My work requires great attention to detail and consistency in every aspect of the fieldwork we conduct – from offshore geophysical surveys and positioning projects to pure geodetic work.

‘The equipment we use these days is simply a more elegant, updated version of the equipment I used in the field 20 years ago. This includes a sidescan sonar (for seabed imagery), bathymetric sensors (such as multibeam echosounders) and seabed penetrating sensors (such as pingers). We combine these sensors to produce data that describes the immediate characteristics of a client’s property or site. At Fugro we have a particularly great decimetric positioning service that gives us consistent global geo-referencing.

‘Brazil is booming in the offshore geomatics field – mainly fuelled by the level of investment in the offshore oil market. Other South American countries are beginning to take note and will no doubt invest in exploration. Although I’ve only been here 18 months, I can see why Brazil was an obvious choice for RICS to open an office – the World Cup and Olympics are coming here in the next few years and the stress on the infrastructure requires the help of professional services.

‘The greatest proportion of our work is for the national energy company, Petrobras – either directly or indirectly. However, more independent energy companies, both local and international, are acquiring licence blocks here, which has meant an increase in competition for the type of service we provide. Although this is good, and positive for the offshore survey business in Brazil, it means we’ve got to keep on top of the services we provide and make sure we maintain the high standards that we offer elsewhere in the world.

‘I became an RICS member in 2006, when I worked in Abu Dhabi. I was the first person to go through the APC route in geomatics in the UAE, and I remember that an RICS member had to be brought in from Bahrain to complete my interview panel. I’m very pleased to now be a part of Fugro – the company has more than 14,000 employees, so there are plenty of opportunities to move around and the work is reasonably homogenous to allow that skill migration.’fugro-br.com

MARK BELOEIL-SMITH MRICSCHIEF SURVEYOR, FUGRO BRASILPhotography by Rafael Fabres



10 OF THE BESTWATERFRONT DEVELOPMENTS

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ROYAL SEAPORT SWEDEN A 15-year project to create a sustainability Mecca on the coast of Sweden near Stockholm is under way and due to be completed in 2025. Royal Seaport will develop, test and showcase Swedish clean technologies and innovations. The town will cut carbon emissions to half of the standard building code requirements, and 30% of the electricity for buildings will be produced locally. Overall, the CO2 produced per person will be less than three tonnes a year, compared to the Stockholm average of four tonnes. Agneta Persson, project director for Royal Seaport at engineer WSP Group, which is working on the scheme, says, ‘Residents will find that energy demand is so low that their own behaviour – such as the length of your shower or whether you open windows – will have a much bigger impact on energy use.’ The 236-hectare scheme will include 10,000 new apartments and 30,000 workspaces.

Compiled by Roxane McMeeken

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Coastal schemes //

TITANIC QUARTER UKThe Titanic Belfast exhibition centre, completed in March 2012, has exploded into the Northern Ireland capital’s dynamic Titanic Quarter, Europe’s largest waterfront development. The imposing £90m, 15,000m2 building, which reflects the high-impact outline of the cruise liner it commemorates, is now the quarter’s star attraction. The Belfast office of Turley Associates has been involved in the 75-hectare Titanic Quarter for the past decade, from drawing up the initial development framework document to working on more than 30 planning applications. According to its director, Diana Fitzsimons FRICS, ‘The highlights have been working on such a historic site and seeking to retain some of the memories of the shipbuilding industry that once employed 30,000 men here, while also creating a brand-new, well-designed city centre destination.’

V&A WATERFRONT SOUTH AFRICAThe continued expansion of Cape Town’s historic V&A Waterfront is gaining momentum. In the latest new development, water from Cape Town’s chilly Atlantic Ocean, which averages around 15˚C year round, will be incorporated in the cooling system of the super-sustainable 18,000m2 mixed-use No. 1 Silo office building. However, Mike Brokenshire, head of development at the privately owned V&A Waterfront, says that building on reclaimed land while keeping the sea at bay ramps up building costs. ‘When we built the Table Bay hotel in the 1990s, for example, we paid a premium of around 40% of the basement construction cost on underground works.’ Similar conditions, although not quite as extreme, still hold for the current 1.5bn Rand (£114m) of works planned for the coming five years. These will see retail, offices and residential new build added to the predominantly historic buildings that have been converted from industrial to mixed use over the past 20 years.

YAS ISLAND UAE Yas Island, just off the coast of Abu Dhabi, has been designed as a £27bn leisure and retail wonderland, but the construction programme has come with cost-control headaches. The island features a Ferrari theme park, Formula 1 racing circuit, signature hotels, giant malls and golf courses. Work has completed on some of the island, but Yas Mall, comprising more than 300,000m2 of shopping space, around 400 retail units, a hypermarket, two department stores and parking for 14,000 cars, is still under way and due to open in 2013. The cost challenge came when the financial crisis struck the region in 2008. Ian Kerr MRICS is associate director at Sweett Group, the mall’s programme manager and cost consultant. ‘We worked with the architect, providing advice in areas such as building form, construction material selection and building services,’ he says. Overall, Sweett was able to shave AED2bn (£349m) off the original price tag.


Coastal schemes//

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VICTORIA HARBOUR HONG KONG An ambitious plan to redevelop Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour is set to be one of the world’s most important coastal schemes. The project, which will span at least 20 years, will see the 73km stretch of seaside land transformed into a vibrant district featuring facilities ranging from cafes and bars to recreational space on the water for canoeing and dragon boats. ‘There is little life on the waterfront, so there is a need for a variety of experiences for both residents and visitors,’ says Nicholas Brooke PPRICS, chairman of the Hong Kong Harbourfront Commission, the development authority for the project. The first task for the project, he says, is to devise a series of public-private partnership models. ‘The approach will probably be to grant leases to developers [for the 70% of the land that is government owned]. This approach is new for Hong Kong, but it will bring the entrepreneurship and creativity needed.’

NEWBIGGIN MARITIME CENTRE UKThis new maritime museum on the Northumberland coast completed in July 2011 and is a great example of a building that complements its setting. Set in the sand dunes, the museum allows views of the sea, and from the sea to a church that has helped guide in sailors for centuries, to remain unchanged. The £2m project by Mosedale Gillatt Architects faced disaster halfway through when it lost £100,000 of its funding due to a land ownership dispute. ‘We had to value engineer every aspect of the building, from the structure to the toilet-roll holders,’ explains Harry James FRICS, an independent project manager who worked on the scheme. This included a redesign so that the green roof originally envisaged can be added later. As a result, the project was brought in on budget and the centre was shortlisted in the Renaissance category of the 2012 RICS Awards for boosting tourism and regeneration.

SEAPLANE TERMINAL CANADASeaplanes provide a vital transport link for many of Vancouver’s remote coastal communities, and since May 2011 they have been flying right into the heart of Vancouver city’s redeveloped downtown waterfront. The CA$22m (£7.5m) Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (VHFC) features 18 seaplane slips housed at concrete docks, as well as a terminal building. It’s expected to see 300,000 passengers annually. Consultancy BTY Group provided technical due diligence for client BC Pavilion Corporation, which owns the water lot where the new terminal is located and leases it to VHFC. ‘We had to understand the terminal’s complex ownership and governance structure and how it affected payment responsibilities, and the marine construction methods involved,’ says Ross Templeton MRICS, a partner at BTY Group. ‘Also, the facility’s function as a refuelling depot impacted safety and environmental requirements, which had to be factored into costs.’

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STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION CULTURAL CENTER GREECEDonated to the state by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the €566m (£453m) Renzo Piano-designed cultural centre under construction at Faliro Delta on the south coast of Athens will comprise Greece’s national opera, the national library and a cultural park. ‘This is a beacon for the economic recovery of Greece,’ says the scheme’s project manager, Neil Clemson FRICS, head of project management at Faithful + Gould. ‘It will attract tourists and change the lives of local people at a crucial time.’ Located on a prime coastal spot, surrounded by Olympic venues, the site was deemed in need of regeneration. The 557,700ft2 scheme aims to earn a Platinum or Gold LEED certification for sustainability, and will create 1,500-2,400 jobs annually during construction, which is set to begin in late 2012.

RED SEA COAST SAUDI ARABIAThe first phase of the 168km2 King Abdullah Economic City on the coast in the west of Saudi Arabia is complete, but construction is expected to continue until around 2025 – by which time the city will be the size of Washington DC. South along the coast at Rabigh is the £2.2bn King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), whose first buildings opened in 2009. These developments, near Saudi’s most liberal city, Jeddah, aim to attract a freer generation of young Saudis to help avoid political unrest. Philip Cooke MRICS is director at Northcroft, which provided cost plans for KAUST for contractor Saudi Oger. He says the main challenge was the government’s requirement for speed: ‘We did a four-year build in two years.’ This is impressive considering the university comprises 23 buildings, including four highly sophisticated laboratories.

GOLD COAST 2018 AUSTRALIAThe 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games development is shaping up to be one of the greenest sports event construction projects in the world. Some 80% of the venues are already in existence, but the AUS$620m (£390m) athletes’ village will need to be built from scratch, accounting for a large chunk of the AUS$889m (£560m) construction cost. ‘If we built the housing in a traditional way, after the Games we would have to put a huge amount on the market at once,’ says surveyor Nigel Chamier, chairman of the board of the Organising Committee. Instead, to ensure a sustainable legacy, the residential units will be constructed so that they can switch use to low-cost housing and auxiliary accommodation for hospital patients who still need nursing. A further AUS$105.7m (£66m) will be spent on six new venues.

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JLT Specialty Limited. Lloyd’s Broker. Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority.A member of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group. Registered Office: 6 Crutched Friars, LondonEC3N 2PH. Registered in England No. 01536540. VAT No. 244 2321 96. 265055

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Law advice//

The impact of

CHANGES TO FLOOD INSURANCE POLICYIllustration by Borja Bonaque

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 31

Flooding represents the biggest natural catastrophe risk in the UK. Currently fi ve million homes are at risk of fl ood, with at least 200,000 of those at ‘signifi cant’ risk – the Environment Agency’s (EA) benchmark for a level of fl ooding expected once every 75 years. And fi gures are set to increase as our climate changes: government predictions state that by 2080 annual damages to properties could rise to £12bn. This would have a tremendous impact on the UK economy as those affected look to their insurers to cover the cost of damages and alternative accommodation, and the loss of rental income.

