NEW research has warned that Scotland faces a growing surveying skills crisis that risks undermining the delivery of critical programmes across the built environment.
The finding from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals skills shortages are more acute in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK, potentially hindering projects ranging from cladding remediation and the identification of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) to improving housing standards, retrofitting homes and meeting energy efficiency targets.
The Surveying skills report – UK snapshot found that 62% of respondents in Scotland describe skills shortages as critical or moderate, compared with 54% globally. This is higher than England (50%), Wales (49%) and Northern Ireland (47%).
Scotland faces shortages at different stages of the surveying career pipeline, with 62% of respondents identifying a lack of mid-career and experienced professionals as a key issue, ahead of a shortage of early-career entrants (55%). A further 42% cited retention challenges.
There are also growing concerns about the future supply of new professionals. The long-term suspension of the building surveying degree course at Glasgow Caledonian University has left Edinburgh Napier University as the only remaining Scottish university offering a dedicated undergraduate building surveying course.
Building surveying isn’t the only pathway coming under reported strain, with building control experts, valuation specialists, quantity surveyors and project managers all citing critical or moderate skills shortages in high numbers.
RICS said the consequences are already being felt. 78% Scottish respondents reported that reduced capacity to meet demand was affecting their work, while 66% noted having limited time and resources to upskill and train new staff.
Professor Norman McLennan FRICS, chair of the RICS Scotland board, said, “The results across Scotland emphasise the severity of the skills gap that the surveying industry is currently experiencing and the urgency in which the sector must act. With recent suspensions of surveying related courses at universities in Scotland, there are pathway challenges for the next generation of surveyors that cannot be ignored, especially with over half of respondents in Scotland citing a lack of early-career entrants this as a key challenge of the shortage.
“This raises important questions about the sustainability of the profession’s skills pipeline at a time when demand for specialist expertise is increasing. We must work together to protect our current workforce, whilst also working to inspire and attract the next generation of surveyors, and ensuring they have a viable career pathway. Surveying plays a vital role in our built and natural environment, and the expertise and insight of surveyors must not be overlooked.”
Neil Wotherspoon, TFT senior director in Scotland, and chair of the RICS Building Surveying and Building Control Professional Group, added, “The Skills Survey findings highlight a challenge that many of us working across Scotland’s built environment are seeing first-hand, and all of us need to engage with it. Schools and colleges do need greater awareness of the breadth of opportunities available within the built environment. Too often, surveying remains a profession that many students have never encountered, despite offering rewarding careers that combine technical expertise, problem solving and the opportunity to shape places and communities.
“Through initiatives with organisations such as Class of Your Own, Scottish universities and RICS Matrics, we are working to build stronger, longer-term engagement with future surveyors. That means moving beyond a single careers talk or school visit and instead creating sustained, hands-on opportunities that allow students to understand the value, variety and long-term prospects that built environment professions can offer.
“But every employer can do their bit to rise to the challenge and not take early-career professionals for granted. As an industry, we must show clear development pathways with meaningful support and progression if we want talented people to stay within the profession.”
