Building and Property

The world conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) opens in Davos on 3 October under the theme “Local Resources – Global Perspectives."  From then until Wednesday 5 October, 600 of the world’s leading engineers from 75 countries will be discussing today’s leading issues, such as finding solutions to climate change, sustainable infrastructure, energy efficiency, urbanisation, water and waste issues, and new forms of risk sharing, including public-private partnerships.

FIDIC president Gregs Thomopulos said: “Never before in human history has the role of the consulting engineer been so important.  With expanding globalisation, the need to transport people and goods continues to increase, energy demands are growing to match higher standards of living, and we are facing never before seen environmental and demographic challenges.”

According to a Which? survey, 2.5 million householders have had a dispute with their builder in the last three years. The number and level of disputes could be drastically reduced if homeowners had a proper contract with their builder from the outset, according to the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT), the body that drafts standard forms of contracts used in four out of five of all building projects in the UK.

RICS President, See Lian Ong, has written to the Prime Minister welcoming the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and outlining RICS' next steps.

RICS views the draft NPPF as a significant step forward in enabling the growth the UK requires, and believes delivering sustainable economic growth is in everyone’s interest, whether it be badly needed employment or equally important affordable housing.

The new Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 names a number of Arbitral Appointments Referees, one of which is RICS Scotland Dispute Resolution Service (DRS).

RICS Scotland is the largest dispute resolution provider in Scotland for property and construction disputes and appoints RICS professionals to over 500 dispute applications each year.