Today marks the beginning of a new streamlined structure of governance at RICS. In a world where trust is being eroded, our new boards will further enhance public trust by introducing more diverse and global expertise, alongside increased independent-led oversight of our standards and their enforcement. We believe these changes are further evidence that RICS and the profession is doing everything it can to live up to its 150-year-old Royal Charter to advance the public interest in all that it does. The governance changes are part of a package of reforms voted on by the profession in 2018 which aim to advance societal trust, positioning the body to draw more effectively on the leadership and strategic oversight required to shape a forward-looking agenda for the profession. A new Governing Council is announced today, and RICS welcomes the new professionals who have been elected with record turnout across 12 regions globally. Governing Council, RICS’ highest level governance body, also includes individuals bringing expertise from six strategic areas of the profession as well as the ambassadorial positions of RICS President, President-Elect and Senior Vice-President.  The governance modernisation has also established a new Standards and Regulation Board, with its Chair and the majority of its members being independent from the profession to provider greater confidence in our assurance regime. This Board will provide assurance across all RICS standards and how they are enforced globally.  Under the reforms, the previous Conduct and Appeals Committee has been renamed the RICS Regulatory Tribunal to better reflect its important role in holding the profession to account for operating to the highest standards that society would expect. Sean Tompkins, Chief Executive Officer at RICS commented: “These reforms, endorsed by the profession, directly respond to the need for us to evolve our governance structures to continue to retain high levels of public trust and confidence in our profession and in RICS as a global professional body. “Our profession is at the forefront of some of the biggest challenges facing the world and our next generations – from the need to consider climate change in all that we do, through to embracing digitisation, and responding to a rising population and the pressures this brings for our cities and natural resources. “The strategic oversight our governance bodies provide is critical to ensuring RICS can continue to deliver confidence and lead positive change in the built and natural environment. “I welcome all the new board members to our governance bodies from both within and outside of our profession. Their experience and leadership will be invaluable – both to the way we continue to qualify professionals, in ensuring we set and enforce the highest standards, as well as offering the thought leadership needed to tackle the major challenges that our next generations will face.”

In a statement issued on 9 December, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has confirmed its support for Build UK’s Roadmap to Zero Retentions and encouraged industry to implement the new minimum standards when using cash retentions. The CLC’s support marks another significant milestone for the roadmap, which sets out specific actions in a phased approach for the construction industry to achieve zero retentions. Recent milestones delivered as part of the roadmap include publication of the retention policies of major public sector clients in November to provide increased transparency. This followed publication of the Minimum Standards on Retentions in July which aim to reduce the existing challenges with cash retentions. The CLC has urged construction firms and clients to adopt the minimum standards, which incorporate and build on the CLC’s commitment to abolish cash retentions. FIS chief executive said: “It is encouraging to see a unified approach, but I want to see a foot on the gas here.  We’ve had enough of backstops and a backstop of 2025 is too far away, let’s rally and get this done by 2023.  Retentions are an archaic way to manage quality and no longer fit for purpose.  They undermine a positive culture and on balance I believe they contribute to the problem that they were designed to solve.  Sadly I think we all know that and truth be told, all they are is a hangover of credit issues within the sector.  So let’s get shot by 2023 at the latest, but also recognise that this is not the only place where the supply chain needs to improve in terms of payment.  We still do the variations dance at the end of virtually every contract and use delay tactics to avoid paying til the last possible moment (sometimes sadly a moment too late for some companies), these are the shackles that hold this great sector back and contribute to stress and tension in the supply chain” Andy Mitchell, Co-Chair of the CLC, said: “The CLC believes that adopting the minimum standards will enable the industry to make progress towards the objective of achieving zero cash retentions by 2025. It will demonstrate commitment to the supply chain, whilst allowing the industry and its clients to adapt and improve standards of quality. Therefore, the CLC urges firms within the industry and construction clients, in both the public and private sectors, to support the roadmap and adopt the minimum standards, as a pragmatic means of improving prompt and fair payment practices and helping to create a stronger and more sustainable industry.” Jo Fautley, Deputy Chief Executive of Build UK, said: “It is encouraging to receive the endorsement of the CLC for the work that we are doing to move towards zero retentions as part of our roadmap. Achieving zero retentions is a vital part of becoming a more collaborative and efficient sector, and our roadmap sets out practicable steps for the industry to implement as we move towards this goal.”