However, from June 2013, this may not be so easy as the the ‘Statement of Principles’ between the government and the ABI (Association of British Insurers) is withdrawn. The current arrangement ensures that fl ood insurance is available for most homes and small business premises, even if the property lies in an area at signifi cant fl ood risk, provided that there are plans to reduce the

risk to below ‘significant’ within five years. But the government has already cut back spending on flood reduction measures and, while the Statement doesn’t dictate the cost of flood cover, in practice premiums for high-risk properties have been subsidised by those in low-risk areas.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER JUNE 2013?The cost of fl ood insurance has already begun to refl ect a property’s level of risk, and this will accelerate when the Statement expires. Properties with risk level that insurers are unhappy with will fi nd their premiums or excess increase, or that conditions are imposed on cover. Those at greatest risk may fi nd that they are not able to get cover at any cost. And where flood insurance is not available, the property owner could fi nd themselves in breach of their mortgage, which generally requires insurance cover for all perils.

There has been much public and parliamentary outcry at the withdrawal of the Statement. The government announcement expected this year has been delayed, and Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, recently revealed that the government is still in discussions with the ABI. But time is running out, as insurers, property owners and occupiers need to know what regime they’ll be dealing with from June 2013.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?It’s important that property owners, occupiers and funders accurately assess their level of risk. When purchasing or leasing a property, a fl ood risk assessment is not covered in the preliminary enquiries or standard searches, so make sure that this is requested and carried out. Surveyors should be mindful of the issues, and highlight potential fl ood risks to clients to avoid being held liable later on.

The good news is that there are now accurate commercial fl ood search engines that cover ground and surface water, and in some cases dam and reservoir burst. These use robust data and risk models capable of greater accuracy than the EA’s public site (the EA also only cover river and coastal fl ooding). They can also model fl ood depth and distinguish, importantly, between properties at different elevations. A residential search costs around £30.

Property owners and occupiers can better protect themselves against fl ooding by installing fl ood resistance equipment, such as air brick covers, window and door baffl es, and non-return valves, which are all passively operated. For more advice on how to protect your property from fl ood, visit thefpa.org.uk or download the RICS Consumer Guide to Flooding at rics.org/fl ooding.

MARY DHONAU is chief executive of the Know Your Flood Risk Campaign (knowyourfl oodrisk.co.uk). Her own online guide to preparing a household emergency plan can be found at marydhonau.co.uk.

THOSE AT GREATEST RISK OF FLOOD MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET COVER AT ANY COST, LEAVING THEM IN BREACH OF THEIR MORTGAGE

MODUS_July-Aug_P30-31_Law+Ad.indd 31 25/06/2012 15:31

THE EARTH’S OCEANS HAVE THE POWER TO GENERATE DOUBLE CURRENT GLOBAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION. DAVE FLANAGAN

VISITS THE SMALL SCOTTISH CENTRE LEADING THE CHARGE

THE NEXT WAVE

It’s the middle of May, but there’s a vicious bite to the northwesterly breeze cutting across the dark, brooding headland. The Atlantic is unusually calm, though a small wave occasionally peels over an

exposed reef at the southern tip of the bay. Aside from the icy wind, it is the only evidence that such an idyllic island setting might possess any natural energy potential.

A squat, turf-roofed stone building lies close to the boulder-strewn shoreline, within what looks like a freshly cut and cleaned-up quarry, carpeted with hard- packed gravel. A cluster of dark-green metal cubes and some pipework sit nearby, and a sign on the fence warns of high-voltage cables. There is also a barely discernible hum coming from somewhere in the area.

It’s a pristine, businesslike enclave of low-key industrialisation on an otherwise wild and rugged stretch of the Orkney coastline. It’s also hard to tell what it’s all actually for, but clearly a lot of effort has gone into making the site as visually unobtrusive as possible. On closer inspection, you’ll find a small sign on a wall proclaiming that this is, in fact, the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) Billia Croo wave test facility and substation.

As epicentres of global energy revolutions go, it’s a quiet one. But the work being carried out here, and at EMEC’s tidal energy test facility off the Orkney island of Eday, has enormous implications for a planet striving to cut its dependence on diminishing fossil fuel resources. The World Energy Council has estimated

that around two terawatts – two million megawatts (MW) – of power could be generated from the Earth’s oceans, about double current world electricity production. And a significant percentage of Europe’s wave and tidal power potential is located off the UK’s coasts.

But tapping into that resource is a costly and technologically challenging process. ‘The environment we’re working in here is extremely hostile,’ says Neil Kermode, EMEC’s managing director. ‘People say marine energy isn’t rocket science, but it’s actually harder than rockets. Rockets work in a vacuum and we’re working in a biologically active electrolyte with grit in it. It’s a hard place to be.’

He’s not kidding. Stand at Billia Croo during the full force of an Atlantic storm

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and it’s obvious why you’d site a facility for testing marine energy devices here. Powerful waves – some as high as 17m – relentlessly pound the Orkney coastline for much of the year. Even in summer, the seas around this group of 70 or so islands are rarely calm.

When development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise began exploring the potential of marine renewables in the 1990s, Orkney was the natural choice for a testing facility that would, it was hoped, spark an economic boom in the north of Scotland. In addition to a ready supply of big waves and strong tides, Orkney’s coastline is relatively close to deep water, thereby minimising cabling costs. It’s also the most northerly point on the national grid. But perhaps Orkney’s greatest asset

is the vast natural harbour of Scapa Flow – a base for the Royal Navy during two world wars, and a key location in North Sea and Atlantic oil operations. With sheltered waters and harbour facilities close to significant wave and tidal resources, Scapa Flow has all the space needed to organise a major new industry.

Although Orkney’s economy has traditionally been centred on agriculture – notably beef farming – the people here have a deep understanding of the ocean and a tradition of using its resources sustainably. Renewables have, therefore, always made sense to Orcadians, with almost all of the energy used by the islands’ 20,000-strong population now coming from wind sources. ‘People in Orkney just get renewables,’ says Kermode, who worked

as a regulator for the Environment Agency before joining EMEC in 2005. ‘You have to recognise that people who are further away don’t get it in the same way. If you’re in the middle of London, the only moving water you see comes out of a tap, or is in the Thames. You don’t have the same interaction with it. Part of what we’re trying to do is show people this is real because you do need decision-makers in all locations to say “this is the thing”.’

The vision for a Scottish marine energy test centre became a reality in 2003 when EMEC was established with £30m of public sector funding. Headquartered in the picturesque harbour town of Stromness, on Orkney’s west mainland, EMEC, which is now entirely self-funding, now operates 14 test berths at its wave and tidal facilities, >>

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 33

Marine energy//


34 rics.org

entirely underwater, sways backwards and forwards in the nearshore waves, driving two hydraulic pistons that push high- pressure water onshore to power a conventional hydroelectric turbine.

The first full-scale 315kW Oyster was officially launched at Billia Croo in November 2009, when it began producing power to the national grid for the first time. Aquamarine Power installed the next-generation 800kW Oyster 800 device at the site in 2011 and has been granted consent to install a further two devices in the same location. Together, the three Oyster devices will form a 2.4MW array connected to a single onshore generating plant.

Meanwhile, at EMEC’s Fall of Warness site, off the island of Eday, devices are subjected to fierce, high-velocity tidal streams that can move as fast as four metres per second (7.8 knots). Here there’s more similarity between the devices being tested, with turbines the favoured design. Dublin-based developer OpenHydro was the first to use the Fall of Warness site, installing its 250kW, seabed-mounted, Open-Centre Turbine there in 2006. The device is deployed directly on the seabed – invisible from the surface – and was the first of its kind to successfully generate electricity to the national grid.

Scotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd, the sole local player in the Orkney marine energy industry, has developed a floating tidal energy converter, known as the Scotrenewables Tidal Turbine (SRTT). A 250kW prototype, the SR250, has been undergoing testing at EMEC’s Fall of Warness site and, in April, became the first large-scale floating tidal turbine to successfully generate and export to the national grid. Designs for a 2MW commercial-scale version have been completed by the company, with plans to install a number of the turbines in a 10MW demonstrator array by 2015.

Most recently, ScottishPower Renewables completed initial testing of a large underwater turbine, the 1MW HS1000, at the Fall of Warness site. Developed by Norwegian company Andritz Hydro Hammerfest, the HS1000 is earmarked for use by ScottishPower Renewables in a 10MW tidal array off the island of Islay.

Developing marine energy devices to a commercially viable stage is a slow, complex and expensive process, but it’s transmission charges that remain the biggest barrier for the industry. The cost of transmitting electricity from island areas into the national grid is currently around six times what it is for generators on the UK mainland. Despite strong representations from politicians and the marine renewables sector, energy

and has successfully supported the deployment of more grid-connected devices than at any other single site on the planet.

The 21-strong staff at EMEC provide a wide range of support, research and consultancy services, with the centre also leading the development of international standards for marine energy. Increasingly, the Stromness team’s expertise is being sought by countries keen to develop their own marine energy industries, with EMEC collaborating on projects in China, Canada, Japan and the US.

The technology being tested at EMEC’s wave and tidal facilities is remarkably varied and innovative, proving there’s no single solution to the marine energy challenge. Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power’s (PWP) Pelamis ‘sea snake’ device was the world’s first commercial-scale wave energy converter to generate electricity to a national grid, achieving that historic milestone at Billia Croo in 2004. Consisting of five tube sections linked by universal joints, the Pelamis machine floats semi-submerged on the surface of the water and inherently faces into the direction of the waves. As waves pass down the length of the machine, and the sections bend in the water, the movement is converted into electricity via hydraulic power take-off systems housed inside each joint of the machine’s tubes.

Two of PWP’s latest 750kW Pelamis P2 machines – built for utility customers E.ON and ScottishPower Renewables – are now under test at EMEC ahead of deployment at major wave farm developments in Scotland.

Aquamarine Power Ltd, also based in Edinburgh, has taken a completely different approach with its Oyster wave power device – a buoyant, hinged flap attached to the seabed. This hinged flap, which is almost

Marine energy//

MORE DEVICES ARE DEPLOYED IN SCOTLAND

THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED

Currently on test at EMEC are E.ON’s Pelamis P2 wave energy converter

(previous page); OpenHydro’s Open-Centre Turbine (top); and

the floating Scotrenewables Tidal Turbine SR250 prototype (above)

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Networking//

regulator Ofgem recently recommended maintaining a distance-based charging scheme. The industry let out a collective sigh of disappointment, but is cracking on regardless. ‘It’s disappointing that they haven’t had the breadth of vision to realise that we have to get a sustainable energy supply,’ says Kermode, who is evangelical about the value of marine renewables. ‘We can either be frightened of the costs, or embrace the opportunity that the business represents. I’m hugely optimistic about making this work because the alternatives are unthinkable.’

