RICS ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL DIRECT ENTRY PATHWAYS
FOR QUALIFYING CIQS MEMBERS

Members Have Access to AssocRICS and MRICS Designations

RICS is the world’s leading membership organization for professionals in property, land, construction and related environmental issues, with 3,000 members in the Americas and 100,000 worldwide. CIQS is the Canadian national professional body representing quantity surveying and construction estimating professionals and has more than 2,300 members throughout Canada as well as overseas.

“We are extremely pleased to receive this recognition and especially pleased to receive it in the year when we are celebrating our fiftieth year of quantity surveying and construction cost estimating leadership in Canada,” said Ian Duncan PQS, President of CIQS. “This is a landmark in Quantity Surveying in North America and we look forward to strengthening our relationship with RICS here in the region and worldwide.”

“This is an important milestone for both organizations which undoubtedly would please those RICS members who were instrumental in founding CIQS in 1959,” said RICS Canada Chairman John Hughes FRICS. “This development will further strengthen the quantity surveying profession in Canada. I believe it will also help our QS firms to compete domestically and in the global market.”

“RICS and CIQS members have been working together for many years. In fact, many quantity surveyors and cost estimating professionals in Canada already hold dual membership,” said Tom Justin FRICS, Chairman of RICS Americas. “We are very pleased to continue formalizing the relationship between our two organizations and look forward to maintaining and strengthening the standards of our profession.”

“This new arrangement makes it easier for CIQS credential holders to apply for RICS designations,” said Matt Bruck, Managing Director, RICS Americas. “The respective organizations are similar in many ways, reflecting the active role RICS members took in establishing CIQS 50 years ago. This step codifies what we have known for quite some time: that CIQS credential requirements are rigorous and CIQS members are a good fit with the RICS.”

Members of CIQS at the grade CEC/ECC are eligible for Direct Entry to the newly created Associates Membership qualification, or AssocRICS, Quantity Surveying and Construction pathway. Members with ten years professional membership of CIQS (at any grade), of which at least five years have been as PQS/ECA, are eligible for Direct Entry to the Membership qualification, or MRICS. Any PQS/ECA with less than ten years’ professional membership of CIQS (of which at least five are at PQS/ECA) is eligible for Direct Entry to AssocRICS. More details are available online at www.ricsamericas.org/ciqs.

RICS' Associate qualification, or AssocRICS, is a new grade of membership. It provides an opportunity for those with relevant work experience and vocational qualifications to enhance their professional status and gain recognition. AssocRICS also provides a stepping stone to advance to the MRICS designation.

In addition, RICS membership provides access to valuable professional knowledge and information and the opportunity to network with property professionals around the world.

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About CIQS

The Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year CIQS is the national association of quantity surveyors in Canada with affiliated associations in Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. Members of the CIQS can be identified by the designatory letters PQS (Professional Quantity Surveyor) and the French equivalent of Économiste en Construction Agréé with the initials ECA. In addition, the Institute provides designations to its members in the construction industry as Construction Estimator Certified (CEC), and French equivalent Estimateur en Construction Certifié (ECC).

For more information on CIQS, contact Lois Metcalfe, Executive Director, at execdir@ciqs.org  or go to www.ciqs.org .

About RICS & RICS Americas

RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), with headquarters in London, is the leading organization of its kind in the world for more than 100,000 professionals in property, land, construction and related environmental issues.

RICS Americas, based in New York and covering North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, has more than 3,000 members in commercial and residential development, construction and project management, brokerage, planning and finance, valuation and fine arts appraisal. For further information visit www.ricsamericas.org or e-mail ricsamericas@rics.org.

RICS Americas press contact:

Will Safer

Communications Manager

212-847-7400

wsafer@rics.org