The Intermediary – September 2025 - Flipbook - Page 52
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
he surveying profession
finds itself at a critical
juncture. On one side
lies an unprecedented
surge in regulatory
scrutiny, safety
expectations, and retrofit demand.
On the other, a chronic mismatch in
workforce availability is threatening
to stall progress. The popular narrative
says we’re facing a surveyor shortage.
While there’s truth to that, it isn’t the
whole story.
The Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS) estimates that while
the UK has around 100,000 chartered
members, demand outstrips supply by
roughly 20,000.
To focus solely on workforce
numbers is to misdiagnose the
problem. The real boleneck
isn’t people, it’s evidence. More
precisely, the absence of evidenceready inspections and reports that
can accelerate decision-making,
streamline regulatory submissions,
and reduce costly rework.
T
A shifting landscape
The challenges facing the UK’s
surveying and construction ecosystem
are both structural and systemic.
According to recent RICS data,
infrastructure may be the one relative
bright spot in terms of projected
growth, but across the wider
market, project pipelines are being
squeezed. Regulatory complexity,
planning delays, and labour shortages
continue to dominate conversations.
Digging deeper into the data, however,
reveals nuance. The oen-cited
decline in the number of surveyors,
drawn from Office for National
Statistics (ONS) business demography
statistics, doesn’t directly measure
qualified professionals, it measures
enterprises.
When firms consolidate, merge,
or evolve into multidisciplinary
entities, it can look like the profession
is shrinking, even if the boots on the
ground haven’t changed.
If we conflate business consolidation
with a talent exodus, we risk designing
the wrong solutions.
What is undeniable, however, is the
demographic challenge. The average
UK surveyor is around 55, according
to RICS, and many are approaching
retirement. Without new entrants
and digital enablement, the sector
risks losing capacity faster than it can
replace it.
RICS found that 47% of firms
identified surveyors as the most
acute skills gap across the built
environment.
Even if the headcount holds steady,
the nature of surveying work has
transformed dramatically. The
introduction of the Golden Thread,
PAS 9980:2022 for fire risk appraisals,
SIÂN HEMMINGMETCALFE
is operations director
at Property Inspect
and PAS 2035:2023 for domestic
retrofit, has ushered in a new era
of evidence-based accountability.
Surveyors are now not only expected
to provide expert judgement, but to
do so backed by accessible, traceable,
submission-ready data consistently
and at scale.
The profession is now being asked
to shape this shi formally: RICS has