The issue of transmission costs aside, there’s no denying the massive economic development potential of marine renewables for Scotland and its more remote communities. ‘By 2020, the Scottish government is aiming for 40,000 jobs in renewables in Scotland,’ says Calum Davidson, director of energy and low carbon at Highlands and Islands Enterprise. ‘We expect at least 25% of these to be in the Highlands and Islands – with several thousand in wave and tidal energy.’

Recent research by Scottish Renewables estimates there are already 11,000 people directly employed in renewable energy in Scotland – that’s a greater number than there are working in the Scottish whisky industry. ‘Scotland is clearly leading the

world in the development of this new global industry,’ adds Davidson. ‘We are the world centre for marine testing, with more devices deployed in Scottish waters than the rest of the world combined, and a growing cluster of Highlands and Islands companies supporting the marine renewables supply chain.’

So where do chartered surveyors fit into this marine energy revolution? Kermode is sure there will be a need for repopulation and reindustrialisation in areas where marine energy resources exist, which in turn will create further opportunities for all manner of professionals. Indeed, the creation of new infrastructure to support the marine renewables industry is already well under way in Orkney, with new piers and onshore facilities being built throughout the islands.

‘It’s the best job in the world because you’re trying to work on things that are both supported and important,’ says Kermode. ‘That empowers you to try and do as much as you possibly can because you don’t have to be too cautious. You can afford to be brave, knowing the ground you’re going into is, as yet, unexplored.’ emec.org.uk

DAVE FLANAGAN is an Orkney-based journalist who writes for a range of national newspapers, magazines and websites.

I’M OPTIMISTIC ABOUT MAKING THIS WORK – THE ALTERNATIVES ARE UNTHINKABLE

EMEC’s managing director Neil Kermode (below) and the Oyster 800 wave energy device being attached to its foundations on the seabed at Billia Croo (bottom)


36 rics.org

It’s one of the most significant engineering success stories of modern times. Inside a decade, the UK has gone from a standing start to delivering the world’s largest offshore wind energy industry,

firmly establishing the country as a global leader in this emerging technology. The statistics on the scale of the sector are both staggering and strangely under-reported. There are 18 offshore wind farms in UK waters, boasting 568 turbines and 1.9GW of capacity – more than the rest of the world put together. The UK has the world’s largest installed wind farm in the 300MW Thanet site off the coast of Kent, and the largest under construction in the record-breaking 630MW London Array 1. ‘By the end of this year we will have just over 3GW of capacity installed, producing 10 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per annum,’ predicts Nick Medic, head of offshore wind at trade body RenewableUK. ‘That is the equivalent output to the Aswan Dam. It is a colossal engineering achievement to have delivered that within 10 years.’

However, it’s the next decade that really excites politicians, engineers, developers and investors. According to government figures, 3.6GW of offshore wind farms are approved or under construction, and that’s before the so-called Round 3 projects come online later in the decade. The government

has awarded development rights for nine Round 3 zones and the Treasury estimates 18GW of capacity could be in place by 2020. ‘I see offshore wind as a significant energy and industrial opportunity for the UK, and one that I am determined to seize,’ declared Prime Minister David Cameron recently. This political support puts the UK in the vanguard of a global trend. France recently unveiled plans for 3GW of new offshore wind farms, while Denmark and Germany, the second- and third-largest markets, have ambitious plans to expand. After 10 years of wrangling, work will soon get under way on the first US farm, off the Nantucket coast, while the Chinese government is also drawing up plans, raising the prospect of British firms exporting technology and expertise to emerging markets.

Unfortunately, the catch is the high cost of offshore technologies. The Treasury vision of delivering 18GW of new capacity by 2020 depends on costs being slashed so energy is delivered at £100 per MW – a reduction of a third on current costs. Consequently, numerous projects are currently under way with the purpose of bringing down the cost of offshore wind energy. Central to efforts are the next generation of giant turbines being developed by the likes of GE, Siemens and Vestas. The largest currently boast capacities of around 3.6GW, but developers are now working on turbines that could

deliver between 6GW and 8GW, reducing both the number that have to be installed and the cost of installation and maintenance.

The government also aims to boost cost reductions with five Centres for Offshore Renewable Engineering (COREs), located in Tyneside, Hull and the Humber Estuary, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, Sheerness and Teesside Tees Valley. Supported by local and central government, these new centres will provide ‘the most comprehensive support possible’ for wind-energy firms and their supply chain, creating technology and skills hubs that help reduce costs. Although the precise remit of the COREs is still being developed, they are expected to offer a range of tax breaks to firms, including enhanced capital allowances for manufacturers.

The centres will also support national initiatives being undertaken by the Carbon Trust and the Energy Technologies Institute to develop advanced offshore technologies that promise to slash costs further. A host of research projects have been commissioned, including work to develop bigger and more efficient turbine blades, improve maintenance vessels, and remove the need for costly foundations by developing floating turbines. With independent observers confident these projects can deliver desired cost reductions, the UK looks set to cement its position as the world’s leading offshore wind market for years to come.

WITH MORE OFFSHORE FARMS THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THE UK IS TAKING THE LEAD IN WIND POWER GENERATION, SAYS JAMES MURRAY

SURGING AHEAD

Offshore wind//

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Introducing profession-wide

LIMITED LIABILITY

Business advice//

SURVEYORS ARE FORCED TO EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO LARGE RISKS IN AN INDUSTRY THAT IS INHERENTLY RISKY

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 37

Illustration by Borja Bonaque

Since the economic downturn, the number of claims brought against valuation surveyors has escalated – and the cost of professional indemnity insurance (PII) has done the same. Valuation surveyors’ premiums are now generally the third-biggest expense for surveying fi rms after staff payments and property costs. These costs are seriously impacting many firms, both big and small. Although this will come as no surprise to many, it may be of interest to know that the profession does have options that could help reduce the impact of claims, and therefore the cost of PII.

In the latter part of 2011, RICS undertook a consultation process in response to concerns about the rising cost of PII. One of the key areas of focus was limiting surveyors’ liability, particularly in contracts entered into with lenders.

Incorporating contractual provisions into supply contracts can limit both contractual and tortious liability. In essence, liability clauses can limit the amount of loss for which a surveyor can be held liable. This is one way of mitigating the size of any award of damages following a successful claim.

At present, insurers feel that valuation surveyors are generally writing uncapped liability into their terms of business. As a result, they are forced to expose themselves to large risks in an industry that is already inherently risky, and are currently dealing with an increase in litigation. This exposure has led in part to the considerable rise in PII premiums.

Surveyors, however, cannot be blamed for creating this situation. Various pressures have forced them into a scenario where unlimited liability has become the norm in valuation contracts. As we are all aware, work has been harder to come by since the property downturn, and unlimited liability is often presented as ‘take it or leave it’ when new business opportunities arise. This creates a Catch-22 for firms who, although unhappy about the terms of business, must nevertheless accept the work as it is commercially indispensable. While the risk that comes with these onerous terms is effectively transferred to insurers, insurers in response increase premiums and other costs for surveyors.

Limited liability could and should be seen as a sensible option, and one that is fair and reasonable. In this regard, valuation surveyors are somewhat trailing behind as many other businesses have already introduced

profession-wide limited liability, recognising the positive impact it has on the risk profi le of their members and the subsequent improvement in terms and pricing from insurers. The likes of The Law Society of England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales have guided solicitors and accountants in capping their liability. These efforts should act as an example to valuation surveyors: why should they not be afforded the same protection?

What has become clear from the examples set by other professions is that collective action is needed. Without a concerted effort, PII premiums and excesses will continue to be higher than necessary, surveyors will continue to present above-average risk exposure and, in a fl uctuating property market, remain uncertain about the measure of damages that could be awarded following a successful claim. RICS is considering these points carefully in the consultation, and the best outcome the industry can hope for is a strong call to unite on this issue.

At present, suitable and comprehensive protection comes at a considerable price. We are in no doubt that valuation surveyors, at some stage in the future, will be allowed to enjoy the benefi ts of limiting liability – but for the sake of individual fi rms and the profession as a whole, let’s hope it comes sooner rather than later.

COLIN TAYLOR is director and head of risk management services at Prime Professions. primeprofessions.co.ukPETER HAIGH-LUMBY specialises in professional practice in the property and legal sectors at The Corre Partnership LLP. thecorrepartnership.com

READ THE OUTCOMES of the RICS PII consultation and recommendations for next steps on P44


The Australian and New Zealand governments are conducting one of the biggest migration drives in decades, and UK professionals are at the

top of their lists. New Zealand’s Canterbury region is seeking 30,000 construction workers to help with the rebuild programme following the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, while Western Australia alone is recruiting 250,000-270,000 skilled people, particularly across its mining and petroleum industries.‘There are no language or cultural barriers, the weather is much better and the career opportunities are huge in comparison to the UK,’ says Paul Arthur, director at The Emigration Group, migration advisers specialising in moves to Australia and New Zealand. Negativity surrounding the UK economy, family security and the future of the eurozone are three of the oft-cited drivers for those choosing emigration as a pragmatic career move. ‘Nearly 70% of the people who sign up for our services have never been to Australia or New Zealand, so there is definitely a push factor from the UK,’ says Arthur.

Australian work visas can be obtained with sponsorship from an employer or state government – and Arthur suggests the fact that Western Australia, South Australia,

Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are all ready to sponsor suitably qualified and experienced surveyors indicates that there has never been a better time to consider a move. ‘Both Australia and New Zealand just cannot get enough people,’ he says. ‘Immigration New Zealand offers incentives to help get into the country, and the fact that building inspectors, quantity surveyors, and urban and regional planners are on the long- and short-term skills shortage list shows the country recognises and welcomes skilled people from the industry.’

One of the main attractions of the region is that it has largely escaped the economic doom and gloom currently clouding the UK and European skyline. Western Australia’s mining and petroleum industry is valued at more than AUS$91.6bn (£57.5bn), and the state department and its associated bodies are actively recruiting skilled workers from overseas on fixed contracts. May’s 2012/13 Australian Federal Budget was greeted favourably by political commentators, with the Treasurer predicting that the country’s economy will return a surplus of AUS$1.5bn (£943m) for the forthcoming financial year. The focus of this year’s budget was on infrastructure building, reallocating and increasing investment for clean energy, and investing in regions. Issues directly affecting

the construction sector centered on improving the funding for Australia’s road and rail infrastructure.

