MODUS Magazine

Developed by Latimer, Brewery Gardens is on the former site of Boddingtons Brewery in Manchester city centre and is remarkable for its 60% affordable housing, including 115 homes for social rent. Burnham is now the UK’s prime minister with his approach to building large-scale affordable housing becoming national policy. So, will the Brewery Gardens development he described as a landmark form part of his blueprint for tackling the nation’s housing crisis?

But the launch of generative AI software ChatGPT in 2022 threw the technology firmly into the global spotlight and it swiftly became part of everyday life for many individuals and organisations. In the workplace, the technology’s impact has been profound, helping to create business efficiency and better time management.

As someone who admits to setting exceptionally high standards, Johnson says achieving a healthy work-life balance has been a challenge throughout much of her 30-year career. Having worked as a valuation surveyor, in the Cabinet Office, as head of learning and development for the Government Property Profession, and as deputy head of profession at the Valuation Office Agency before joining RICS in March, Johnson says the imbalance has often been self-imposed rather than expected by others.

Sirius Building, Sydney, Australia Following its emergence in the post-war rebuild era of the 1950s, the style grew in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s before falling out of favour. During its heyday, the minimalist, exposed-concrete designs were thought of as modernist and functional – but they were never universally loved.

Lucy Quibell MRICS has co-run Holt Property, the Warwickshire strategic land agency, since 2008. With a staff of three, she is using artificial intelligence to give clients the reach and depth of much larger firms. For Quibell’s SME business, which continues the nearly 90-year legacy of the Holt name in Midlands property, AI is about focusing on the work technology cannot do. “AI takes on some of the heavy lifting, the research and the analysis, always to the standard we set,” she says.

The Red Book’s contribution spans far beyond bricks and mortar – underpinning valuations across antiques, art, plant and machinery, natural capital, rural and coastal assets, infrastructure, heritage, cultural and community assets and the growing area of intangible and emerging asset types. Its enduring influence is testament to RICS members’ ongoing commitment to the public interest and upholding the highest professional standards.

That evidence helps surveyors make the case for targeted interventions such as new crossings, safer junction layouts or improved cycling links, and to demonstrate the impact of infrastructure investment over time. James Kavanagh MRICS, Head of Land and Resources at RICS, has experienced London’s cycling transformation, and knows exactly what’s behind it.

Illustrations by Francis Scialabba The average salary has also risen from last year, up to £68,000 ($91,000), although average bonuses have declined from £14,900 ($20,000) in 2025 to £11,180 ($15,000) this year. While salaries have risen, overall job satisfaction has not, as Peter Moore MRICS, CEO of Macdonald and Company points out, calling it “the paradox at the heart of the report”.

Illustration by Xinmei Liu The project is called the Missing Link because it will turn the A417’s only remaining section of single carriageway into dual carriageway. The single carriageway section currently causes regular bottlenecks, leading to slow-moving traffic in and out of Gloucester. According to Kier, the main contractor on the project: “The Missing Link is a 3.5-mile stretch of road that causes problems for road users and those who live and work in the area.

Under the new RICS standard Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice (effective since March), members and regulated firms that apply AI in a material way must tell clients in advance when the technology will be used, how its use can be challenged, what rectifications exist and whether opting out is possible. The result is not necessarily resistance, rather a drilling down to where AI adds value, where it introduces risk and how professional judgement remains in charge.