RICS Chief Ties UK Property Skills Gap Fix to Devolution Push

The CEO of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has put devolution — the transfer of powers from central to local government — at the centre of the effort to close the property sector's skills gap and unlock economic growth, in an interview with Property Week.

It's a deliberate framing. Rather than treating the shortage of surveyors, valuers and built-environment professionals as a recruitment problem, RICS's chief executive frames it as a structural one: decisions about planning, infrastructure and training sit too far from the places that need the workers.

What does the argument change for practitioners?

For chartered surveyors and aspiring professionals, the position matters because it signals where the institution will spend its lobbying capital. If skills funding and planning powers move to combined authorities and city regions, hiring demand could sharpen in those local markets rather than concentrating in London and the South East.

The RICS CEO's argument, as reported by Property Week, links two levers. First, closing the skills gap — the shortfall of qualified entrants into surveying and construction-related professions. Second, growth unlocked through devolution, on the premise that local decision-makers can approve projects and pipeline work faster than national machinery allows.

Why the skills angle dominates the sector's agenda

The built environment professions have flagged talent pipelines repeatedly, and RICS, as the sector's standards and credentialing body, shapes entry routes through its accreditation of degree courses and its Assessment of Professional Competence (the structured route to chartered status).

When the institution's chief executive says growth depends on people, not just planning reform, that reframes the debate for employers and jobseekers alike. It suggests future policy engagement will push for training provision aligned with regional growth plans.

Property Week's interview positions the RICS leader as arguing that the sector cannot build its way out of sluggish growth without first solving who does the building, the valuing and the managing.

What comes next?

Watch for RICS engagement with mayoral combined authorities and devolution deal negotiations, where skills funding increasingly sits. The CEO's comments signal that the institution sees regional power as the practical route to both a deeper talent pool and a faster project pipeline.