APC PATHWAYS Pathways and pitfalls

Jen Lemen BSc (Hons) FRICS

Jen is a partner and co-founder of Property Elite.

Jen continues her series giving practical advice to the FACES community. Jen points out a common pitfall on the Commercial Real Estate pathway which can lead to RICS rejecting your submission as being invalid. 

Chartered surveyors work across the lifecycle of built and natural environments. Frequently, we work alongside and collaborate with other professionals, such as architects, structural engineers, bankers, ecologists, town planners, property developers, parish councils, MPs and senior managers. 

Surveying roles are traditionally split into three main sectors: construction and infrastructure, property, and land. 

• The construction and infrastructure sector typically relates to the physical construction and building of infrastructure (e.g., roads, bridges, railways, energy supplies and telecoms) and buildings 

• The property sector includes both residential (domestic) and commercial (non-domestic) buildings, as well as trading businesses and personal property, e.g., fine art and antiques 

• The land sector relates to town and environmental planning, climate change and resource use. 

Thus it is clear that surveying is a diverse profession with many areas of potential specialism. You may work within many different areas of practice during your career, sometimes starting off in wide ‘general practice’ roles and later, choosing to specialise. Or, you might start your career in a niche role and quickly become a specialist in that area until you retire! 

Generally, you will find a role and specialism which interests and motivates you - rather than becoming siloed within one specific area of practice. This, therefore, allows for personal and professional growth and development, resulting in an ongoing rewarding and engaging career. 

APC pathways 

The APC sector specific pathways are: 

1. Building Control 

2. Building Surveying 

3. Facilities Management 

4. Geomatics 

5. Infrastructure 

6. Land and Resources 

7. Project Management 

8. Quantity Surveying and Construction 

9. Valuation 

10. Commercial Real Estate 

11. Residential 

12. Corporate Real Estate 

13. Environmental Surveying 

14. Management Consultancy 

15. Minerals and Waste Management 

16. Personal Property/Arts and Antiques 

17. Research 

18. Rural 

19. Taxation Allowances 

20. Valuation of Businesses and Intangible Assets. 

RICS is also piloting two new APC pathways as part of its ‘innovation programme’: 

• MRICS - Sustainability Advisory (available globally) 

• MRICS - Data Analytics and Intelligence. 

This aims to future proof the APC process and provide opportunities for qualification in new areas of practice. 

If the pathway pilots are successful, then it is hoped that the new pathways will be launched by RICS in Q4 2025. If you qualify via the pilot pathway and the pathway is not then subsequently launched, you will still retain your MRICS status. 

Moving on, you must choose a pathway which most closely reflects your current experience, role and knowledge. This is because each pathway includes a specific range of technical competencies and you will need to demonstrate your practical experience and advice. 

Your career can be more dynamic than this though. For example, if you qualified on the Building Surveying pathway, in the future, you can still work in another sector or on different types of instruction. This will depend on if you become sufficiently skilled and experienced to do so and have appropriate Professional Indemnity Insurance cover. 

This means that someone who qualified as a Building Surveyor could eventually become employed as a Quantity Surveyor, or move into property development, for example. You just need to think ahead and plan your training, supervision and development. Assisting or shadowing another chartered surveyor can be a great way to gain experience of new areas of practice. 

You should refer back to the relevant pathway guide when considering how the core and optional technical competencies fit with your role and experience. This is because similarly titled competencies may have different descriptions, knowledge or required experience based on the specific pathway. There are also some competencies with titles that may need further investigation or reading, e.g. Big Data or Business Case, so that you can understand what is required of you. 

Popular pathways 

Some of the most popular pathways are summarised below: 

Building Surveying 

Building Surveying encompasses a wide range of advice on property and construction, including specialist areas such as party walls, rights of light, dilapidations and conservation. 

Core technical competencies include: 

1. Building Pathology 

2. Construction Technology and Environmental Services 

3. Contract Administration 

4. Design Specification 

5. Inspection 

6. Legal/Regulatory Compliance 

7. Fire Safety. 

Other areas of experience include technical competencies such as: 

1. BIM Management 

2. Commercial Management 

3. Conservation and Restoration 

4. Contract Practice 

5. Design Economics and Cost Planning 

6. Development/Project Briefs 

7. Housing Maintenance, Repairs and Improvements 

8. Maintenance Management 

9. Insurance 

10. Landlord and Tenant 

11. Measurement 

12. Procurement and Tendering 

13. Project Finance, Quantification and Costing 

14. Risk Management 

15. Works Progress and Quality Management. 

Commercial Real Estate 

Commercial Real Estate is typically split into a number of sub-sectors: retail, offices, industrial and leisure. However, there are many emerging alternative sectors and sub-sectors, including flexible, serviced offices, as well as logistics and distribution centres. 

Chartered surveyors in this sector are sometimes known as General Practice Surveyors, i.e., they advise on a wide range of instruction types and sectors. Others focus specifically on areas of advice, such as for agencies (purchase, sale, leasing and letting), property management, landlord and tenant (also known as lease advisory or lease consultancy, or even professional services in more traditional firms), telecoms, valuation, investment and development. 

