Train, Skill and Act

Smart cities need smart professionals, avers SACHIN SANDHIR.

India is on the cusp of change in the real estate sector with Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s strong focus on providing Housing for All and developing 100 smart cities. The aim is to drive economic growth and provide every Indian a shelter. However, there is a gaping mismatch between demand for quality workforce and supply. What makes the situation even more alarming is the tremendous dearth of institutes providing specialised courses in construction and the real estate industry. This poses the biggest challenge in achieving the ambitious target set by the government in the realty sector.

We, at RICS, have been at the forefront in raising issues of standardisation, adopting global best practices, inclusive development, and following International Property Measurement Standards for the real estate sector in India. We believe smart cities will only be built by smart people who are trained in modern ways of construction and development. The following are our key three smart moves for the realty sector.

RICS School of Built Environment
India has a strong demand for specialised professional services in the construction and real estate sector. In many markets, built environment education has been dominated by disciplines such as architecture and engineering, leading to a distinct lack of real estate and construction professional services education. Addressing the skills challenge and reducing the massive demand-supply gap (82-86 per cent) of skilled professionals are fundamental for the industry to be able to deliver projects of the highest quality, on time and on cost.

Under a joint initiative with Amity University, RICS India imparts specialised undergraduate and postgraduate education to aspiring professionals in built environment. With a strong value proposition of international alliances, globally renowned faculty, best-in-class learning facilities, practice-led teaching approach and immense industry backing, the school is paving the way for the future generation of built environment professionals. Given the heritage of RICS as the world´s leading qualification and one of its roles as an influencer of public policy and advocacy, the RICS School of Built Environment is supported by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, and will serve as a hub for research, standards, best practices and technical expertise in built environment.

United Nation and RICS´ drive for responsible and sustainable business practices The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and RICS have issued a call to organisations in the land, construction and real estate sectors, and those working with them, to take a leading role in global efforts to drive responsible and sustainable business practices.

´Advancing Responsible Business Practices in Land, Construction, Real Estate Use and Investment´ examines the sector´s impact in relation to the UN Global Compact´s four focus areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption. The resource identifies some of the most critical issues facing the sector, and breaks down the three key real estate life-cycle phases - development, use and recovery - and proposes corresponding actions to embed responsible business practices, illustrated by good practice case studies from around the world. The land, real estate and construction sector represents up to 70 per cent of global wealth, contributes around one-tenth of the total global gross domestic product (GDP) each year and represents 7 per cent of the overall employment. The sector also has a substantial impact on land development, resource use and waste generation. There are also issues related to human and labour rights during development and construction.

RICS Futures: Our Changing World.
A recent report by RICS calls for action in six areas supporting the profession and the sector in preparing for the challenges and opportunities. The report examines how global social and economic changes will require new skills, business models and responses to developing technologies over the next 15 years.

Professionals in the built environment sector must take concerted action to prepare for the unprecedented global change the sector will face up to 2030. Significant shifts in demographics, levels of urbanisation and economic power will have an impact on how and where we live. While the full impact of these changes is impossible to predict, RICS as a global professional body, must lead the sector in being responsive and agile in how it prepares the profession to meet these changes.

The report identifies six areas of action geared to the short-to-medium term that will support the profession and the sector in preparing for the challenges and opportunities these changes will generate. These actions include:

• Action area 1: Helping our sector win the war for talent: Employers globally are faced with the need to maintain, and retain, a talent pool that is more diverse, inclusive and has the skills required to benefit the sector.
• A key endeavour is to attract talent that will meet the sector´s needs. Action area 2: Having ethics at the heart of everything we do: Ethics is central to professional behaviour within the built environment and related professions. RICS is currently working with a coalition of organisations to agree on a global set of International Ethics Standards (IES) that seeks to create high-level principles for global ethics. We are also working with the UNGC to formulate best practices for business within the sector to meet global sustainability targets.
• Action area 3: Creating successful and sustainable future cities: At present, 54 per cent of the world´s population lives in cities. This is expected to rise to 66 per cent by 2050, according to projections by the UN. The profession has an important contribution to make in helping cities ensure that they become more resilient, sustainable and affordable for future generations.
• Action area 4: Embracing technology and big data: Changing technologies and the ability to stay attuned to new innovations that have an impact on the sector are some of the important trends identified by professionals interviewed for this report. Development in digital technologies will have an impact on the creation of new business streams, the need for different skills and competencies and bring new risks with it.
• Action area 5: Helping the surveying profession take new opportunities: The major social and economic changes we expect over the next few years will mean that surveyors, globally, will be required to adapt and hone their skills. The goal is to create a more dynamic profession with the ability to respond to market changes and the wider society in which it operates. We expect fields such as infrastructure, workplace, finance and technology to require more professionals, and for Asia to be the region with the strongest demand.
• Action area 6: Developing strong leadership: Leadership is another issue professionals have themselves chosen as one that is central to an evolving profession. Many highlighted the need for the sector to work closer with governments to give the built environment a greater voice in influencing policy.

About the author:
Sachin Sandhir, Global Managing Director-Emerging Business, RICS, is a strong advocate of institutionalising best practices and standards to bring about professionalism and transparency in the Indian real estate and construction sector. He has nearly 20 years of experience in real estate, advisory and outsourcing industry, and has operated at the CXO level for more than 10 years.

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