Just the job: RICS in Norfolk

So, who are you and what do you do?

Tim We're both chartered QSs at Davis Langdon's Norwich office. We came through the ranks here together and this year set up an RICS Matrics for the Norfolk region - Jon's chairman, I'm vice-chairman.

What's an RICS Matrics?

Jon It's basically a channel of communication for younger members of the RICS. They can discuss any queries they have on their APC at "doctors' surgeries", and we meet up for social events. There are about 29 groups around the UK at present.

But there wasn't one in Norwich?

Tim There had been in the past, before we were at Davis Langdon, but it was unsuccessful. It was probably because there are more than 100 people on the RICS Norfolk mailing list who are eligible to join, whereas some regions have four times that number.

Jon Other than Norwich, there's not much else in Norfolk!

So what made you decide to try again?

Tim Because we had finished our own APCs, had been through the process and finally had the time to do it.

Jon When we were doing our APCs, there was very little in the way of support for trainee QSs in the area. Working for a larger firm gave us colleagues to consult, but it appears more difficult for people from smaller firms.

Tim At the start of this year we spoke to David Potter, the RICS regional director, to discuss the idea, and he bit our hands off.

Have you faced similar problems to the last attempt?

Tim No, there's been a good response. The first four events were all meet-and-greet events, just in a pub in the city centre, to see if there was a level of interest. Then we had a summer barbecue at the end of August, and we counted about 26 people, with 20 new faces.

Jon Overall, we're about 40 or 50 strong. We've recently appointed a social secretary, Claire Hupton from Norfolk Property Services - she's organising a bowling evening and a Christmas event as we speak.

Are there plans to expand the committee further?

Tim There are three or four people that have been coming from the start who might join the committee.

Jon We're looking for someone who can focus on schools and colleges and do careers talks. There's also a regional co-ordination role - we hope to interlink more with Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. Hopefully there will soon be social events that everyone across the region can come along to.