Launched ahead of the publication of the Scottish Budget, Surveying Scotland highlights that chronic shortages of skilled professionals, particularly surveyors, are already constraining housing delivery, infrastructure investment, and large-scale decarbonisation, and that urgent action to rebuild workforce capacity and support the next generation of built environment professionals is essential.

Skills Development Scotland predicts that the construction sector in Scotland needs at least 10,000 more jobs created by 2028 in order to meet the needs of the industry.

To help address skills shortages and ensure a highly skilled workforce, the RICS Manifesto, amongst other things, calls on the Scottish Government to provide fully-funded apprenticeship training for all SME-employed apprentices aged under 25 (aligning with the UK commitment).

It is also calling for an urgent review of building surveying and commercial valuation course provision across Scotland and a review of Scottish government funding provision for higher education to tie funding for courses in with Scotland’s economic needs and employability ratings, rather than focusing heavily on student numbers on courses.

More broadly, RICS says that tough decisions will have to be made across a range of areas if the next Scottish government is to tackle the housing emergency, deliver critical infrastructure, and achieve net zero.

To deliver on climate ambitions, the manifesto calls for a joined-up approach to retrofitting homes, including clear quality assurance frameworks to ensure work meets high standards, expert guidance and professional regulation for homeowners, and robust monitoring to prevent poor installations.

RICS also urges the next Government to take a strategic, long-term view by establishing a Ministerial Oversight Group on retrofit and introducing legislation to measure and report embodied carbon in line with RICS’ Whole Life Carbon Standard.

To tackle the housing emergency, RICS advocates for better coordination of housing functions, the creation of a Housing Land Agency, a presumption in favour of modern methods of construction for social housing, and ensuring all local development plans are up to date.

Professor Norman McLennan, FRICS, FCICES, RICS Scotland board chair, said the manifesto sets out practical, evidence-based policy proposals that would allow the next Scottish government to work in partnership with industry to deliver lasting change.

“Scotland faces a growing skills crisis across the built environment, with shortages in surveying now threatening the delivery of housing, net zero and effective land management,” he said.

“Surveyors are essential to turning political ambition into reality, yet the workforce is under real strain. Unless the next Government prioritises skills and works with industry to rebuild capacity, its ambitions on housing supply, climate action and sustainable communities will simply be impossible to deliver.”

Robert Toomey, senior public affairs manager at RICS, said: “The next government will govern at a pivotal moment for the built environment in Scotland, with the Budget playing a decisive role in what can realistically be delivered. From tackling the housing emergency to delivering energy security through investment in vital infrastructure, funding decisions taken in the coming term will shape Scotland for generations.”

RICS members provide the technical expertise and regulatory assurance that underpin everything from accelerating affordable housing supply to maintaining resilient transport networks and enabling low-carbon infrastructure.