Any RICS member arriving in Australia will hardly be alone. According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, people born in the UK continue to be the largest group of overseas residents, accounting for 5.3% of the total population as at June 2010. RICS Oceania has a strong presence in the region, with its headquarters in Sydney, plus offices in several Australian states and in Auckland, New Zealand. And according to figures released by the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, salaries for both graduate and experienced quantity surveyors have increased by more than 33% in the past five years.

Natalie Cohen MRICS, a valuer and research analyst at Herron Todd White (HTW), arrived in Australia in September 2010. Having worked in the London property industry since 2006, and with a degree in geography and an RICS-accredited masters degree in estate management, Cohen felt she was ready for a move. ‘From a professional point of view, I wanted to make use of the qualifications and skills I had built up in England,’ she says. Completing a report on the Brisbane CBD office market led to a permanent position at HTW in Brisbane in November 2010, and she later transferred

38 rics.org

THERE ARE FAR MORE COMPELLING INCENTIVES FOR SURVEYORS TO RELOCATE TO OCEANIA THAN SIMPLY SEA AND SUNSHINE, FINDS BEN WHITTACKER-COOK

BROADEN YOUR HORIZONSIllustration by Neil Stevens

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Migration//

to Melbourne. RICS membership helped, too. ‘RICS has such high standards of professionalism and ethics in the UK, and as a consequence is highly respected in Australia,’ she says. ‘Companies know they’re getting a well-qualified and knowledgeable employee.’

However, the visa process can be daunting at first, Cohen adds. ‘Initially I came to Australia on a working holiday visa, which entitles the holder to work for six months. After deciding to extend my stay, my schedule and work commitments meant I didn’t have much time to devote to my 457 Business visa application, so I had to enlist the help of a migration agent, sourced from the RICS website. The migration section of the website was incredibly useful,’ she adds.

Australia has a fragmented valuation accreditation system. In Victoria, just to be accredited by the Australian Property Institute or RICS is sufficient, but in Queensland or New South Wales you need a valuer’s registration to practise. Therefore, it’s prudent to investigate whether you will need to get further qualifications before or after you arrive.

The country’s work ethic centres on flexibility, diversity and openness, and Cohen believes she has taken on roles

that wouldn’t normally have been on offer back home. ‘London is a very tight market, whereas in Australia there seems to be more opportunities to further your career. Everyone is friendly and I have already made a lot of excellent work connections,’ she says. Cohen now spends 70% of her time doing CBD office valuations and the rest as a national research coordinator. ‘I work from about 8.30am to 7pm, which may seem like a long day, but that’s because I currently have two roles. Still, every morning I think, “I can’t believe I’m here.”’

Across the Ditch, New Zealand is still coping with the after-effects of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake – a magnitude 6.3 ‘aftershock’ of the September 2010 earthquake – which killed 185 people and injured several thousand. The cost of the

rebuild is an estimated NZ$20bn-30bn (£10bn-15bn). Correspondingly, trades and services, engineering and transport and logistics appear in the top five industries with the highest number of advertised jobs in the Canterbury region. Immigration New Zealand’s Canterbury skills shortage list includes building inspectors, quantity surveyors, urban and regional planners and construction project managers.

The government has pledged to spend NZ$95m (£46m) over the next two years on ‘red zone’ (Christchurch city centre) security and maintenance, and a further NZ$30m (£15m) over the next four years to manage the rebuild. This investment, together with KiwiRail receiving NZ$250m (£121m) to >>

‘RICS’ high standards mean it’s highly respected in Australia. Companies know they’re getting a well-qualified and knowledgeable employee’


40 rics.org

help its rail freight business become more sustainable, and the opportunities available in tackling the ongoing ‘leaky homes’ controversy (during the 1990s an estimated 42,000 homes were built using methods unable to withstand localised weather conditions), means that New Zealand is an attractive destination for overseas skilled workers. Also, like Australia, the country is popular with those keen to embrace the outdoors lifestyle and achieve a better work/life balance – all in a country only slightly larger than the UK but with a population of just 4.4m. What’s more, New Zealand has a reciprocal arrangement with Australia that allows for freedom of labour movement between the two territories.

Adam Binns MRICS is a registered valuer, chartered valuation surveyor and director of Southern Valuation and Consultancy Limited in Dunedin, in the South Island. ‘I’ve been here since 2004,’ he says. ‘The fact that I wanted to take a valuation job set me in good stead as graduates in New Zealand often want to go down the property

management route, so there’s a real shortage of valuers.’ Anyone with a good level of experience and qualifications can do well, he adds. ‘Individuals who are UK trained are held in high regard, although there is some uncertainty as to what a chartered surveyor actually is. Here a surveyor just does land surveying, whereas in the UK they often have much wider areas of responsibility.’

Binns needed to obtain New Zealand registration before he was able to sign off valuations, but he says that the profession has some significant advantages over the UK. ‘You can’t value a property without comparable evidence, and here there’s much greater access to information, such as sale prices. In the UK it’s more about picking up the phone and having to speak to individuals who aren’t always obliged to give you the information you need.

‘Earthquakes are obviously a big consideration – we haven’t been affected physically in Dunedin, but it has changed the way I’ve gone about my work, particularly in the realm of insurance valuation, as that

obviously has a significant bearing on the figures you put on a building.’ Binns feels that the New Zealand property market is maturing as interested parties make more investigations and are willing to pay for professional advice. ‘There’s definitely a process of education going on here, and what we do is a useful and valuable resource.’

With a background in construction, property and investment, Graham Matthews FRICS arrived in New Zealand in 2007. As director of investment at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and investment adviser at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, he witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by the 2011 earthquake. He also plays a central role in the RICS Disaster Management Commission. ‘I regularly go to the Christchurch CBD red zone,’ he says. ‘Part of my role is investment strategy – examining where investment might come from and what it is about Christchurch that might be attractive to an investor, whether it’s from a real estate or a business point of view.’


07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 41

Migration//

Matthews explains that, while quantity surveying is well established in New Zealand, chartered surveyors are still something of a rarity. ‘Building surveying is still a relatively new profession here,’ he says. ‘It offers business and property owners and investors something different they have not had before,’ he says. Skills honed in the UK are easily transferable to the region, which offers many opportunities to develop new ones. ‘In the UK, architects and engineering firms, for example, tend to be more specialised, but because the market here is smaller, the opportunities are broader, and surveyors may have the chance to work on a wider range of business fronts.

‘The UK markets are suffering, and we’re finding that many surveyors are thinking about making the move to Australia or New Zealand,’ he adds. ‘The opportunity to work here isn’t one you should pass by, even if it’s only for a few years. It’s a fantastic chance to broaden the specialisms of your CV.’

BEN WHITTACKER-COOK is a freelance journalist who recently emigrated from the UK to Auckland, on New Zealand’s North Island.

RICS provides comprehensive guides for members who are considering migrating to Australia and New Zealand, covering differences in surveying specialisms and lifestyle, what the market is like, visa requirements and how your RICS qualification is recognised. Visit rics.org/oceaniamigrating.


MODUS_July-Aug_P43-53_Info_v4.F1.indd 42 26/06/2012 16:26

01.11 // MODUS 09

INFORMATION :RICS NEWS :DIARY :BENEFITS :RESOURCES

RICS has published a lease for small high street businesses in conjunction with the British Retail Consortium, the trade association for the UK retail industry. The lease, launched at RICS headquarters in London by Mark Prisk MP, is a simple, easy-to-use contract that will make the agreement clear to all parties entering into it. It will be a standalone short-term contract, with no rent review or break clause, and fl exible terms for occupiers, which will help small businesses get into property more quickly and contribute to the recovery of the UK’s high streets.rics.org/newsroom

NEW RETAIL LEASE USEFUL NUMBERSCONTACT CENTRE+44 (0)870 333 1600

General enquiriesAPC guidanceSubscriptionsPasswordsLibraryBookshop

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CONFIDENTIAL HELPLINE+44 (0)20 7334 3867

DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES+44 (0)20 7334 3806

SWITCHBOARD+44 (0)20 7222 7000

A GRADUAL STABILITY IS RETURNING TO THE UK MARKET AND SURVEYORS EXPECT TRANSACTION LEVELS TO INCREASE

RICS housing spokesperson Peter Bolton King

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 43

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08 r ics.org

PII consultation update

FACTS, STATS & SURVEYS

RICS news//

44 r ics.org

The most serious financial crisis for decades is still causing significant instability in many markets. In December 2011, RICS began a consultation on professional indemnity insurance and the impact on the property sector due to concerns about the current risk

and pricing in the market, and the long-term structural impact of these issues once the financial crisis is over. The consultation summarised the implications of the issues surrounding valuations for secured lending purposes in the UK for all stakeholders, and

set out suggestions for further work. RICS will continue to work with members and stakeholders to resolve these issues and provide clear policy and guidance to valuers in the UK. Download the report and recommendations at rics.org/pii.

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of homes on surveyors’ books were sold in the three months to May (40.9% in the same

period in 2007)

The average number of completed sales per surveyor in May 2012

(compared to 25.4 in May 2007)

15.6House sales per surveyor across the

UK are 40% lower than five years ago

40% 23.1%

RICS has launched landmark policy that will help the organisation change the face of the UK residential sector and prompt government to ease the ongoing pressure caused by the housing crisis. The policy includes measures to get the stagnant property market moving; the need for mandatory regulation of sales and lettings agents; providing consumers with the right information; new ways to boost low housing stock; and tackling problems associated with social and affordable housing. ‘To deliver real influence in the corridors of power, RICS needs to have clear residential policy,’ says RICS Global Residential Director Peter Bolton King. ‘We met with members and firms of all sizes, and what came across loud and clear is the desperate need to reform sections of the market and generate growth. We will take these recommendations to the government to help them improve the residential property sector for those within the industry and the public as a whole.’rics.org/policy

The RICS Clear Guide to Flooding gives property owners essential advice on flooding and flood risk, including assessing a property’s risk, how the flood risk affects value and insurability, preparing for a flood, installing defences and what to do if a property is flooded. It also answers the question of why it takes so long to reinstate a property after a flood, and where to go for help in dealing with flood risk and reinstatement. Visit rics.org/flooding to view the guide, which is just part of the RICS suite of free guides available for a wide range of property issues including buying, selling or extending a home, property surveys, boundary disputes, party walls, rights to light, compulsory purchase, and buying and selling art and antiques at auction. rics.org/usefulguides

FLOOD GUIDE

INSPIRING CHANGE


01.11 // MODUS 0907.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 45

Respondents reported a flat net balance for

the level of new buyer interest

-1The positive net

balance score shows that surveyors expect

transaction levels to rise

More respondents reported falls rather than rises in prices

16%Highlights from the RICS May

2012 UK Housing Market Survey. rics.org/marketsurveys

+9

Alan Collett FRICS RICS President

‘The insights and hard work of members is invaluable to keeping RICS at the top of its game’

I am sincerely grateful for the privilege to serve as the RICS President for 2012/2013. It is the latest station on a personal and professional journey that

began in 1969 as an aspirant estate agent at the College of Estate Management.

