RICS must move on

The institution would have surely been hoping for stability rather than soap opera after the Launce Morgan saga in the summer. Now it faces further embarrassment in the form of last week’s conduct hearing against Morgan’s replacement as construction faculty chairman, which came days before this Tuesday’s Governing Council meeting in Cardiff.

Messy is the best word to describe what has happened, for all parties involved. Byng is clearly an angry man and has come out fighting, releasing a detailed three-page statement to us which deals with the three charges made against him and, probably more significantly long-term, raising broader issues about the organisation and the running of the RICS. There is a wider issue concerning how faculty boards are made up, which Byng claims is shared by fellow chairmen at the 15 other RICS faculties. Then there is the question of the faculties and forums board, which sits above the 16 faculties, which many members feel is both over-bearing and over-bureaucratic.

Whilst one should not play down the seriousness of Byng’s misconduct charge it is the latter issues that urgently need tackling at the RICS. Discussions are clearly ongoing but there needs to be public pronouncements from the institution on these matters. Announcing a membership drive internationally, while probably financially necessary, as president Steve Williams did on Tuesday, doesn’t help, given the bad-feeling among grassroots members over the Agenda for Change policy back in 2000.

The RICS runs the risk of alienating members further if it doesn’t tackle the basic criticisms that the body has faced for some years, and that were voiced by Morgan in the summer. The Domesday scenario of schism is one that could rear its head if it doesn’t.