Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage systems, pipelines, structural components of buildings, and railways.
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations, and comes from Latin constructio and Old French construction. To construct is the verb: the act of building, and the noun is construction: how something is built, the nature of its structure.
Real estate appraisal, property valuation or land valuation is the process of developing an opinion of value for real property. Real estate transactions often require appraisals because they occur infrequently and every property is unique, unlike corporate stocks, which are traded daily and are identical. The location also plays a key role in valuation. However, since property cannot change location, it is often the upgrades or improvements to the home that can change its value. Appraisal reports form the basis for mortgage loans, settling estates and divorces, taxation, and so on. Sometimes an appraisal report is used to establish a sale price for a property.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for those working in the Built Environment, Construction, Land, Property and Real Estate. The RICS was founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the valuation, management and development of land, real estate, construction and infrastructure.
A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors in the UK and Certified Quantity Surveyors in Australia and other countries. In some countries such as Canada, South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius, qualified quantity surveyors are known as Professional Quantity Surveyors, a title protected by law.
Under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004 a Home Information Pack, sometimes called a Seller's Pack, was to be provided before a property in England and Wales could be put on the open market for sale with vacant possession. There is separate legislation for Scotland that requires anyone selling a property to provide a Home Report. The pack was a set of documents about the property: an Energy Performance Certificate, local authority searches, title documents, guarantees, etc. The introduction of HIPs was subject to delays and reduced requirements, but they became mandatory for homes with four or more bedrooms on 1 August 2007 and were extended to three-bedroomed properties from 10 September 2007.
A building control body is an organisation authorised to control building work that is subject to the Building Regulations in England and Wales (similar systems are provided in Northern Ireland, and in Scotland where the term 'building standards' is used. Such regulations or standards are also known as building codes in other parts of the world.
Chartered Surveyor is the description of Professional Members and Fellows of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) entitled to use the designation in the (British) Commonwealth of Nations and Ireland. Chartered originates from the Royal Charter granted to the world's first professional body of surveyors. Chartered Surveyors are entitled to use "MRICS" or "FRICS" after their names as appropriate.
RICS Shop is the commercial publishing and bookselling arm of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
LSL Property Services is the parent company of e.surv Chartered Surveyors, Your Move and Reeds Rains, and forms the second-largest estate agent chain in the United Kingdom.
The Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors or CICES is a professional association in the field of civil engineering surveying, headquartered in the United Kingdom. CICES members consist mainly of commercial managers, quantity surveyors, and geospatial engineers working and studying within civil engineering surveying. The institution began in 1969 as the Association of Surveyors in Civil Engineering, became a registered educational charity in 1992, and received a royal charter in 2009. The institution advocates for engineering projects and education.
Construction surveying or building surveying is to provide dimensional control for all stages of construction work, including the stake out of reference points and markers that will guide the construction of new structures such as roads, rail, or buildings. These markers are usually staked out according to a suitable coordinate system selected for the project.
A chartered professional is a person who has gained a specific level of skill or competence in a particular field of work, which has been recognised by the award of a formal credential by a relevant professional organization. Chartered status is considered a mark of professional competency, and is awarded mainly by chartered professional bodies and learned societies. Common in Britain, it is also used in Ireland, the United States and the Commonwealth, and has been adopted by organizations around the world.
The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), provides cost and price data for the UK construction industry. It is a part of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Roger Southam FRICS is a British chartered surveyor and managing agent. He appears on property and consumer TV programmes as well as in national newspapers.
King Sturge was an international property consultancy with over 210 offices and 4,200 staff in 45 countries. It operated throughout the UK and Europe and had associations and partners in Asia Pacific and North, Central and South America. The firm covered all property sectors and related services such as logistics, plant and machinery.
Marriage value, also called synergistic value, is a concept in property valuation. It is defined by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as "an additional element of value created by the combination of two or more assets or interests where the combined value is more than the sum of the separate values".
The University College of Estate Management, formerly the College of Estate Management (CEM) is an independent UK-based higher education institution which provides courses by distance learning for people in the real estate development and construction industries throughout the world. UCEM is also one of eight original members of the Independent Universities Group, made up of universities not funded by the HEFCE. As of 2013, UCEM had educated over 150,000 students.
International Property Measurement Standard (IPMS) is a standardised and globally applicable method for measuring property. It aims to address current inconsistencies in the way property of all types is measured from one market to the next, improving property market data and providing greater transparency.
Nicholas Hare Architects is a UK architectural practice, with a portfolio of award-winning projects. These include schools, higher education, refurbishment, commercial projects, and buildings for the arts. Founded by Nicholas Hare in 1977, the practice is now a limited liability partnership with over 50 employees. The office is based in an old book-binding factory in Barnsbury Square in Islington. Nicholas Hare Architects LLP is a member of the UK Green Building Council and achieves BREEAM Excellent rating for several of its completed buildings.