To enter a profession is to pass through a doorway to new opportunities. One that bestows upon members certain benefits. These are matched by responsibilities to clients, employers, society and the profession itself.

The world is undergoing dramatic, rapid change, touching every aspect of human endeavour worldwide. No professional group is immune, so RICS must adapt to survive and remain relevant. We’ve developed new pathways to membership, and are broadening those paths by extending our geographical spread, giving opportunities to existing and new members.

Once through the door members will find more services, and benefit from access to more learning, than ever before. However, amid all this change there remain some constants. Chief among them is our shared determination to be individually and collectively professional, bound by our voluntary commitment to the same Royal Charter. The Charter is no historical anomaly. It is our source of common, enduring purpose. It has stood the test of time.

A profession must lead, and also be led. RICS sets and advances standards, and we encourage and monitor members as they fulfil their undertakings to clients, employers, society and each other. Crucially, the organisation is led by more than 1,000 members who volunteer to work on RICS’ boards, Governing Council, committees and professional groups, and by a first-class business team under our Chief Executive, Sean Tompkins. The staff at the head of each professional group are chartered surveyors, while skilled and experienced directors drive the business units.

The insights and hard work of members is invaluable to keeping RICS at the top of its game. We constantly strive to ensure the appropriate mix of experience, knowledge and perspective, and fill some positions by election and others by selection – an interview with other members, against a defined skills requirement.

In electing me as President, Governing Council has opened a door I did not foresee when I first entered the profession. I pass through it with an overwhelming sense of honour, matched only by a determination to meet our shared challenges, and seek out mutual opportunities. Join me in making this another successful year for the [email protected]

New RICS research provides an understanding of the importance and influence of land leverage on property issues and policies, using Perth in Western Australia as a case study. Land leverage

is the proportion of total property value embodied in the value of land as distinct from improvements. Within the land leverage framework, total property price change is viewed as a weighted

average of change in land value and improvements. An improved knowledge of the influence of land leverage has important implications in understanding how property markets operate.

The results suggest that house price fluctuations are primarily driven by changes in the price of the land component. To read more about this and other research, visit rics.org/research.

THE VALUE OF LAND

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN


08 r ics.org

Benefitsrics.org/benefitsplus

It’s often hard to put a figure on what level of insurance cover you need for your home contents. And many of us forget to consider items accumulated

over the years, items inherited, or fluctuations in the value of jewellery, art and antiques. According to the Association of British Insurers, as many as one in five UK households could be underinsured.

To make sure you’re not underinsured:Dig out your home insurance documents and find out exactly what level of cover you have for your buildings and contents.

Check all your possessions are covered, as some home insurance policies don’t cover art, antiques or items of high value, or the insurance company may require you to list these separately. Make a list of anything you’re not sure about and ask your insurance company if you’re covered.

Count the cost of a rebuild. When you get a quote for home insurance you may be asked to specify a ‘rebuild cost’: this represents how much it would cost to rebuild your home, including materials and labour. The amount will vary according to the size, age and type of property, and can be a key area for being underinsured. You can find a useful buildings rebuild cost calculator on the Association of British Insurers’ website: abi.bcis.co.uk.

Calculate your contents as it’s easy to underestimate the value of your contents and possessions. To help you get a better picture of what your contents are worth, Hiscox – RICS’ preferred partner for home and

contents insurance – has its own contents calculator, which is now also available on the move as an iPhone app. The app allows you to enter the value of each individual item from every room of your house, and can be downloaded free via Apple’s App store (search for Hiscox), or by simply scanning the QR code, below, with your iPhone.

RICS members receive a 12.5% discount on Hiscox’s standard rates, plus a further 10% discount in the first year when buying a policy online (subject to minimum premiums). Call 0845 365 1734 or visit hiscox.co.uk/rics.

Advertorial//

AS GOOD AS OUR WORD

How much is it worth?

The 10% online discount is applicable in the first year of your policy only and will be taken from your premium before application of the 12.5% saving. The offers only apply to Hiscox 505 Home Insurance available via the above telephone number and website, and are subject to minimum premiums. Cases that do not meet Hiscox’s underwriting criteria may be referred to a Hiscox recommended specialist insurance broker, where these offers will not apply. Policies are underwritten by Hiscox Underwriting Ltd on behalf of Hiscox Insurance Company Ltd, both of which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is an Appointed Representative of Hiscox Underwriting Ltd. Reference to standard policies is based on a typical level of non-high net worth cover as defined by the independent financial research company Defaqto Ltd. For UK residents only.

46 r ics.org

To view all the latest offers, new partners and monthly and seasonal promotions, visit rics.org/benefitsplus.


01.11 // MODUS 0907.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 47

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Another month of surveying houses in central London has meant another month of watching house prices rise, and another few thousand square feet of prime residential property sold off to millionaires fleeing the eurozone crisis – some of it dutifully surveyed by me.

Professionally, the only change I’ve made this month is an attempt to cut costs (in anticipation of the aforementioned eurozone crisis). And so I tried a different, and I hoped cheaper, form of transport. From my home in Sussex, I normally drive to London to conduct surveys, but my new cost-cutting drive, as well as ongoing traffic issues, led me to try the train. This is not necessarily a cheaper option, but it can be more convenient – except for the fact that I have to take a ladder with me. One aspect of surveying a domestic dwelling is that it’s vitally important to make sure you adequately inspect the roof void – for which a ladder is essential. A case in point: I recently carried out a survey where it was unsafe to inspect the roof void. I voiced my concern to the client but they were indifferent. It then transpired, a month later, that the client (who is vegetarian) had been showering in water from a tank without a lid, which had a dead animal in it. Apparently it was still ‘our problem’.

On a slightly tangential note, it is worth mentioning for surveyors starting out (as no one ever tells you this sort of thing) that it has taken me a while to settle on a suitable outfit for surveying. After initially wearing an M&S suit every day, I have now stuck to wearing jeans. I’m pretty sure my old housemaster would not have approved, but several pairs of ruined suit trousers have given me no option. However, I compromise by still wearing a smart jacket and tie, just in case rich foreign clients turn up mid-survey.

So, when I take the train, carrying a ladder, and wearing a jacket and tie, I probably look a little odd. Passengers often stare at me, trying to work out, I imagine, what I must be doing. In fact, an old lady actually asked me what I had a ladder for: I replied that I was a gentleman burglar.

Her sly grin made me think that she believed me.

Agree? Disagree? Or interested in being a secret surveyor? Email [email protected].

‘IT HAS TAKEN ME A WHILE TO SETTLE ON A SUITABLE OUTFIT FOR SURVEYING’

Secret Surveyor

RURAL INTEREST IN WIND FARMSGrowing concern about climate change and energy security has sparked the country-wide development of renewable energy facilities and commercial interest from landowners and developers, says RICS. Surveyors in rural areas are seeing a substantial increase in demand for due diligence reports from banks who are seeking advice on the viability of using a given site to develop wind or solar power.

Most commonly prompted by developers, banks are increasingly asking surveyors to advise on the suitability of sites to build wind farms, as well as the performance of wind turbines, construction and planning issues, and if the site is windy enough to generate sufficiently high energy levels.

The additional revenue and income stream that can be generated for landowners and developers by selling the renewable energy generated (mainly electricity) into the grid has become an increasingly attractive prospect. The UK government has taken a number of steps – including the Feed in Tariff (FiT) – to encourage growth in the renewable energy market as it comes under increasing pressure to meet UK and international carbon reduction targets. And as the market continues to grow, surveyors are seeing a rise in the demand for freehold and leasehold valuations

for sites where the value may rise as a result of its potential to generate renewable energy.

RICS guidanceRecognising this demand, RICS has recently published guidance in an information paper that can assist surveyors in the valuation of freeholds and leaseholds, helping to deliver consistency and reliability to landowners, investors and the lending community. The valuation approaches discussed in the paper should also provide reassurance to financial backers who are more likely to lend on the premise that valuations are transparent and reliable – stimulating further growth in the market.

‘Interest in the financial benefits of generating renewable energy is certainly growing, and landowners and developers in rural communities can create an income stream by selling energy from renewable installations, such as wind turbines, to the national grid,’ says James Kavanagh, RICS Director of Land. ‘As this market continues to become more sophisticated, surveyors are increasingly being asked to perform more complex assessments, needed by all parties, but especially the lending community who need assurance before handing over finance.’rics.org/land


the logo is intended to bleed off the top left hand corner of the page. the dots should line up withthe page edge, allow 3mm bleed and pull in the picture box to hide the dots.

We’re good at these. Not everyone has the luxury of taking time off to study, nor the funds to do so. Our specialist courses are designed to fi t around real lives, using proven distance learning methods.

We offer Diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Degrees are awarded by the University of Reading or the Open University and accredited by RICS, CIOB and other professional bodies.

• BSc(Hons) Building Services Quantity Surveying, Building Surveying, Construction Management, Estate Management, Property Management and Quantity Surveying

• Diploma in Construction Practice

• Diploma in Surveying Practice

• BCSC Diploma in Shopping Centre Management

• MBA Real Estate and Construction Management

• MSc Real Estate

• PGDip Adjudication

• PGDip Arbitration

• RICS PGDip Project Management

• PGDip/MSc Conservation of the Historic Environment

• PGDip/MSc Facilities Management

• PGDip/MSc Property Investment

• PGDip/MSc Surveying (Graduate Development Programme)

• RICS Professional Membership –APC Adaptation Route 1

To further your career call 0800 019 9697, email [email protected] or visit our website.

