• RICS Standards and Regulation Board (SRB) member, Richard Waterhouse, has been appointed to lead a dedicated committee, reporting to SRB, charged with implementing the Valuation Review’s recommendations
• Investment and valuation community asked to submit feedback as RICS begins to implement Valuation Review recommendations

Senior chartered surveyor, Richard Waterhouse FRICS, has been appointed to chair an expert sub-committee that will oversee implementation of the recommendations of the Valuation Review, on behalf of RICS’s Standards and Regulation Board (SRB).

A member of the Standards and Regulation Board at RICS, the independently-led body responsible for setting RICS’s standards and regulation framework, Richard has 28 years working as a chartered surveyor in the public sector. Richard is currently assembling a team of experts that will work with him and the Institution to consult and develop specific reforms to valuation, in line with SRB’s commitment.

Richard Waterhouse, Chair of the Valuation Sub-Committee, said:

“The Valuation Review is an extensive and thorough examination of the way commercial property works around the world – and its findings have shown that reforming part of the valuation practice across our education, regulation and standards will be vital for the sector to remain trusted and relevant.

“We are taking action to implement all the recommendations and I thank colleagues on the SRB and at RICS for asking me to lead this important work.”

As indicated by RICS in its initial response, the implementation of the Valuation Review recommendations will be brought forward in stages, with an initial focus on standards and practice issues, with necessary changes to the RICS’s regulatory approach following.

As a first step in consulting on implementation, valuers and their stakeholders are now being asked to submit their views to inform a major update to the valuer’s Red Book in the UK.

The ‘call for views’ published today (Mon 11 April) which is seeking feedback from professionals and the investment community on the implementation of a number of the Review recommendations, which seek to future-proof valuation practice and improve confidence in valuations upon which third parties rely.

This initial engagement with stakeholders focuses on proposals to introduce mandatory rotation of valuation firms, as well as the introduction of new governance arrangements for the commissioning and receiving of valuation reports – which were key recommendations from Peter Pereira Gray’s report and stand to better maintain the impartiality of valuers and the advice provided to those who commission them.

Ben Elder, Head of Valuation Standards at RICS, said:

“This is a really important step in integrating the recommendations from the Pereira Grey Report and the updating of the Red Book in the UK.

“We need feedback from the widest possible audience to achieve an appropriate balance between the parts of the Red Book that impact all valuations carried out in the UK and those that fall within the permit of the Independent Valuation Review. “

The call for views follows the RICS accepting the recommendations of the Valuation Review and its commitment to implement them in full.