Blogs

Community Spotlight - Bernard White FRICS

By David Enikanoselu posted 16 days ago
1. Introduction: I was born in the Peak District of Derbyshire and attended New Mills Grammar School. On leaving school I had two quite different ambitions. One was to apply for a job at the Ordnance Survey in Surrey, the other, to be a professional cyclist. Surrey was a long way from home in those days and whilst I was a decent rider, a mate who was a professional cyclist eventually talked me into getting a career first. As a result, Plan C, and I applied for and got a surveying job in Manchester and with it, the company said they would support my professional development. True to their word and after 2 years at night school (3 hours a night for 3 days ...

Community Spotlight - Isabella Sullivan MRICS

By David Enikanoselu posted 16 days ago
LinkedIn profile: Isabella Sullivan MRICS | LinkedIn About Isabella Sullivan MRICS Isabella Sullivan MRICS is a Senior Quantity Surveyor with over eight years' experience in the construction industry. Her route into surveying was not a traditional one. After completing a degree in English, she joined NG Bailey (a Mechanical and Engineering company) and accidentally discovered a passion for construction. Now established in the profession, Isabella is passionate about giving back to the industry. She currently serves as Chair of RICS Matrics Bristol and is working alongside fellow committee member Sophie Devonald to establish an outreach initiative ...

Community Spotlight - Michael Cooper

By David Enikanoselu posted 16 days ago
LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/coopersbuildingsurveyors/ About Michael Cooper: Michael Cooper is a director of Cooper’s Building Surveyors limited based in London / Kent, he is a fellow of the RICS and specialises in party wall legislation and neighbourly dispute resolution. Michael can be regarded as a leading expert in this field, and he is the co-chair of the boundaries and party wall panel of the RICS and chair of the working group responsible for the RICS party wall guides. He also writes on ISURV, for which he contributes updates on the ‘Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992’. He is a fellow of, and National Chair of the Pyramus and ...

President's Spotlight - Laura Moore-Gwyn

By Mark Lee posted 17-03-2026
Member Testimonial With 15 years of experience at CBRE, having started as a graduate in 2011, Laura specialises in advising occupiers on their London office strategies, including "stay versus go" decisions. Her expertise lies in understanding how corporations leverage office space to attract and retain talent, strategically utilise workplace solutions to optimise their London footprint and how to secure best-in-class real estate in a competitive and tight market. Recent achievements include: Successfully advising Gibson Dunn & Crutcher on their 154,000 sq ft headquarters relocation to One Exchange Square, securing a 50,500 sq ft pre-let for AI firm ...

President's Spotlight - Lucy Mantle

By Mark Lee posted 17-03-2026
Member Testimonial Lucy is a residential valuer at Carter Jonas' London office and as well as excelling in her day job, she has gone over and above in supporting graduates at the firm. She has mentored them through their APC, making sure they have the right experience to pass their assessment, managed their rotations and worked with our HR department to ensure we have the right processes and protocols internally to support them. We are very grateful for her commitment to the business and to our young talent.

President’s Spotlight - Toby Osbourn

By Mark Lee posted 17-03-2026
Member testimonial Toby has made a dramatic difference to the UK property world, championing Apprenticeships and broadening diversity of access to the industry. Toby joined Newmark straight from school over eight years ago, growing through their Apprentice Programme to become an Associate in the business today. He is deeply respected not only as a consummate RICS professional, operating at the highest standard across his work, but also as a champion for change. Toby has materially altered attitudes to apprentice intake, acting relentlessly to boost social mobility across the industry. He has led Newmark’s Schools Outreach programme, raising awareness ...

President's Spotlight - Claire Hood

By Mark Lee posted 17-03-2026
Member Testimonial Claire has sat on the Dilapidations Working Group and helped plan the RICS Dilapidations Conference over the last decade, culminating in her Chairing the event in 2025. The Conference has seen evolutions across this time, including significant increases in attendance, a switch to online during Covid, a specially tailored Scottish Dilapidations Conference, and special sessions tailored to new entrants to the world of dilapidations. Claire continues to support both RICS staff and speakers to refine the programme to great effect. The wider Savills dilapidations team has also contributed significantly, with Martin Heffron previously having ...