FLEXIBLE LEARNING SOLUTIONS

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07.12 // 08.12 MODUS 47

Membership DISCIPLINARY PANEL 16 APRIL 2012Martin Rushton, Limous, FranceSummary of finding: contrary to Bye-Law 5.2.1(a) and contrary to Bye-Law 5.2.2(a)Penalty: expulsion/costs

DISCIPLINARY PANEL 18 APRIL 2012Boaden Hindmarsh Chartered Surveyors (the firm), Newcastle Upon TyneSummary of finding: contrary to Rule 3 of the Rules of Conduct for Firms 2007 Penalty: fine/order/costs

Simon Jackson MRICS, SurreySummary of finding: contrary to Rule 3 of the Rules of Conduct for Members 2007 Penalty: reprimand/order/costs

DISCIPLINARY PANEL 25 APRIL 2012Peter Morgan MRICS, PowysSummary of finding: in accordance with Bye-Law B5.2.2 of Bye-Laws 2009Penalty: reprimand/fine/costs

Ian McGarry, HertfordshireSummary of finding: in accordance with Bye-Law 5.2.2(d) of Bye-Laws 2009 Penalty: expulsion/costs

Mary-Jane Rathie, HertfordshireSummary of finding: in accordance with Bye-Law 5.2.2(d) of Bye-Laws 2009Penalty: expulsion/costs

APPEAL PANEL 2 MAY 2012Jeremy Clayden FRICS, HorleySummary of finding: failure to comply with Rules 3 & 9 of the Rules of Conduct for Members 2007Decision: appeal application dismissed by the panel/costs

DISCIPLINARY PANEL 2 MAY 2012Russell Williams MRICS, Birmingham Summary of finding: contrary to Rules 8 & 9 of the Rules of Conduct for Members 2007 Penalty: 2x cautions/costs

DISCIPLINARY PANEL 16 MAY 2012Paul Burtenshaw FRICS, LeedsSummary of finding: contrary to Rule 3 of the Rules of Conduct for Members 2007 Penalty: reprimand/fine/costs

DISCIPLINARY PANEL 23 MAY 2012Martin Shenton & Co Ltd, DudleySummary of finding: contrary to Rule 3 of the Rules of Conduct for Firms 2007Penalty: fine/condition/costs

For full details, visit rics.org/conductcases.

NEW LAND PATHWAYRICS has launched a new land pathway to Associate membership, suitable for candidates working in environment, minerals and waste management, planning and development, and rural. RICS’ newest

qualification reflects the diversity of the sector and is an opportunity for those who don’t have a degree but have relevant work experience to gain professional recognition. The new pathway joins 12

existing pathways that cover the broad range of areas of practice, including two specialisms within this sector – hydrographic surveying and land engineering. rics.org/associate

Conduct

7 JULYRICS Valuation – Professional Standards in the US This guidance note provides assistance to RICS members on the application of the RICS Valuation – Professional Standards (the Red Book) to valuations that have to be provided in compliance with US jurisdiction.

9 JULY Sports ground certification To assist practitioners in understanding the legislative framework by which reasonable levels of safety at sports grounds can be achieved. It will also be useful for the people involved in the process within local authorities and the associated services – for example, safety officers, event organisers, fire service, ambulance service and the police.

23 JULYReporting valuations in ItalyThis guidance note is to provide implementation guidance on the detailed content of some of the minimum terms of reporting as set out in the Red Book in VS 6.1 and Appendix 6.1, applicable to Italy. This guidance will be of particular relevance to valuations for purposes that fall within VS1.9 (additional reporting requirements for valuations in which the public has an interest,

or upon which third parties may rely), and for valuations for commercial secured lending purposes.

28 JULYEmbodied carbonAn information paper that stresses the importance of developing a methodological plan for measuring embodied carbon. It provides comparisons between the levels of embodied carbon within new build versus those in refurbishment. Calculation methodologies (including assessment boundaries), tools and data sources for measuring carbon are included, as well as a step-by-step guide on how to conduct an assessment during the design and material, and product manufacture, phases of a building project. rics.org/standards

OPEN FOR CONSULTATIONUNTIL 16 JULYFarm stocktaking valuations

UNTIL 23 JULYReal estate management standardsrics.org/standardsconsultations

Raising standards

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 49

the logo is intended to bleed off the top left hand corner of the page. the dots should line up withthe page edge, allow 3mm bleed and pull in the picture box to hide the dots.

We’re good at these. Not everyone has the luxury of taking time off to study, nor the funds to do so. Our specialist courses are designed to fi t around real lives, using proven distance learning methods.

We offer Diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Degrees are awarded by the University of Reading or the Open University and accredited by RICS, CIOB and other professional bodies.

• BSc(Hons) Building Services Quantity Surveying, Building Surveying, Construction Management, Estate Management, Property Management and Quantity Surveying

• Diploma in Construction Practice

• Diploma in Surveying Practice

• BCSC Diploma in Shopping Centre Management

• MBA Real Estate and Construction Management

• MSc Real Estate

• PGDip Adjudication

• PGDip Arbitration

• RICS PGDip Project Management

• PGDip/MSc Conservation of the Historic Environment

• PGDip/MSc Facilities Management

• PGDip/MSc Property Investment

• PGDip/MSc Surveying (Graduate Development Programme)

• RICS Professional Membership –APC Adaptation Route 1

To further your career call 0800 019 9697, email [email protected] or visit our website.

FLEXIBLE LEARNING SOLUTIONS

WWW.CEM.AC.UKBUILDING FUTURES


Go further with a Masters from the UK’s premier School of the Built EnvironmentFull-time, part-time and distance learning study options available. All assessment is by coursework.

Construction related Programmes:

MSc Quantity Surveying* – For aspiring new entrants

MSc Quantity Surveying (M&E)*

MSc Construction Management*

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MSc Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management* – Think strategically about property investment and building performance

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MSc Sustainable Building Design – Explore environmental sustainability and performance in relation to buildings, including the role of digital technologies

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MSc Accessibility and Inclusive Design – How to improvelife for all building users

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APPLY NOW for September 2012 or January 2013 start. PgCert and PgDip options available. We welcome applications from students without formal qualifications but significant relevant experience.* Professionally accredited

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Qualifications to build a careerHigh quality professionally accredited programmes delivered in a supportive and friendly environment.

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One-year full-time or two-year part-time study with September and January starts.

For further information:

Click: www.anglia.ac.uk/RICS12 Email: [email protected] Call: 0845 271 3333

Professional Doctorate and PhD programmes also available.

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These can be studied full or part-time.

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01.11 // MODUS 09

RICS & SPAB Building Conservation Summer School 9-13 September, Royal Agricultural College, CirencesterBringing together students, APC candidates and practitioners for unprecedented access to leading experts in this field. Delegates can attend a series of seminars and have access to a hands-on day learning about lime mortars, plastering and pointing. Various fees apply.rics.org/summerschool2012

RICS Dilapidations Forum Conference 27 September, LondonThis popular conference offers a comprehensive, high-level programme that will provide you with essential updates on the latest legal and technical issues in the field

of dilapidations.£195 + VATrics.org/dilapidations2012

RICS Environment, Minerals and Waste Autumn Conference4 October, Holiday Inn, Filton Road, BristolThis year’s annual conference for professionals involved in environment, minerals and waste is packed full of inspiring sessions on minerals and recycled markets, landfill values, commercial value and waste controls.£65 + VATrics.org/ewwconference

RICS Merseyside & Cheshire Annual Construction and Property Dinner5 October, Hilton Hotel, LiverpoolThis annual black-tie dinner welcomes members and non- members to network with fellow property professionals and entertain clients.£520 + VAT per table of 10rics.org/nwdinner2012

RICS South Yorkshire Local Association Dinner1 November, Baldwins Omega, Sheffield

meet professionals from across the industry. Enjoy a delicious meal and be entertained by snooker champion John Parrott who will be the after-dinner speaker.£105 + VAT rics.org/bsdinner2012

EUROPECorporate Real Estate Roundtables16 July, Madrid; 17 July, Barcelona; 14 August, Helsinki; tbc, Warsaw and Munich RICS is hosting roundtables to encourage members to comment on the factors that attract

or deter corporates from locating their commercial and industrial space in specific European cities. Discussions will be based on the findings of the RICS report on corporate real estate, presented at MIPIM in March, which focuses on nine global cities. The outcome will be a report that will be presented in the European Parliament in partnership with the Urban Intergroup in November. Free of charge (members only)Contact: [email protected]

EventsThis annual black-tie dinner welcomes members and non- members to network with fellow property professionals and entertain clients.£460 + VAT per table of 10rics.org/sydinner2012

RICS Building Surveying Annual Dinner29 November, May Fair Hotel, LondonNow well established as the social highlight of the building surveying calendar, this dinner is your opportunity to network with your building surveying counterparts and

FOR RICS EVENTS BOOKINGS AND ENQUIRIES [email protected] // +44 (0)20 7695 1600

RICS COBRA 2012 11–13 September, Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, Las Vegas

In partnership with the School of Construction, Arizona State University, RICS presents

the world’s leading annual construction, building and real estate research conference, dedicated to providing stimulating debate between researchers from around the world. US$550 (standard delegates); US $300 (doctorate students) Accommodation is US$69 (plus taxes, valid until 17 August)rics.org/cobra

ENGLANDRICS Wessex Briefing12 July, Intech, WinchesterThis annual one- day conference is a practical guide to all building surveying challenges and will include a keynote by energy expert Julian Brooks, who was noted by No. 10 for his excellence. Join other high- calibre speakers on the most topical concerns.rics.org/wessexbriefing

RICS Health and Safety Seminar17 July, ManchesterExploring Construction Design and Management Regulations and the duties they place on clients, designers and contractors, plus explore the issue of competence when carrying out a fire risk assessment.£150 + VAT rics.org/healthand safety2012

ONLINE LEARNINGRICS Web Classes offer an easy, interactive platform to undertake CPD. The sessions cover a range of topics, and allow delegates to listen to a presenter, ask questions and interact through various tools such as live polls and online chat. Web Classes are easy to attend – all you need is a PC in a quiet environment. Prices start from £20 + VAT per session.

