Surveying

What do surveyors do in the public sector?

Surveyors and other real estate professionals in the public sector work on managing strategic projects that contribute to the council's growth and regeneration priorities, such as housing and infrastructure. Surveyors bring their commercial knowledge, analytical and negotiation skills, and stakeholder and project management experience in-house.

Surveyors may work on managing projects from scoping to delivery, creating business cases, managing project teams and specialist consultants, developing options appraisals and negotiating land transactions, managing planning matters (such as Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy) and working with relevant stakeholders, especially developers.

For built environment roles in the public sector, surveyors need to have strong analytical skills; be able to work with complex numerical data; communicate technical information clearly, be comfortable managing capital budgets and undertake processes such as procurement.

What type of job roles might a surveyor be suitable for?

People with a background in surveying can work in property development roles - working on scoping and delivery of capital projects, or in planning development management - advising on viability and negotiating planning obligations, or town centre and economic development role - supporting strategies and the management of council-owned assets.

Progression typically involves taking on more responsibility for increasingly complex projects and programmes, managing teams or specialising in a particular field, such as commercial valuation.

To qualify, surveyors complete a degree accredited by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Surveyors with a degree can then work towards chartered status, through practical experience and an assessment on ethics. An alternative route is through relevant work experience, a vocational qualification or an apprenticeship.

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

Institute of Asset Management