I am happy to name this particular individual. However, there is not much point. This will be in the public domain soon enough.
More importantly, this is not really about a specific person.
This is about a system that is clearly open to abuse. If nothing else, I hope this post gets people thinking. Is our current system actually fit for purpose?
Timeline
This individual became an Associate Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) on 17 January 2020.
A relatively short time later, they became a Chartered Member of RICS on 3 June 2021.
Then, just 18 months after that, they became a Fellow of RICS on 26 January 2023.
That progression alone should raise questions.
So how did this happen?
RICS state on their own website that Fellowship is only open to those who have been Chartered Members for a minimum of 5 years.
This individual managed it in around 18 months.
So how is that possible?
The answer appears to sit in their own guidance.
The RICS Fellowship application guide, dated February 2021, explains that applicants who do not meet the 5 year requirement can still apply for Fellowship.
The application is then individually reviewed by the “RICS World Regional Board.”
I have to admit, I had never heard of the “RICS World Regional Board”, but it certainly sounds exclusive, whatever it is.
In practical terms, this means that the 5 year requirement is not really a requirement at all. It can be bypassed.
All that seems to be needed is a special dispensation from RICS, followed by a written application setting out how accomplished the applicant is.
That is, apparently, enough.
Removal of Fellowship
This individual was also a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).
I was recently informed that CABE has sanctioned this member for misconduct, and that one of those sanctions was stripping them of their Fellowship.
You would not know this, though.
There is no mention of it in the Building Engineer Journal, and nothing has been published on CABE’s website yet. The only way I was able to confirm it was by contacting CABE directly and asking why this person is no longer a Fellow.
This raises an obvious question.
Should the details of a member’s sanction be made public, and quickly? I would say yes.
The removal of someone’s Fellowship is not a minor issue. It is clearly something that prospective clients would want to know. The quicker that information can be made public, the better.
At the time of writing, this individual is still a Fellow of RICS. Will RICS will follow suit? We will have to see.
What this says about the system
This is not about one individual slipping through the cracks.
It is about a system that allows it to happen in the first place, and then fails to deal with it transparently afterwards. This is not the only time something like this has happened either.
There is clearly room for improvement here.
At the very least, there needs to be greater transparency around sanctions, and that information needs to be made publicly available, and made available quickly.
Until that happens, people will continue to operate in a system where consequences are either delayed or invisible.
And that is a problem.