Upcoming classes include: 11 September: External rendered and paint wall finishes on historic buildings12 September: Starting and managing a surveying practice (payments, invoices and taxes)13 September: APC landlord and tenant competency (T048)

2 October: Agricultural and rural property after Golding.

Some previous sessions are also now available to view on demand, including classes on rent review arbitration, transforming London Heathrow and the Red Book and International Valuation Standards. rics.org/onlineacademy

07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 51


EASTERNEric Desmond John Amor FRICS1923-2012, Bishop’s StortfordMichael John Goodsell FRICS1947-2012, CromerKenneth Victor Thomas Knott AssocRICS1928-2012, St AlbansHerbert Edward Lawrence FRICS1928-2012, IpswichMichael John Winter FRICS1932-2012, Cambridge

NORTH WESTFrederick H Appleby FRICS1927-2012, NorthwichDavid John Baldwin MRICS1961-2011, LancashireFrank Longden FRICS1921-2012, Knutsford

NORTH EAST Norman Wolff Levinson FRICS1928-2012, Ponteland

SOUTH EASTJeremy Stephen Bowyer FRICS1937-2012, ReadingAlfred David Bull MRICS1927-2012, SouthamptonGeoffrey Charles Burton FRICS1938-2012, South Croydon

Alan George Cox FRICS1926-2012, BrightonRobert George Folkard FRICS1914-2012, BerkhamstedGerald Harper Gearing FRICS1925-2012, EsherPeter Witheridge Grafton FRICS1916-2012, OxtedRichard A Horsey MRICS1921-2012, PurleyNorman Harvey Kudish FRICS1932-2011, NorthwoodReginald Frank Matta FRICS1925-2012, TonbridgeJames Henry Chisnell Welton FRICS1931-2011, Gerrards CrossStuart Charles Yalden Farmbrough FRICS1943-2012, Bedford

SOUTH WESTJohn Stanley Davis FRICS1919-2012, ChardRichard Edward James MRICS1966-2012, Tiverton Nicholas Vigar James FRICS1957-2012, RadstockDermott Harrison Kydd FRICS1928-2012, Dorchester

WEST MIDLANDSTimothy William Rake Elliott MRICS1941-2012, Stourport-on-Severn

Phillip James Gratton MRICS1965-2012, Shepton MalletJohn Christopher Higley MRICS1948-2012, CockermouthDonald Ridgwell Hunt MRICS1926-2012, Coventry

EAST MIDLANDSIain Milne Richardson FRICS1944-2011, BourneDavid Richmond FRICS1938-2012, MansfieldMichael John Henry Sawyer FRICS1939-2012, BostonAlan John Shelley FRICS1931-2012, OakhamStephen John Timpson FRICS1947-2012, Leicester

YORKSHIRE & HUMBERIan Richard Stubbs MRICS1945-2012, Hope ValleyMichael Charles Walker MRICS1942-2011, Leeds

WALESMalcolm David Thomas MRICS1948-2012, Carmarthen

IRELANDFrancis Brendan Walsh MRICS1955-2012, Carrick-on-Suir

Obituaries

Peter Grafton CBE PPRICS 1916-2012

Having qualified as a quantity surveyor in 1939, Peter joined GD Walford,

becoming a partner in 1949, and later senior partner. He remained with the firm

until his retirement in 1982. Peter also served as RICS President in 1978-79, and was awarded a CBE in 1972 for his services to the quantity surveying profession and the construction industry.

Within his work, Peter was always forward-thinking and encouraged innovation. He developed a new method of building- cost control at the design stage, and his natural leadership and decision-making abilities meant that he served as a member of many committees and councils including CIRIA (construction industry research and information association), the Quantity Surveyors Divisional Council (President 1968-69), the Research Advisory Council to the minister of housing and construction, the National Joint Consultative Committee for Building Industry (Chairman 1974) and the British Board of Agrement. He was also Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors in 1983-84 and was awarded the Building magazine award for best after-dinner speaker in 1980.

Away from the surveying world, Peter was a keen sportsman and excelled at rugby and golf. He was captain of the Chartered Surveyors Golfing Society in 1972, but his legacy will be as the founder of the Public Schools Old Boys Golf Association, a national golf competition (known as the Grafton Morrish) that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Peter served with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War, and a brief foray into politics saw him stand as the Liberal Party candidate for Bromley during the 1950 general election, losing to none other than Harold Macmillan.

Despite these commitments Peter was, first and foremost, a family man. He had four children from his first marriage with his wife, Joan, who died in 1969. He later remarried and had two sons with his second wife, Margaret. He passed away peacefully at home on 20 May 2012 with his family by his side.

ASEANDavid John Lawrence FRICS1946-2012, Singapore

NORTH AMERICAArnold Samuel Tesh FRICS1942-2012, Washington DC

NORTH ASIAPo Cheung Peter Lee MRICS1961-2012, Hong Kong

OCEANIARaymond Victor James Coney FRICS1926-2012, Inglewood

Peter Arthur Crowdy MRICS1926-2012, OceaniaGeorge Stanley Wynn FRICS1932-2012, Oceania

In the June edition of Modus we published an obituary listing for Geoffrey Michael Prout FRICS of Welling, South East London. We have since been notified that this was incorrect, and on behalf of RICS staff and Governing Council we would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Mr Prout and his family.

52 r ics.org

RICS news//


07.12 // 08.12 // MODUS 53

Please Reply in confidence to [email protected]

In line with recent success, Vickery Holman Property Consultants have the opportunity to development their Building Surveying team in Devon.

This requires a Surveyor with an ability to develop a workload across the county. Working with local Directors and support of a large well-established Building Surveying team across Devon and Cornwall. The Surveyor should be knowledgeable of the market place or have the ability to establish themselves and build within the wider market.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. Aristotle

92,028 average net circulation 1st July 2010 – 20th June 2011

The Sept issue will be published on 7 Sept

Recruitment copy deadline Tuesday 14 August

RECRUITMENTFor recruitment advertising please contact Angus Sharpe +44 (0)20 7871 2667 [email protected] or Charlotte Turner +44 (0)20 7871 5734 [email protected]

Durham Cathedral has been described as ‘one of the great architectural experiences of Europe’ and is renowned as a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture.

�e Chapter of Durham Cathedral wishes to appoint a Cathedral Architect to be its principal professional adviser on all ma�ers relating to the fabric of the Cathedral, its structure, contents, furnishings and its se�ing. �is includes aesthetic issues, and how the physicality of the building supports the mission of this great Cathedral Church.

�is is an exciting time for Durham Cathedral with the �rst phase of its Open Treasure project underway which will ultimately provide much improved visitor and access facilities alongside exciting exhibition spaces in the claustral buildings.

�e successful applicant will be a Registered Architect or a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

who is quali�ed as a Chartered Building Surveyor. He or she will have an understanding and genuine enthusiasm for complex historic and ecclesiastical buildings together with the ability to work creatively with the Chapter to enhance the Cathedral’s ministry of welcome to all through innovative architectural solutions.

Durham Cathedral aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

A detailed information pack for this vacancy together with an application form can be downloaded from www.durhamcathedral.co.uk

Or contact John Holmes, Head of Property on 0191 374 4077 for a general discussion.

Completed applications should be received by 5.00pm on Tuesday 31 July 2012.

Vacancy Durham Cathedral Architect

ONE CALL COVERS ALL...RESIDENTIAL VALUATION SURVEYORS REQUIRED.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS (PERMANENT AND ZERO HOUR POSITIONS)

For 17 years MLA has specialised in the Resi Valuation sector, recruiting for most of the UK’s leading employers. We are updated with all the industry’s latest vacancy requirements.

There are excellent opportunities in many locations, particularly: all areas of Greater London and around the M25, the Home Counties, M4 corridor, Milton Keynes/Luton, Bristol, Swindon, S.Wales, Kent, Surrey, S.Hants, S.Dorset, Berks, Beds, Oxon, Glos, Lancs, Cumbria & Scotland.

You will be experienced in undertaking mortgage valuations and homebuyer reports (ideally building surveys). Generous packages are available.

For details of all the jobs available in your area, please call Jeff Johnson on 07940 594093. Or email your CV in confidence: [email protected]

If your location is not shown, register now to be kept advised of new opportunities.

See all MLA’s latest job listings on ricsrecruit.com


Capital and Cost Investment ManagerCompetitive + excellent benefits (inc car) | Central Manchester | Ref: C13925

There are exciting times ahead for The Co-operative Group. Our pioneering and ethical family of businesses is growing and investing in a wide range of commercial areas. And you will play a vital part in our future as you lead our strategic investment plans and take contract management and budgetary control of various investment projects.

A strong commercial manager, you’ll be accountable for £250m capital budget and ensure we’re getting the best return on investment from every penny we spend. Leading the creation of our three-year investment plan, you’ll manage budgets, direct strategic investment forecasting, identify areas where we can make cost-savings and develop opportunities for value engineering. You’ll also really inspire and motivate your team, by encouraging them to look for ways to develop their potential, personally and professionally within our learning culture. In return, we’ll do the same for you.

Excellent commercial and financial awareness are of course a pre-requisite of the role, and experience of negotiating with suppliers, would be very useful.

You’ll also need a highly strategic and results focused approach and the ability to prepare capital and revenue budgets. With the confidence to influence at a senior level, you’ll have proven knowledge of managing multi-site retail, facilities management and capital investment and ideally a QS background.

To apply visit www.co-operative.jobs and enter ref: C13925.The Co-operative Group reserves the right to cease any advertising prior to the published closing date for a role that receives a high number of applications

We are passionate about equal opportunities and welcome a broad diversity of talent to apply.

Adding value to life

54 r ics.org

Self motivated experienced surveyors wanted to run and develop their own territory under the MAP brand.Why not put our 30 years expertise behind you?Take control of your life and show your quality. Get the rewards you deserve.You will be experienced in Homebuyers and Building Survey reports as well as Valuations and above all you will want to develop a personal business model within our highly professional established structure.Now is the time to take that step you have been dreaming of.We are looking for expertise in North, North West and West London as well as Middlesex, Herts, Sussex, Surrey & Essex.

STILL ON THE VALUER TREADMILL?

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE.

Email for details: [email protected] [email protected]

www.mapsurveyors.co.uk

NCS Property ConsultantsNCS is a vibrant, expanding building, projects and sustainability consultancy with a portfolio of high-profi le commercial property clients nationwide that provides pre-acquisition surveys, dilapidations, project management and contract administration services. We are looking to recruit the following staff with commercial experience:

Senior/Associate Building SurveyorBirmingham – competitive salary + benefi ts3-5 years PQE with experience of a wide range of commercial property matters, particularly dilapidations and contract administration. The ideal client will have strong business development and client-facing skills.

