Professional body announces decision to close its NW office
RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) has announced the closure of its Salford office, in the University of Salford.
The decision has been taken not to re-open most of its UK offices when lockdown measures are lifted.
The organisation said it will only retain its London, Birmingham and Edinburgh offices.
These are due to reopen by the end of September, having closed when social distancing measures were introduced by the Government.
RICS said smaller offices, including Salford, Nottingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Belfast and Cardiff, will not reopen.
The organisation supports more than 6,700 members across the North West from its Salford base.
It said it is moving to a ‘digital first’ approach.
Trade publication Property Week quoted RICS UK managing director Matthew Howell as saying: “The nature of these smaller offices does not give us the type of space we will need for the new future of work.
“This will not affect the ability of our team to fully support our professionals.”
He added: “Throughout this crisis we have shown how doing things differently can be far more effective, including the success of moving assessments online, which has been overwhelmingly popular with candidates, assessors and the market, with over 1,000 now completed.
“RICS will continue to embrace this approach going forward into a new future of work.
“Over the past three months, we have proved how effective we can be in working flexibly and our UK staff will remain working remotely until the end of September.
“With the exception of London, Birmingham and Edinburgh, RICS has also now taken the decision to close all other UK offices permanently.”
In April RICS announced it had asked around 30% of its UK-based employees to go on furlough.
Alongside this, chief executive Sean Tompkins volunteered a temporary pay cut of 15% which was matched by RICS non-executive chairs, while executives took a voluntary 12.5% reduction of their salary.
New ways of working are leading to many companies reassessing their labour requirements.
Last month Liverpool online retailer The Very Group announced it would close its Aintree call centre next Summer and offer the 500-strong workforce the option of transferring to its headquarters in South Liverpool, or working remotely from home.
The group also revealed plans to axe 141 jobs in a restructuring following the coronavirus pandemic.
