Surveyors on set: it's not all about the property market

If working on films such as Casino Royale, Tomb Raider and The Da Vinci Code doesn’t quite match your perception of what surveyors do for a living, it may be time for you to wise up to the diversity of the profession in the 21st century.

Plowman Craven, a firm of chartered land surveyors, would historically measure the size and shape of land and structures – a sand dune, bridge or a bit of the M25, for example.

“But because of modern technology, we’ve been able to diversify into different areas of measuring,” says Simon Barnes, managing director of the 180-strong workforce. Now the company works in visual effects and computer animation, measuring the shape and size of actors’ heads and bodies and then creating a 3D digital model. “Gone are the days when land surveying only meant standing in a field with wellington boots and a hard hat,” he says.

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Besides land surveying, there are a further 17 professional groups within the industry, many of which will be news to most people. Art and antiques surveyors, for example, work with valuable and curious artefacts, advising the owners on their value, care, sale and acquisition. Meanwhile, machinery and business assets surveyors advise companies – from oil refineries to websites – on the valuation and sale of their equipment and assets .

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) divides the 17 professional groups into three broad areas: property, land and construction. Land surveyors include anything from environment surveyors (who work in areas ranging from environmental management and auditing to urban regeneration) to rural surveyors (who give advice to farmers and landowners on unlocking the value of their assets). Meanwhile, construction includes anything from building surveyors to quantity surveyors.

Because the variety is so huge, RICS is reticent to cite common characteristics required to become a surveyor. “But what all roles do share is the necessity to be a good communicator and team-worker,” says RICS spokesperson Ed Tooth. “Also what all surveyors share by the time they’re trained is a good mix of technical and analytical skills, along with the ability to manage people.”

There are two main routes to becoming a surveyor. The most common, involves getting a RICS-accredited degree. Those who have a degree in a related subject, such as geography, can take a RICS-accredited postgraduate degree for which they may be able to get funding from an employer.

Some companies, such as DTZ, even take people with completely unrelated degrees, such as psychology. “Some of the people we take on haven’t done anything property related at all,” says Sarah Kelly, graduate recruitment manager.

Like many employers, DTZ values these so-called non-cognates. “We get lots of people who initially went into teaching, law, accountancy or even investment banking – only to be attracted by surveying later on. We like them because they bring in skills from these other disciplines and industries. People who have experience in investment banking, for example, have good financial awareness, while teachers often have great people skills,” says Kelly.

Christina Frasheri, a surveyor in development consulting for DTZ, got a First in social and political science from Cambridge, but was unsure what to do next. After her gap year she refurbished a flat, which she sold at a profit, and was hooked on property. She did a Masters in property valuation and law and then applied to DTZ, where she completed her assessment of professional competence (APC), the professional practice qualification that gives surveyors chartered status from RICS. This involves being assessed over a two year period and concludes with a final interview.

“The key attraction for me is that this is a profession – a career based on a professional qualification that comes from a globally-recognised and prestigious body,” says Frasheri.

“Surveying has huge diversity,” she adds. “Even within general practice, there is a huge range of sectors – hotels, industrial, retail and so on – as well as a huge range of different skills you can apply, such as investment, valuation and letting. And it’s a global profession. I’ve already gone to Shanghai, Amsterdam, Croatia and Dublin.”

There are many routes to RICS membership which can be gained through a combination of qualifications and experience. However, the majority of RICS members come through the graduate route which requires a RICS-accredited degree.

“Without an accredited degree candidates cannot progress on to the APC without further training,” explains Tooth. Big firms such as DTZ actively encourage new graduates to do the APC, although Tooth admits that graduates may have to push hard for their employer to provide funding and may have to fund it themselves. It’s still worth it, he insists.

“Two years is a relatively short period in which to gain a professional qualification,” he says, adding that “competition for jobs will be fierce for some time, and becoming chartered will give you competitive advantage and great opportunities to work abroad.”

Relatively newly chartered surveyors have found themselves working on projects ranging from the Burj Dubai development to the Beijing Olympic Stadium. For surveying students looking to gain work experience overseas, RICS also runs the China Exchange Programme, which is increasingly popular with students and employers.