Building SurveyorBirmingham – competitive salary + benefi ts1 year + PQE with good general commercial building surveying experience, including CAD skills. Please email CVs in confi dence to [email protected] or call for an informal discussion on 0121 259 0370No agencies please.

MODUS_July-Aug_P54-57_Classified.v1.indd 54 26/06/2012 10:46

07.12 // 08.12 MODUS 55

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

EG - Filler Ad June 11 116x180[1].pdf 1 14/06/2012 09:49

At e.surv Chartered Surveyors we understand that it takes all kinds of people to make a successful business, and our team is as diverse as our customer base. One thing is consistent, and that is our approach to providing customers with outstanding levels of service. e.surv Chartered Surveyors is the UK’s largest distributor of valuation instructions. Our business is growing, and as it does we need to employ high calibre, passionate people to grow with us. We are currently recruiting for M/FRICS/Assoc RICS qualified valuers and Chartered Building Surveyors to work across both our private and lender client-base.

We are looking for additional full and part time professional people in London (all areas) along with Aylesbury, Cambridge, Cardiff, Epsom, Guildford, Haslemere, Hastings, Kingston, Luton, Northampton, Stoneleigh and Woking.

When you join e.surv you’re guaranteed:

• Excellent rewards including a first class salary, pension plan and holiday entitlement

• Help and advice to further your own continuous professional development

• A supportive working environment with open and honest communication

We’d love to hear from you.Send your CV and covering letter to [email protected] or call us on 01636 610555

National Operations Centre, Lahnstein House, Gold Street, Kettering, NN16 8AP

Join the UK’s largest distributor of survey and valuation servicesM/FRICS/Assoc RICS qualified Valuers & Chartered Building Surveyors

Part of the LSL Property Services plc Group Visit www.esurv.co.uk to find out more about us

Recruitment//


56 r ics.org

To view more jobs online visit ricsrecruit.com

Estates BursarSalary according to experience and qualificationsClosing date: Monday 13th August 2012

Applications are invited for this senior position, which becomes vacant from mid-November 2012 on the retirement, after 20 years, of the current incumbent.

This leading independent day and boarding school, established in 1557, occupies a 72-acre site in the centre of Brentwood. Its extensive playing fields and buildings range from Grade II Listed original buildings to a recently-designed 6th Form Centre and comprise residential properties, sports amenities and outstanding academic facilities.

As a member of the Bursar’s Senior Team and the School’s Health and Safety Committee, you will be responsible for the maintenance of the entire campus, including the gardens; purchasing furniture, fittings & equipment; management of the 32 in-house sta�, including porters and the maintenance team; responsibility for the provision of all services to the campus; the rolling maintenance, repair and renewal programme; overseeing an annual £2m budget; all building projects, planning & building regulation applications; and relationships with our professional advisers and contractors.

Your qualification will be either MRICS or MIOB. You will be experienced at senior management level, have excellent leadership and communication skills, and combine financial awareness, strategic planning and an ability to deliver value for money results. Other skills will include ability to negotiate with contractors and suppliers, and work in a very busy and enthusiastic environment where quality, high standards and pride in presentation are paramount.

Further information and an application pack can be obtained by emailing Julie Page, the School’s HR representative, at: [email protected] (Tel: 077761 35350).

Brentwood School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Criminal Records Bureau.

Is it time to renew your career?Randstad CPE is a leading recruiter for the renewable energy sector. With specialist consultants working solely in this dynamic division, we are ideally placed to assist you in �nding you your next career move.

Our coverage extends through onshore and o�shore wind, wave and tidal power, photovoltaics, hydro and biomass, recruiting technical and professional sta� at all levels.

For more information, visit us at www.randstad.com/engineering or call us on 0800 169 0863

MODUS_Candidate.indd 1 19/06/2012 10:31:29

RESIDENTIAL VALUATION, HOMEBUYER AND BUILDING SURVEYOR

Opportunity for contract surveyors/consultants to joina nationwide firm of surveyors. Opportunities exist in specific postcodes throughout England and Wales.

Please forward your CV and contact details by email to:[email protected]

Estates Building Surveyor North of England Competitive + Benefi ts Ref55280

Join Bupa in this multi-estate management role, and you’ll play a real part in improving our residents’ quality of life in around 30 care homes.

TO VIEW AND APPLY for this role please visit ricsrecruit.com and enter the reference 55280

ricsrecruit.com


Connells Survey & Valuation is a leading provider of Valuation Panel Management and Chartered Surveying services throughout the United Kingdom.

Despite the challenging market, we have handled in excess of 1m transactions over the last few years, and our Company is continuing to grow.

As a result of winning a number of major new Lender contracts, combined with significant Private client opportunities, we are now looking to recruit additional experienced Residential Surveyors throughout the country including:

West London - South East London – Bristol – Newbury/South Oxfordshire - Brighton/East Sussex – Southampton/Bournemouth – Wirral – Aberdeen – Glasgow – Derby – Northampton – Aberdeen - East Kilbride - North Birmingham – Derbyshire – Wakefield – Norfolk - Mansfield/Nottinghamshire.

We are also seeking an Area Surveying Director to join the management team in the South Oxfordshire and Bournemouth areas.

If you believe you possess the right skills and experience, whether as an employed Surveyor or consultant, and are keen to benefit from joining us at this key time, then we want to hear from you.

In addition to offering a leading remuneration package, these roles deliver an unparalleled opportunity to fulfil your potential.

For further details please contact: Tim Jones on 0208 336 1614 or email [email protected]

www.connells.co.uk

Our credentials are second to none and pivotal to our success is our passion for delivering quality service. In addition to carrying out large volume mortgage valuations, our diverse client base means we deliver a full range of residential survey and valuation services. Our unique ownership, combined with a highly regarded and sustainable model, point to an exciting future.

Residential SurveyorsCompetitive Salary + Bonus + Company Car

Area DirectorCompetitive Salary + Bonus + Company Car

Please email curriculum vitae to: Patricia Kerr, Managing Director

Kerr Ingram Executive Search and SelectionEmail: [email protected] Telephone 020 7734 7881 Website: www.kerr-ingram.com

My client is a highly respected and well established, private partnership, with commercial property management as its core service. The company is a trusted advisor and very much part of the property team of a number of the leading property companies in the UK. The business has grown consistently and today manages a varied and extensive portfolio.

Due to this continued growth, my client is looking to appoint an Associate Director to take up the reigns of some of these instructions and ensure the company continues to provide an excellent service to their clients. This is an outstanding opportunity for a bright and ambitious surveyor who wishes to advance their career, within a thriving business. The following attributes are therefore essential:

Qualified MRICS, 5-10 years all round property experience with the emphasis on property management (preferably within the retail field), excellent verbal and written communication skills, IT knowledge in the production of cash flows (Excel and Tramps ideally), market awareness and strong commercial instincts, excellent presentational and organisational skills.

We are looking for a very special person for this new position as they will be part of the future management line of this business. Only those candidates with relevant experience, strong personal values, good team skills and a genuine ‘can do’ attitude will be shortlisted for this role.

Competitive remuneration package and other benefits. Excellent career prospects.

All inquiries and applications will be treated in strict confidence

Property Management SurveyorAssociate Director: Central London

07.12 // 08.12 MODUS 57

Recruitment//


200mIn 2009, 18m containers made more

than 200m trips around the world.

120,000

The number of people directly

employed by shipyards (civil and naval,

new building and repair) in the EU.

x 4Total seaborne tra

de estimates

quadrupled, from 8,000bn

tonne-miles in 1968

to 32,000bn tonne-

miles in 2008.

397.7mThe length of th

e

sister ships Emma,

Estelle, Elly, Eleonora,

Evelyn, Eugen, Ebba

and Edith of the Maersk

Line. As the world’s

largest container

ships, each has a

maximum capacity of

15,500 TEUs.

1 Shanghai, China

29,069 TEUs

2 Singapore

28,431 TEUs

3 Hong Kong

23,699 TEUs

4 Shenzhen, China

22,510 TEUs

5 Busan, South Korea

14,194 TEUs

35 Felixstowe, UK

3,300 TEUs

WORLD’S BUSIEST CONTAINER PORTS (2010; TEU = 1,000 x 20-foot equivalent units)

GLOBAL COMMERCIAL SHIPS (2010)

Container ships 4,831

Longest shipping canals

1 Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, China 1,930km

2 Eerie Canal, US 584km

3 Gota Canal, Sweden 382km

4 St Lawrence Seaway, Canada-US 290km

5 Canal du Midi, France 240kmUS$5.25bn

Estimated cost of the Panama Canal Expansion

project, which will double the canal’s capacity by 2014.

Typical ocean freight costs (Asia-US)

Retail cost Transport cost

TV set US$700 US$10

Vacuum cleaner US$150 US$1

1kg of coffee US$15

US$0.15

1 can of beer US$1

US$0.01

Bulk carriers 8,687

Tankers 13,175Passenger ships 6,597

General cargo ships 16,224TOTAL SHIPPING: 50,054

SOURCES: canalworld.net,

ec.europa.eu, marineinsight.com,

marisec.org, nce.co.uk, wikipedia.org, worldport

development.com

58 rics.org

Illustration by Ian Dutnall

Measure//

ALL AT SEA PORTS AND GLOBAL SHIPPING STATISTICS

MODUS_July-Aug_P58_Measure_v2.indd 58 25/06/2012 16:18

“ WHEN WE RECOMMEND

A CONTRACTOR FOR A

PROJECT, WE NEED TO BE

ABSOLUTELY SURE THEY

ARE RIGHT FOR THE JOB”Jim Rowland, Director, Jones Lang LaSalle

ECA electrical contractors are periodically assessed to ensure their technical competence

ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT.

To find an ECA contractor that’s right for you: www.eca.co.uk

ECA faces 274x202.indd 3 13/01/2012 11:35MODUS_July-Aug_P59_Ad_ECA.indd 8 22/06/2012 10:55

Portfolios • Buy to Let • Unoccupied

Blocks of Flats • Multiple Tenure • Commercial Property

If you are a Property Owner, Mortgage Broker, Estate AgentFinance Broker or Solicitor talk to us today about your business.

Buy online now atwww.propertyquotedirect.co.uk

or call us on 0800 515 381

Maximiseyour profits!

Landlords Insurance Specialist

MODUS_July-Aug_P60_Ad_Bedford.indd 8 22/06/2012 10:56

Documents

RICS Modus, Global edition — July–August 2012