Professional institutions in the UK
Scarlett PalmerThe Department of Land Management and Development,UKE-mail: s.h.palmer@reading.ac.ukKeywords:Professional associations, United Kingdom
In my last two Internet Briefings (Vol. 19 Nos. 2 and 4) I reviewed, inter alia, the Internet sites of some of the real estate related professional associations in the USA. I have received very positive feedback about the usefulness of those reviews (thank you) and a request that I extend the concept and look at information available on the Internet sites of relevant UK institutions/associations.
Professional institutions in the UK
Perhaps the Internet site that springs most readily to mind when considering real estate related professional institutions in the UK is that of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) www.rics.org.uk. I have reviewed this site in previous issues but now that it has undergone yet another re-vamp the time is perhaps right to re-visit it (and anyway I could hardly ignore it). I have always been rather critical of the site and certainly have never found it easy to navigate. On first perusal the latest iteration appears more clearly laid out than previous versions and the drop down menus under the main headings do make navigation more intuitive. I chose the heading"Resources" and, from there, first chose the link to "Conferences",which proved rather disappointing. Rather than the expected list of forthcoming real estate conferences, I was offered details of the conference venues owned and rented out by the RICS. I backtracked and clicked on the link to "Public Affairs". This was much more rewarding and I was presented with details of recent research and events and further links to details of "Policy Research","European Alert" and "Brussels Briefing".
I then chose the link to "Economic Analysis" and again was presently surprised by breadth and depth of information offered. There are links to the"UK Economic Brief", the "Euro Economic Brief", "Market Surveys" and "EU Housing Review". Summaries of the UK Economic Brief, for example, can be viewed online or the full text downloaded in PDF format from an archive. The "Market Surveys" link offers the latest edition of the Housing Market Survey, the Construction Market Survey, the Rural Market Survey, the Residential Lettings Market Survey and the Commercial Market Survey. As with the UK Economic Brief, users can choose to read a brief summary or download the full text in PDF format.
I then tried the link to "RICS Research" which took me to a page welcoming me and assuring me that the Research Committee realises "there is a vital role to be played in providing a means by which the results of research can be publicised" and that this has been achieved "through the portfolio of publications listed here". The "Publications" link takes you to brief details of three publications series: the RICS Research Foundation Paper Series, the RICS Research Foundation Findings and Our Common Estate. So sum to up, I was presently surprised by this latest version of the RICS Web site. They have taken a long time to get it right but I think they have finally made it. Let's hope they stick with this design and concept, at least for a while.
Strangely, although the publications listed under "RICS Research"come out of the RICS Research Foundation there is no direct link from "RICS Research" to the Foundation's dedicated site. However, when I accessed their site (www.rics-foundation.org) I realised why the RICS was keen to keep quiet about it. I don't know who designed the site (well, I do because I looked at the "credits" link but I am too embarrassed on their behalf to name them) or how much they were paid, but if I were the Research Foundation I should be wanting my money back. This is a real shame because once you manage to ignore the purple background and the (to me)meaningless pictures and the peculiar page tags (Home: Built: Natural:Environment, Research: Future Thinking For People And Places) there is some quite useful information on the site.
The "Publishing" link offers you an efficient search facility that also allows you to search "all sources" (i.e. reports, review series,conference papers etc.) of RICS research output. The results are presented as a list and clicking on any title takes you to the full report (if available on line) or, failing this, information on how to obtain the publication. I was less fortunate with the "Research" page as, initially, none of the links appeared to work. I then tried the "text only" version of the page and was able to access other areas on the site but, to be honest, I was, by then, so fed up with the whole thing that I gave up.
Regrettably, I can only conclude that the site really needs a complete overhaul. It appears that the designers/developers did not test the site across a variety of browsers (which is standard good practice) because while it is just about useable in Internet Explorer, it fails lamentably using Netscape. Links to FIBRE and STORM mean nothing to me and pictures of little dogs and laughing children leave me cold and do nothing to add to the image of the site as serving the research arm of a professional body.
