What has been your biggest career challenge to date?
Switching to a development management role at Stanhope in January 2020 after 14 years as a chartered surveyor. Starting a new job is nerve wracking regardless of how strong your professional background and accomplishments are, but Stanhope have been incredible at supporting me and giving me the guidance and tools to navigate my new role. Then three months later entering a global pandemic has most certainly had its challenges but I hope that flexible working may be one of the few positives to come out of the covid-19 pandemic in improving gender equality in the industry.
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It was on 13 December last year that the first details of a scandal that has since engulfed the RICS began to surface. The Sunday Times revealed that a financial report into the RICS’s treasury management processes had not been shared beyond its audit committee.
After months of wrangling with the RICS management board, four non-executive directors, who had learnt of the existence of the report in early 2019, obtained a copy. The report, by accountant BDO, turned out to be damning. But, when the four directors raised concerns about how it had been handed, they were abruptly dismissed.
The reaction has been explosive. Over seven fraught weeks since the events were first exposed, the saga has torn a lid off a simmering discontent among some of the institution’s membership. Rumblings over the direction the RICS has taken over the past decade – which has seen it pursue ambitions to become a global leader in chartered surveying standards and qualifications at what som
By Tom Lowe2021-01-28T06:00:00+00:00
Non-execs say group rejected their request for a public joint statement
The four fired directors at the centre of a row that has shaken the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have hit back at the organisation’s claims they asked for their dismissal to be kept under wraps.
Amarjit Atkar, Bruce McAra, Simon Hardwick and Steve Williams had their contracts terminated in November 2019 after they raised concerns about the handling of a report into RICS’s treasury management processes.
The four non-executive directors were dismissed in 2019 after raising concerns about the handling of a report into RICS’ treasury management processes
Dan Hajjar
Managing principal, HOK London Studio
I’m grateful for how the pandemic afforded me more time with my family, particularly my children. This helped give me a revitalised perspective on how important investing in the next generation is for the future of our society and economy. Not only do I want to continue investing in my family, but also the young architects who are the future of our profession. We need to ‘mind the gap’ in terms of the lack of hands-on workplace opportunities that many have not benefitted from due to the pandemic and find a way to make this available no matter the cost.