If unabashed enthusiasm for the profession is a important quality in selecting a top executive, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has a good fit in John Hughes, the first Canadian president in the 149-year history of the organization.
Hughes, a Toronto-based founding partner of Hemson Consulting Ltd., officially assumed the position at the RICS President’s Inauguration Dinner held in Toronto recently.
He said cities, infrastructure and technology will be at the top of his agenda during his year in the office along with recruitment, including increasing diversity with an appeal to women, and promoting general awareness of the importance and broad role the profession plays.
The way Hughes talks, the job of chartered surveyor, or quantity surveyor, as it’s called in Canada, is the most interesting profession going.
“Property and real estate is the single largest class of assets around the world,” Hughes said.
“There is more money tied up with property than in any other form of assets so it is a massive area and it is endlessly fascinating.”
Hughes said a major role of his will be to conduct outreach to ensure the development and construction industry understands the value of using RICS-accredited professionals when making deals involving property, financing and construction. Again, explaining these functions of quantity surveyors, his love for the profession shines through.
“There are really very few elements of land, property and construction that we don’t touch on,” said Hughes.
“Some people think of RICS as someone looking through a telescope but the meaning is someone who oversees or overlooks, and it has to do with land and property. On construction we do everything, it goes through project planning and land planning and the people who come up with development projects. We have people who can cost them, we have people who can project-manage them, people who can lease them, people who can sell them and then manage them, and on and on.”
Even if there might not be general understanding of all the functions RICS members serve, Hughes said, “What I want people to grasp is, when I hear ‘RICS’ I think about high-quality professional people delivering services in land, property and construction.”
Established in 1868, RICS with its royal charter has had the additional role of serving the public good in the United Kingdom as it sets professional standards, accredits professionals and cultivates the profession in that nation. In 1999, RICS began to take a more global outlook. Today there are over 130,000 members worldwide.
“It astounds people when I tell them that,” Hughes said.
With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities and thus a tremendous need for infrastructure to serve those city dwellers, RICS has a huge role to play in ensuring the builds are planned and executed professionally, he said. A recent RICS initiative, the establishment of global standards through the International Construction Measurement Standards Coalition to enable better comparison of projects worldwide, has been well received everywhere, said Hughes.
And another sign of respect for the RICS brand came when the Indian government asked the organization to set up a School of the Built Environment in Delhi to train professionals. In fact, Hughes’s first order of business after his inauguration was to travel to India to attend graduating ceremonies at the school.
“It has been a monstrous success, so much so we have set up a second one in Mumbai,” said Hughes.
On the recruitment and diversity file, RICS is active on several initiatives, and Hughes, taking over from RICS’ first female president Amanda Clack, has a typically ebullient pitch.
“Attracting women into the profession, they maybe don’t think it is much fun, working in construction, but when you talk to those who have taken that route they love it,” he said.
“You go and say, ‘look at that big tower being built, who wouldn’t like to be involved in that?’ How much it costs, or whether you can get the money together to build it, you say, how is this going to fit in with the local community, are they going to like this, maybe you can persuade them.”
RICS recently opened its first Canadian office, in Toronto, and now Hughes is representing both RICS and Canada as he fulfils his duties as president.
“As a Canadian I am hugely proud,” he said. “Canada and RICS go hand and glove. We are sensible, we’re thoughtful, we get on well with people. It is not difficult to be a Canadian chartered surveyor.”
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