The new RICS president, a chartered quantity surveyor, is the founder and chief executive of London-based construction consultant Adair.
Justin Sullivan plans to use his year as RICS president to focus on skills and encouraging the next generation into the profession. He is also keen to expand recognition of the profession’s impact on society.
Sullivan is a past chair of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the International Cost Management Standards Coalition (ICMS). He founded Adair in 1994 and specialises in construction disputes. He acts as an expert witness for construction claims, adjudications, arbitrations and civil proceedings.
As RICS president for the year, he succeeds 2024’s Tina Paillet, chief executive and co-founder of Circotrade, a trading platform for recycled building materials.
Justin Sullivan said: “It is an enormous honour to serve as president for an organisation that has supported and promoted the surveying profession for over 150 years. Whilst RICS certainly has an incredible history, my eyes are firmly set on the future, and particularly the next generation of surveyors.
“Across the globe, demand for built environment professionals of all specialisms is white hot, and opportunities for the next generation are profound. We need to get more young people considering and entering surveying as a career. The UK faces many challenges – we need to build more homes but face skills shortages which threaten to derail these plans. Similarly, surveyors and other built environment professionals are in short supply across the globe, most acutely in regions where construction is booming, such as the Middle East. We must also develop an increasingly welcoming profession which is open to people of all backgrounds and identities – a crucial cornerstone for getting more youth into the profession.
“There is much work to be done, and I look forward to the challenge. I also want to congratulate Tina Paillet for her excellent work as president in 2024, which saw RICS expand its engagement in the circular economy and decarbonisation.”
Nicholas Maclean, co-chairman and managing director of CBRE Middle East Region, now becomes president elect of RICS following his year as senior vice president in 2024.