Thomas Southall was travelling during his gap year when he decided that he’d like to explore different lifestyles and cultures more fully during his life. Now he is working as a graduate project manager in the United Arab Emirates for EC Harris, the consultants. There, he says he gets to take on more responsibility at an earlier stage than he would in the UK. “Due to the different size and nature of development projects in the region, you are expected to adapt quickly and rise to the challenges set in front of you,” he says. “Under these conditions there is more scope to demonstrate your abilities and to develop and progress quickly.”

Wei Haijing also speaks highly of his role as manager of business management for the Bejing Urban Construction Group. “My work is full of challenges, which makes me always think of new methods to settle problems,” he says. “Plus, I have the chance to participate in the management of important projects and I have met people from different walks of life, from whom I have learned so much – well beyond my work.”

Celebrating their profession, surveyors both home and abroad often point to high salaries and generous benefits, reasonable working hours and the opportunities for continuing professional development.

As for the recession, Paul Royston, head of property, management and development at Nottingham Trent University, says employers learnt the hard way in the last recession that if you cut graduate recruitment, you pay in the years to come. Besides, insolvency, dispute resolution and building surveying are still busy. “In any case,” he adds, “property is a cyclical market, so the boom times will return.”

My life in surveying: ‘You get to work with a variety of people and professions’

Andrew Williamson is a cost manager at EC Harris, based at the Abu Dhabi office in the United Arab Emirates.

“For my school work experience, I spent two weeks at a quantity surveying practice in London. I decided surveying would be an interesting career, which might offer great opportunities. So far I haven’t been disappointed.

My job involves working as part of team, responsible for cost and commercial management services and we report directly to the client to help them deliver the results they want. The role involves giving advice to the client.

I enjoy the opportunity to work on projects right the way through to client handover and playing a part in helping deliver projects to the client which have met their objectives.

You get the opportunity to work alongside a variety of different people and professions including; architects, engineers, contractors and the client too.

I worked for EC Harris on my work placement from university and returned to work for them afterwards. The company holds regular presentations on the opportunities it has to work abroad. I was put in touch with the Abu Dhabi office and moved to the UAE in June 2008.

Personally I wouldn’t say there are any downsides to my job. You just have to view everything that is put in front of you as a challenge, especially when working overseas and you have to manage the way in which people work in a different culture and don’t let it be a stumbling block.”

My life in surveying: ‘We had to survey each of London’s palaces’

Jo Thwaites is a conservation building surveyor for the Historic Royal Palaces, London. She is currently based at Kensington Palace

“I trained as a building surveyor while working at Islington Council’s architects department. They sent me to London South Bank University to do the five-year part-time surveying course alongside my job. I couldn’t have afforded to do it otherwise. It also meant that by the time the degree course was finished, I had a body of work already built up for my APC [assessment of professional competence].

I worked at Hampton Court Palace as a surveyor on the fire safety project. It was just after the fire at Windsor Castle and the Bailey Report had recommended extensive fire upgrade of the historic building fabric throughout all of the unoccupied London palaces. It was a big project, worth £6m-£7m. It was fascinating because we had to survey and work in every part of each palace.

I’ve had various other roles since within the five Scheduled Ancient Monuments that make up the Historic Royal Palaces estate – Hampton Court Palace, Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, The Tower of London, Banqueting House, Whitehall, and Kensington Palace, where I’m based now. I love having contact with buildings and palaces where you can explore the national and international stories of how monarchs, and their builders, have shaped society in some of the greatest palaces ever built.

A favourite job was Kew Palace where George III and some of his family lived. We spent almost a decade repairing and representing this building. Tiny fragments of paper were found which, when analysed, showed how the wallpapers were made and attached to the walls and so we reproduced the whole process. Paint analysis showed us what the original paint colour was 21 layers ago.

The palace was finally reopened to the public in 2006 and the Queen celebrated her 80th birthday there before the visitors started pouring in.

We were shortlisted for the Gulbenkian Prize and we won the Grand Final RICS Conservation Award as well as the RICS London Region Award.”