GlobeSt.com: How was the intel gathered to forecast the potential scenarios for the built environment in 2030?

Shah: The RICS strategy team compiled the information from a number of global roundtables, forums and other consultations. Our strategy team identified themes, did additional research and compiled the report that will be released at the Summit of the Americas on April 23. The team deserves a lot of credit for their work, but the strength of the report is the input we received from the people who participated in the roundtables and forums. We were able to pull executives and c-suite leaders from firms such as CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Gleeds and Turner & Townsend, as well as their clients. They have a strong feel for the pulse of what's going in the industry, but due to the nature of their positions, they also have to take the 30,000-foot view and have a good sense of what's on the horizon. It's the ultimate crowdsourcing in a way, using opinions from among the best and brightest in the real estate and construction sector.

GlobeSt.com: How did members of RICS and other key industry stakeholders play a role in gathering information for the report?

Shah: In meteorology, the more data points you have, the more accurate the forecast. That is one of RICS' strengths as a global organization. We can take the temperature on real estate issues in places like Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Ghana, Singapore, the UK and the US and create a model to predict where we're headed. More than 500 leaders in academia, the private sector and public sector from North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe, have contributed to the report through workshops and interviews. We've had futures conversations throughout the globe with leaders in the profession. That gives us a broad base of understanding for where things stand in real estate, and where they are headed.

GlobeSt.com: RICS has indicated the report will be unveiled in April at its Summit of the Americas. What can we expect from the report when it is released?

Shah: A good portion of the Summit of the Americas will look at future trends in land, property and construction. Our 'Future of the Profession' session will help launch the Futures Report, and in that context feature a panel discussion considering some of the key opportunities and trends shaping the profession's future, from technology to education and training, leadership, and multidisciplinary skills.

From the report itself, you can expect an examination of:

• Changing expectations for the property sector, due to the major trends of uunprecedented urbanization, changing demographics (including the aging of the population) and technological advances that will drive and reshape the world in which we live and work today. These trends in turn will help produce a changing business landscape featuring, among other things, increasing global capital flows, further changes to business models and practices, and greater adoption of technology in the built environment.
• The professional of tomorrow, who will differ in important ways from today's professional because of changing demands. For example, multi-disciplinary industries in particular (such as engineering and construction) already need new skills to manage greater levels of complexity and risk; and employers of all types – big and small, public and private – also are placing a stronger emphasis on the need for “soft skills” such as communication skills, commercial awareness and collaboration.

In addition, the workforce of tomorrow is likely to be a small and demanding one, where employees will choose who they will work for, and under what terms and conditions, as opposed to employers selecting their own talent pool. Because of that (as well as the many other changes), if we want to help our sector win the war for talent, we will have to be relevant and attractive to future generations. This will include becoming more intergenerational, by accommodating younger generations that have grown up with social media and digital technology and are quick to take up new approaches to work.

There is much more in the Futures Report, of course—including a roadmap of options for our sector to start taking concerted action toward a positive future—that will be available when the document is released during the summit.

GlobeSt.com: The report is based on seven “pillars.” What does this mean? How were these seven pillars selected to be the basis of the global forecast?

Shah: The report is based on seven key ingredients that we believe will be integral to the future of the profession. We chose these seven strategic closely interlinked and interdependent pillars as the foundation, in a rapidly changing world and profession, on which to try to ensure that built environment professionalism remains relevant and respected in the future. The seven pillars on which RICS Futures is based are:

• Thinking ahead
• Leadership and inspiration
• Sustainability
• New skills and multi-disciplinarity
• Networks
• Technology
• Ethics, values and standards

The pillars are based on a number of relevant themes identified by a research report, “The Future: Just Imagine!,” that RICS commissioned in 2010 and formed the foundation of the entire Futures Project. From that report, plus follow-up work we did since then, we identified these pillars as the key areas on which we need to focus to create the best possible vision for the future of the profession.

GlobeSt.com: What would you say was most interesting about the results? How will the report prepare for the built environment of tomorrow?

Shah: One consistent theme came up with everyone we talked to—investors, real estate service providers, construction professionals—that there is a confluence of a number of changes such as more networks, less hierarchy; evolving standards and values; rapidly altering technology; and new skill sets. People are looking for leadership, and the key to that leadership is embracing these changes and working to make the change they want to see happen. Leaders in the built environment in many ways are already moving their organizations to embrace the new reality. In effect, even though we're talking about the future, we're already living in that time.

We believe that the seven pillars, along with the action items that will be recommended in the document, will prepare us for the built environment of tomorrow by laying out principles on which to act and a roadmap to follow in the future. However, even though the seven pillars in this document are what we're dealing with now, we should realize that the world is not static but very dynamic. So we'll have to be in a pretty continuous process of understanding the dynamics of the market and acquiring the insight to be able to make the changes needed to adapt to our ever-changing market and world.

GlobeSt.com: Can we expect similar global reports from RICS in the future?

Shah: An important part of RICS' work is promoting research in our field. We have a number of projects in the pipeline. Earlier this week, we helped lead a roundtable that is helping shape the upcoming UN Global Compact Responsible Business Best Practice Toolkit for the Land, Construction & Real Estate Sector. The toolkit is being crafted by RICS and the UN Global Compact, with extensive public input, to develop best practices in several key areas—especially sustainability, labor, human rights and anti-corruption—for the land, construction and real estate sector worldwide. The toolkit project, which takes a whole life-cycle approach, aims to strengthen the business contribution to sustainable development and provide a framework for action.

Another example is “The Future Financing of Real Estate Development in Cities,” which uses the San Francisco Bay Area as a case-study to draw on an improved understanding of how cities can be better financed to meet challenges over the short and long-term: economic, social and environmental. The research is aimed at addressing the fact that lack of sufficient revenues is one of the major problems facing cities around the world. We're bringing together a panel in the Bay Area in May to discuss the research and the findings.