Meet Learie

By Matt Wyatt posted 06-01-2026
Learie Gonsalves is a fellow member of RICS with over 30 years’ experience in the industry working as a Building Surveyor, Contract Administrator, Project Manager and as an Architectural Technician. Learie also a director of One Building Solution Ltd in Leicester with his wife Nicola. Let's meet Learie . “Your background does not define your potential—your determination does. The industry may not always reflect the diversity we want to see, but it’s getting better and by stepping forward, you can be the change. Seek out opportunities, embrace challenges, and always aim to lift others as you rise. Through perseverance, curiosity, and hard work, you’ll discover ...

Community Spotlight: Cartier Charles

By Mark Lee posted 05-06-2025
Cartier Charles MRICS is a Capital Programme Surveyor at Oxford City Council and an Inspire Ambassador Representation is not just important, it is powerful. And because of the women who have paved the way, I walk into rooms now knowing that I belong there too. Surveying presents an intriguing and varied career journey, so what led you to focus on commercial surveying? I chose to focus on commercial surveying because it’s rooted in general practice, which means I’m not limited to just one area of the profession. It gives me the freedom to be involved in different stages of the property lifecycle and to contribute across the built environment in a ...

Community Tech Tips : Mobile optimisation

By Mark Lee posted 05-03-2025
Welcome to our next Community Tech Tip, where we’ll take a quick look at how you can access myRICS community on a mobile device. The updated site is optimised for mobile performance, making it easier than ever to keep up to date with the community on the go. All you need to do is visit community.rics.org on your mobile browser and log in exactly the same way as you do on a laptop or desktop computer. When you access the site on mobile the My Groups Quick List, Hot Topic and My Followed Content panels will be hidden to make the News Feed more accessible. The News Feed will scroll continuously just as it does on your computer, but if you ...

Meet Bethany

By Matt Wyatt posted 05-03-2025
Bethany is a Mineral Surveyor at Wardell Armstrong, she is a chartered member of RICS after passing her APC in December 2023. Let's meet Bethany The role of a mineral surveyor is relatively unknown to the outside world but within the minerals industry we play a vital and well-known role. Mineral surveyors have been integral to the quarrying and mining sector for as long as we have been commercially extracting minerals from the Earth. Surveying presents an intriguing and varied career journey, so what led you to focus on mineral surveying? There are so many interesting career paths within the world of surveying. My journey started from a young age ...

Meet Anil

By Matt Wyatt posted 14-01-2025
Anil Singh Rana FRICS, Associate Director at Gardiner & Theobald, founder of Constructing Professional Development (CPD) and RICS Global Ambassador having mentored 151 MRICS and and 7 FRICS in 18 countries spanning 5 continents as a way of “Giving Back” to the profession. Let’s meet Anil Singh. You can keep up to date with all Anil's achievements and his giving back journey on his YouTube channel here Being a counsellor for me is a way of “Giving Back” about what I have learned and what others have taught me directly or indirectly. I have always wanted to help people but never thought I will mentor RICS candidates on such a global scale but more ...

Meet Sian

By Matt Wyatt posted 04-12-2024
Sian Cornwell-Shaw MRICS is a Senior Surveyor at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and is also a RICS Stem Inspire Ambassador. Let's meet Sian. I love being a RICS STEM Inspire Ambassador and working with teachers and schools and the RICS early engagement team. I have set up a forum for all the Welsh RICS STEM Inspire Ambassadors which commences in January to share our experiences and hopefully encourage more members to sign up to be ambassadors. Surveying presents an intriguing and varied career journey. What motivated you to concentrate on property in particular? I grew up on a farm so was very familiar with land and property and ...

