The QS is a dying breed (18 January, page 21).

This has been a slow death – at university more than 20 years ago I was told the same thing. Any actor dying on a stage for 20 years would have outlived much of his audience. Not so the QS. Today QSs cannot meet the demand for their services. QSs are not just in demand in this country, but globally – from America, the Middle East and throughout Asia to Australasia. Another sign of this buoyancy is the recruitment agencies that grow ever more desperate in the ploys that they use to get hold of QSs.

Mergers and acquisitions are always going to be part and parcel of this industry. There is room within it for specialists, as well as multidisciplinary organisations. This competition gives the client a wider offering from consultants.

Ultimately managing the cost of projects has always been, and will always be, important and will therefore require experts to provide this service. We may now often be called cost managers, but the same QS discipline lies below. The biggest challenge we face is encouraging the best people to join this exciting and challenging role. So is this the final act of a long play? The QS is dead! Long live the QS!

Andrew Dewick, joint managing director, London Cost Management

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