Research has revealed matching the cost of planned Palace of Westminster repairs could dramatically reduce the UK housing deficit. Data examined by property finance specialists Pure Commercial Finance revealed for £4 billion – the estimated cost of essential repairs in Westminster – over 40,000 new properties could be built, housing almost 121,000 people (three people/property). Government figures reveal 430,000 affordable homes have been built since 2010, but housing charity Shelter estimates a deficit of 3.2m homes and states there are around 320,000 homeless people in the UK – 170,000 in London alone. Using internal data, Pure Commercial Finance calculated that the average 3-bedroom home in the UK costs £99,842.75 to build, meaning the Houses of Parliament budget, if matched, could house over a third of the UK’s rough sleepers (37.5%), or 71% of the capital’s homeless. The chart below shows the number of cities that could be completely rebuilt with £4bn worth of government funding*. *Based on three people per household. Due to lower population sizes, you could rehome the below cities, under the same principles, almost four times over. City 2019 Population Winsford 30259 Pontypridd 30420 Wishaw 30510 Deal 30555 Beverley 30587 Burgess Hill 30635 Saint Neots 30811 Ruislip 31000 Caerphilly 31060 Aberdare 31135 Thornton-Cleveleys 31157 Rutherglen 31180 Spalding 31588 Barnstaple 31616 Chichester 31654 Ben Lloyd, Managing Director and Co-founder of Pure Commercial Finance, said: “As development finance specialists, we deal with professional developers every day and are well-aware of the demand for affordable housing across the UK and the influence Brexit is having on borrowing. “Although we would never suggest cancelling the refurbishment of such a prized national monument, we were shocked to see how matching the refurbishment budget could help towards solving the deficit. “We placed millions of pounds of commercial property finance last year and will continue to ease the affordability and process of building across the UK for the foreseeable.” Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, stated: “It’s unforgivable that 320,000 people in Britain have been swept up by the housing crisis and now have no place to call home. These new figures show that homelessness is having a devastating impact on the lives of people right across the country.”

Design Council welcomes the interim report from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The interim report saw Commissioners present a summary of key findings. Design Council is pleased the report reflects many of the positions submitted in its evidence to the government earlier this year. In particular the emphasis on: –       place making over house building –       community empowerment  –       the importance of sustainability and green infrastructure –       the importance of design skills amongst planners and decision makers –       the move towards a more inclusive approach involving the public earlier in in the planning process –       the importance of national quality standards Sarah Weir OBE, Design Council CEO:   “There is much to welcome in the Commission’s really bold and imaginative interim report. I am especially pleased to see a strong focus on true collaboration and much earlier community engagement, the emphasis on the value of holistic placemaking and the recognition that sustainability and green infrastructure needs to be at the heart of planning and design. The call for a greater emphasis on design skills in local authorities is particularly important and reflects our evidence to the Commission. Design Council is also ready and eager to play our role as national advisory body for Government, working closely with the Commission to help ensure consistently high standards of design nationally. This interim report has the clear potential to ensure an even wider impact can be felt across the country in the final report. We look forward to being a part of it.” As government’s advisor on design, Design Council provides independent, practical and direct support to local authorities, property developers and their consultant teams to help enhance the quality of the built environment. This comes in the form of design advice and guidance and includes design reviews and a design approach that enable a cross sector, systems approach to supporting better places to live.   As an authority in this field, Design Council have long argued that many new homes and neighbourhoods fail to meet the needs of their communities because design is not prioritised by planners and developers. In Design Council’s submitted evidence to the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, we argued that design must be recognised as a golden thread running through the development and planning process, rather than being an afterthought.