Core technical competencies include: 

1. Inspection 

2. Measurement 

3. Valuation. 

Other areas of experience include technical competencies such as: 

1. Auctioneering 

2. BIM Management 

3. Building Pathology 

4. Capital Taxation 

5. Compulsory Purchase and Compensation 

6. Contaminated Land 

7. Corporate Recovery and Insolvency 

8. Development Appraisals 

9. Insurance 

10. Indirect Investment Vehicles 

11. Investment Management 

12. Landlord and Tenant 

13. Leasing and Letting 

14. Legal/Regulatory Compliance 

15. Loan Security Valuation 

16. Local Taxation/Assessment 

17. Planning and Development Management 

18.  Property Finance and Funding 

19.  Property Management 

20.  Purchase and Sale 

21.  Strategic Real Estate Consultancy. 

On this pathway, 30% of your experience can come from other property sectors, e.g., residential or rural. This reflects the fact that many properties and portfolios are of mixed use, i.e., not solely comprising commercial buildings. 

When choosing your optional technical competencies (see Figure 1) on the Commercial Real Estate pathway, don’t fall foul of this common pitfall – which can lead to RICS rejecting your submission as being invalid. 

Figure 1 – Commercial Real Estate Pathway 

APC Pathway Requirements Chart

The blue arrow in Figure 1 indicates the potential pitfall that Commercial Real Estate candidates may encounter. Essentially, when selecting your technical optional competencies - you can take a mandatory competency to a higher level (level 3) in your 'three to level 3' selection. 

However, you can only take ONE of these to level 3: 

• Accounting Principles and Procedures 

• OR Conflict Avoidance, Management and Dispute Resolution 

• OR Data Management  

• OR Sustainability. 

This means that you cannot take Data management AND Sustainability to level 3, as an example. This is probably the most common combination of invalid competencies that Commercial Real Estate candidates try to select. 

Where you see the 'one to level 3 or two to level 2' (or amended selection if you take Valuation to Level 3) selection on the right-hand side of the technical optional competencies (optional plus), you cannot select any of the above four mandatory competencies AGAIN, i.e., if you have already selected one of the mandatory competencies as one of your 'three to level 3' optional choices, then you cannot select one of the others (indicated by OR) again in your optional plus selection. This prevents you from selecting more than one of the above four mandatory competencies as a technical optional competency to a higher level. 

Similar provisions apply in any of the other pathway guides, where the terminology ‘OR’ is used. 

Corporate Real Estate 

Corporate Real Estate (CRE) sounds very similar to Commercial Real Estate; however, the two pathways are very different. Both involve advising on commercial property matters though. 

CRE relates to advising on the entire lifecycle of a property portfolio, typically owned by a private or public sector organisation. This can include advising on strategic planning, portfolio analysis, property requirements and management of a portfolio. The aim is to optimise occupational costs and maximise the utilisation of available space. This typically requires an in-depth understanding of wider business objectives and operational requirements to ensure alignment with the property portfolio. 

There is also cross over between CRE and Facilities Management, particularly in relation to advising on operational costs and use of space. 

Core technical competencies include: 

1. Business Alignment 

2. Strategic Real Estate Consultancy 

3. Business Case 

4. Landlord and Tenant 

5. Property Management 

6. Valuation. 

Other areas of experience include technical competencies such as: 

1. Change Management 

2. Inspection 

3. Leasing and Letting 

4. Local Taxation/Assessment 

5. Measurement 

6. Performance Management 

7. Procurement and Tendering 

8. Programming and Planning 

9. Purchase and Sale 

10. Supplier Management 

11. Workspace Strategy. 

Residential 

Chartered surveyors specialising in the Residential sector, i.e., housing or domestic uses, may provide advice on a wide range of instructions, such as disposals, acquisitions, management, development, investment and valuation. Roles may be found across a wide range of organisations including in the private sector, block management, social housing, housing developers and local authorities. 

There may be an element of cross over with the role of a Building Surveyor, particularly where a level 3 Building Survey is instructed as part of a residential sale or purchase instruction. Chartered surveyors dealing with this type of work need a strong understanding of construction, building pathology and defects analysis. 

Core technical competencies include: 

1. Building Pathology 

2. Housing Maintenance, Repairs and Improvements 

3. Housing Management and Policy 

4. Housing Strategy and Provision 

5. Inspection 

6. Leasing and Letting 

7. Legal/Regulatory Compliance 

8. Market Appraisal 

9. Measurement 

10. Property Management 

11. Purchase and Sale 

12. Valuation. 

Other areas of experience include technical competencies such as: 

1. Auctioneering 

2. Capital Taxation 

3. Compulsory Purchase and Compensation 

4. Development Appraisals 

5. Landlord and Tenant 

6. Loan Security Valuation 

7. Local Taxation/Assessments 

8. Maintenance Management 

9. Property Management 

10. Purchase and Sale 

11. Strategic Real Estate Consultancy 

12. Supplier Management. 

Valuation 

Valuers are involved with a wide variety of property assets and provide valuations for purposes such as secured lending, financial reporting, agency and internal decision making. 

Core technical competencies involve other areas of experience taken from other pathways, such as Commercial Real Estate and Residential, but also include: 

1. Inspection 

2. Valuation 

3. Measurement. 

Summary 

In summary, it is important to select the pathway that most accurately reflects your role and experience. Don’t select an aspirational or unachievable pathway as it will limit your chances of success. 

With the right pathway and competency selection, you will find it simple to select good level 2 and 3 examples and an appropriate case study topic. This is key to being successful in your APC final assessment and becoming a chartered surveyor!