Craig MacDonald is a Chartered Building Surveyor with over 20 years of experience in property and construction sectors. He specialises in construction technology and building pathology in the Australian commercial real estate sector. He’s a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the current chair of RICS Member Engagement Group in Queensland, Australia, registered APC Assessor, and counsellor to APC candidates.

Craig is the author of the narrative non-fiction book, "The Building Detective: A Journey Into the Hidden Stories of Property, People, and Problem Solving", which is the starting point of this conversation. He shares the inspiration behind this book, his journey from Scotland to Australia, how storytelling can transform the profession and why surveying is a big adventure.

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 Emma Fletcher is Low-Carbon Housing Director at Octopus Energy and the current Chair of the RICS Residential Professional Group Panel. After qualifying in rural surveying, she moved into housing and regeneration, focusing on affordable housing and sustainability. She is passionate about community resilience and has established a district heat network in her village.

In this podcast, we talk about Emma's varied career in surveying, but also what it means to take the opportunity to do the hard work and ultimately turn your passions into a career. We discuss her role as a Low-Carbon Director and what decarbonising means on the housing level, how she set up a community land trust in her village, her experience in rural surveying and her involvement with Residential PGP at RICS. 

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 Marsha Ramroop is an engaging and compelling speaker and former BBC journalist and leader. She’s a global award-winning inclusion strategist, and author with a passion for driving change in the built environment. She sees the sector as an opportunity to influence the creation of a more inclusive world. Marsha was the inaugural Director of Inclusion and Diversity at the Royal Institute of British Architects. She is the author of the book “Building Inclusion: Practical Guide to Inclusion in Architecture & the Built Environment,” published by Routledge.

Today, we talk about what cultural intelligence matters in surveying, and we discuss the importance of an inclusive perspective in policies, procedures and practices, which benefit all demographics. Marsha discusses her career transition from BBC to RIBA, highlights the need for systemic changes rather than identity-led initiatives to foster inclusion, and in her book, she advocates for actionable steps to address diversity and improve organisational culture.

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 Sam Nicholson is a building surveyor based in the North East. He worked with Maersk Training in offshore wind, and has extensive past experience volunteering with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Recognised as Mentor of the Year 2023, Sam has previously served as Matrics Chair, actively supporting young professionals in the industry with a surveying APC community.

We talk about Sam’s involvement with the APC study group, his current role in Wakefields Chartered Building Surveyors, his past experience working on a lifeboat and in emergency management training, as well as discuss the importance of soft skills and mentoring for the development of competent and skilled surveyors. 

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Our first 2025 guest is Mark Duckworth, Chartered Surveyor and Director at Martin & Mortimer, a firm founded in 1965 at Bishop’s Stortford. His previous roles include agriculture, accountancy, production management, voluntary work and sales roles, before starting a remedial repair business working with older buildings. 

As a building surveyor with various skills and rich experience, Mark seeks to combine a clear understanding of a given building together with an appreciation for his client's particular needs, where the use of emotional intelligence and soft skills such as listening and communicating are considered highly important. Mark loves people as well as buildings, and his aim is to grow the business by growing people within it. 

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Hannah Howard Jones is the Director of Asset Management for Home Group, a housing association with over 58,000 rented and home ownership properties, combining integrated housing, health and social care in supporting their customers to fulfill their aspirations and live independently. Hannah's a chartered residential management surveyor with over 15 years experience in agency and client-side roles, across both the public and private sector.

In this episode, we talk about Hanna’s career journey and how her life experience affected her trajectory as a surveyor. We discuss the importance of understanding the built environment and people inhabiting it, the role of emotional intelligence in dealing with the challenges of housing repair and disrepair claims, how utilising the date can ensure compliance and quality in property management, and the significance of visibility, inclusivity and fairness in the housing sector and property professions.  

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Today Marion Ellis chats with Joshim Uddin, a Chartered Surveyor in Tower Hamlets and RICS Matrics Award Winner.

Joshim is a Chartered Surveyor who leads a public sector development viability service. The key purpose of his role is to ensure maximum levels of affordable housing/developer contributions is provided as part of planning applications for new development schemes for local residents.

In this episode, we discuss development viability, the public sector and local authorities, the RICS Matrics surveyor of the year award, and the purpose of work and social value.

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Today, Marion Ellis chats with George Hooton, a General Practice Surveyor and the RICS Matrics Commercial Property Surveyor of the Year 2023.

A surveyor with a demonstrated history of working in the commercial real estate industry, George works hard both inside and outside of the business to drive a better and more inclusive property profession.

In this episode, we discuss George’s career, his award, his perspective on the surveying sector, how it could better accommodate people with disabilities, and how this would improve everyone’s quality of life.

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Today Marion Ellis chats with Sinead Clarkson, Chartered Quantity Surveyor, working for PH Plasterers Ltd.

As a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Co-Chair of the NAWIC Yorkshire region (National Association for Women in Construction), Sinead has an interest in improving gender diversity in our profession through support and research, and early engagement - especially using social media.

In this episode, we discuss engaging younger audiences through social media, how it can support others and your own career, as well as the movements for increased gender diversity in surveying and construction.

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Today, Marion chats with Chris Rispin, the author of many notable books and papers in the residential and valuation surveying sector and a regular contributor to The Surveyor Hub Community.  

Now retired, Chris was the former Managing Director of BlueBox Partners, previously Technical Director at Allied Surveyors. 

In this episode, they discuss his career and the transformative years of being in surveying practice from naive practitioner to experienced Technical Director.

What Is Covered

12.46 - How and why surveyors used to report

 22.40 - RICS Guidance and how it evolved during Chris’s career

 45.33 - Chris's contributions to the RICS Red Book

 50.18 - Chris's time at BlueBox partners 

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