The Investment Property Forum site – www.ipf.org.uk– is in marked contrast to the above. Although there is slightly too much happening on the front page for my liking, the layout is clear and navigation is intuitive. The main headings expand in a sensible way to offer a range of options while basic information is available in the main frame. At each stage the user is given the option of obtaining more detailed information via links in the left hand column or using the information in the main frame as a jumping off point. For example, if you click on the main heading "Research and Publications", it expands to offer you links to "Special Projects","Market Data" and "Forum View", while the main frame gives a brief summary of current projects and direct links to downloadable reports.
Clicking on the "Market Data" link I was taken to a page explaining that "The Forum produces quarterly surveys of property investment market forecasts. The surveys offer an insight into the range of forecasts of future property performance gathered from approximately 30 companies including fund managers, property advisers and equity brokers. Whilst a wide range of performance forecasts are openly made available to investors in other capital markets, particularly equities, this is the first time such information has been brought together and published for commercial property". Full text of the surveys, from November 1998 to date, is downloadable in PDF format. The "What's Up" link takes you to "News and Developments at the IPF" and an option to view recent "Press Releases".
The Society of Property Researchers site at www.sprweb.com offers a more basic facility, although this has the advantage of the site being clear and easy to navigate. There is a useful "Links" section that has sites grouped under alphabetical headings such as "Economy", "Facilities Management" and "Travel". Other than details of forthcoming events(which does go up to the end of 2002) and information on how to join the society, the site offers little more other than the current newsletter and an archive of past newsletters back to March 2000. Given that the society is the natural home for all those involved, in the UK at least, in property research I feel that the site could do with some development. There is information on the site that the society produces a Research Digest "which carries in-depth articles on the major contemporary issues facing the industry" and a biennial Survey of Salaries and Benefits. Both of these would sit nicely on the Web page and offer an additional facility for members.
The Society of Investment Professionals, who style themselves UKSIP (although I note that Fellows are, coyly, referred to as FSIP), have their site at www.uksip.org. To my mind, this is a model of clarity and although the font size is a little small to be truly accessible it certainly comes a lot nearer the ideal than most. I particularly like the "Calendar",which is laid out like a desk diary with "significant dates for the Society's committees, examinations or other activities" shown in grey and clickable links to forthcoming events shown in blue. For example, in November,when I am writing this, there is a link to "Fair Values and Financial Instruments", which when clicked takes you to details of the objectives of the seminar, information on speakers and a four page PDF file which includes an application form. Although the site offers little real information of a research nature, it serves its members by providing clear and up to date information and promises a "JobLine service later this year" where "employers will be able to post jobs directly into a password-protected section of the website which will be accessible only to SIP members".
The British Council for Shopping Centres Web page – www.bcsc.propertymall.com – is the final site I shall review in this article. This is, as the URL suggests,hosted out of the Propertymall and has a Propertymall look about it. Personally,I find the font size, which I guess is eight point, much too small too read comfortably. The columns containing links to "Latest News", "Events"and "Publications" are needlessly crowded and it is not always clear where one title ends and the next begins, which makes navigation rather haphazard. However, once links are chosen the information requested pops up in a box in a larger font that is much easier to read.
The amount of information available to non-members is limited – which is fair enough. There is a "trial membership" option which allows "five free trial entries to the BCSC Member's site". I took this option and was e-mailed a username and password in less than five minutes after completing the very brief registration form.
The Member's Site has a different and more pleasing layout to that of the site available to the general public. Although the font is still small the layout is much less crowded, making navigation easier. I took the link to "Publications"and then "Research Papers". I was presented with a long list in no discernable order (certainly neither alphabetical nor chronological). I was somewhat disappointed that I was still unable to download documents, as most items seem to have a charge for which members are invoiced. However, even those that were free to members were not available under the "Trial User"scheme, which makes the exercise somewhat pointless.
In this review I have concentrated mainly on the public face of Web sites run by professional organisations. Many of these institutions offer more and different information to their membership, but in most cases I was not able to view this material. However, I think it is safe to say that while, in general,the sites are becoming more sophisticated, an increasingly computer literate membership should (and probably soon will) be demanding much more.
Sites reviewed in this article
British Council for Shopping Centres: www.bcsc.propertymall.com
Investment Property Forum: www.ipf.org.uk
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: www.rics.org.uk
RICS Research Foundation: www.rics-foundation.org
Society of Investment Professionals: www.uksip.org
Society of Property Researchers: www.sprweb.com