Community Tech Tips : Following Content

By Mark Lee posted 03-12-2024
Welcome to our next Community Tech Tip, where we’ll take a closer look at following content on myRICS community and how it can help you keep track of what's happening. Whenever you create a new thread , respond to an existing post or upload a Library entry , you are automatically set to follow it, ensuring that you receive updates and notifications about any further activity or replies. You can see if you're following a piece of content when the star at the top right is solid blue, and you can also manually follow content that you haven't interacted with by clicking this star when it's white. You can keep track of the most recent items you've ...

Community Tech Tips : Groups

By Mark Lee posted 31-10-2024
Welcome to our next Community Tech Tip, where we’ll take a closer look at the Groups on myRICS community and how you can use them to create a more personalised experience that's relevant to you. When you first sign up for myRICS community you will automatically be added to the Members Lounge group if you’re a Qualified Member or candidate. This group serves as a space for all members and candidates to share their thoughts, ideas, and connect with each other– if you’re having trouble accessing it please get in touch with the Community Team. This is a great place to start a conversation if you’re new or just unsure where it fits, but as you get more familiar ...

Community Tech Tips : Your profile

By Mark Lee posted 11-10-2024
Welcome to our next Community Tech Tip, where we’ll take a closer look at changes to your profile settings and how useful they can be to you and your presence on the community. Your Privacy Settings determine how much of your personal information is visible to fellow community members. The more information you share the easier it is for people to network and connect with you so try to find the right balance that works for you. You also have the option to opt out of appearing in the user directory if you wish to do so. You can learn more about your privacy settings here Sharing your Specialisms , specific skills or focus areas, can help you find, ...

Community Tech Tips: The News Feed

By Mark Lee posted 01-10-2024
Welcome to the first of our articles introducing you to the new and improved myRICS community, bringing a better user experience to our members. First up, we have the News Feed , the engine room of myRICS community 2.0! The News Feed consolidates all your content into a single, easy-to-navigate space. It takes the place of the recent activity panel on the homepage and features continuous scrolling for effortless browsing. By default the News Feed is set to feature all the content that’s available to you, which means all the following from the groups you’ve joined. Announcements Blogs Discussions Events Library Entries Questions ...

Meet John

By Matt Wyatt posted 24-09-2024
John has 37+ years in Private Practice Building Surveying & Architecture. Commercial Property & Development. Based in York and mainly working in Yorkshire, John also works with property elsewhere in the UK as well as mainland Europe. Let's meet John Choose a career in Surveying and you choose your own path and can specialise in whatever suits you best. Surveying is an interesting and varied career. What made you decide to specialise in building surveying At school I was good at Art, Geography, Maths, CDT and tech drawing but focused too much on beer & girls in 6th form and messed up my A levels missing out on the university ...

Community Spotlight: meet Jordan

By Matt Wyatt posted 22-08-2024
Jordan George MRICS is a Plymouth Based Chartered Building Surveyor for the Bailey Partnership and is also a Matrics Committee Member and a tree planting volunteer! Let’s meet Jordan : It keeps me on my toes, broadens my knowledge and keeps me interested in what work is coming in. Surveying is an interesting and varied career, can you tell us why you decided to specialise in building surveying ? I’ve always been interested in construction, from my fascination with diggers when I was a toddler to Lego when I was a child, so after my GCSEs had applied for a BTEC at my local college in Architecture, Surveying and the Built Environment whilst working ...

Community Spotlight: meet Campbell

By Matt Wyatt posted 03-06-2024
Our next community spotlight falls on Campbell Ferguson FRICS. Campbell is a chartered building surveyor who has been operating in Spain for many years and has some great insights for those looking to relocate abroad. Let's learn more about him : Benefitting from keeping an open mind and interest in what’s happening is the joy of the profession Surveying is an interesting and varied career, can you tell us why you decided to specialise in building surveying and why you chose to practice in Spain (apart from the weather of course!) ? When I qualified as a Land Economist and ARICS in Glasgow way back in 1973, I did so as a general practise ...