My Take – Why Surveying Must Become Visible

Speaker: 00:08
Hello and welcome. You’re listening to This Is Surveying, the podcast shining a light on the people, ideas, and stories shaping this incredible profession. I’m Nina Young, founder of Surveyors UK and the Surveying Room, the community bringing surveyors together, breaking down silos, and making surveying visible. So for now, let’s dive into our latest episode. Hello everyone, this is Nina Young, the host of This Is Surveying, and today’s episode is a bit different. There is no guest, you’ve just got me. I want to talk about something I see across the whole surveying profession. Surveying is really not visible enough. People don’t understand it. They don’t appreciate the diversity of it, they don’t see it as a career, and I think it’s an undervalued professional service. This gap is holding the profession back. This is one of the many reasons why I started this surveying and why the Surveyors UK platform exists that I’m building and rolling out over the next six months. Most people in the UK can probably tell you what a solicitor does or an accountant or a dentist or even an architect. But if you’re saying you’re trained to be a surveyor, you get blank stares. Residential surveying is probably one of the only touch points the public tends to know about, and even then they don’t really fully understand the role. They just know someone turns up, walks around the house, takes notes, takes photographs. The lack of visibility is a huge issue for recruitment, diversity, engagement, public understanding, and how the profession is valued. This has been a problem for decades. So here we go.

Here’s the funny thing. I am not a surveyor. Yes. Shock, horror. Most people think I am, but I’m not. I did train to be a surveyor, a residential surveyor and valuer during COVID. And I loved it. I even almost chose to be a surveyor at school. I met a very traditional gentleman on a rural estate who looked like Gandalf in Tweed. And to be honest, it didn’t exactly scream, this is a modern, exciting profession, and it put me off. So when I started my course in during COVID to be a residential surveyor, the reaction from friends and family was surveying, what’s that? I kept having to constantly explain it in detail again and again and again. And it was frustrating. And I looked into it and I realized what an absolute incredible diverse profession we have, and yet so little is known about it. So that was kind of one of my light bulb moments. Even if I struggled to explain it, what chance, for example, has a 17-year-old to choose surveying as a career? I think the profession is at crossroads. I think a huge part of the workforce is heading towards retirement. Not enough young people are joining. Some specialisms are shrinking.

You know, I’m hearing, for example, in certain areas in building surveying and in geospatial university courses are actually closing down, which is so disappointing. I think AI is having an impact. Things like residential surveying has uncertainty with the new buying and selling reforms and consultations. And all of this is happening at the same time as public awareness is probably at its lowest. A profession this critical to the built and natural environment and to society as a whole should not be invisible. Before I ever thought about building the Surveyors UK platform, I created a student community on Facebook for surveyors, for student surveyors and other surveyors, professional surveyors who wanted to support students. That group now has over 3,000 members. On there, students found mentors, some people got jobs, experienced surveyors supported students and each other.

It worked, but it was limited. It was mostly residential, and sadly, Facebook’s algorithm and changes has decided what you see. So even more so now, you have less control even within your own group. Then people kept saying to me, Nina, can you create something on LinkedIn? I’m not on Facebook. I don’t like Facebook. I don’t want to post my share my personal profile on a group that is really for my work, my training. And I was like, no chance. There’s no chance I was going to create a LinkedIn group because they barely function. Years ago, I had a LinkedIn group with over 30,000 members and engagement was poor. And even now it’s poorer. LinkedIn does not prioritize groups as an engagement factor on their platform because it’s very restricted in how they can promote adverts. I spoke to a lot of people across the profession over the last few years. I saw silos everywhere. Residential in one corner, QS in one corner, geospatial over there, different bodies, different conversations, different struggles, but all dealing with really similar issues such as isolation, diversity, public awareness, value, their work being valued by clients and the public, and many, many others, such as AI and its impacts. So I asked a simple question: what if we had one place where everyone could connect and learn and support each other? A national digital space, modern, open, and inclusive. No gatekeeping, no, you’re not my type of surveyor, or you’re not a member of this professional body. Just a profession talking to itself properly. People have asked numerous times why I didn’t finish the residential surveying course. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it, I loved it, and it was incredible. But it was because building Surveyors UK took everything time, energy, and focus. I was already running a digital strategy business for surveyors, providing social media, marketing, branding, etc. And I couldn’t do both properly. It was really not an easy decision to make. But the decision paid off. Because 2024 showed me something really important. Surveyors UK and the surveying room community wasn’t just a good idea. It was really needed. And surveyors and students and professional alike were screaming out for it. Why the podcast exists. So, why did I set up this is surveying? Well, this is one of the next steps in making the profession visible. Real conversations, real people, no scripts, all specialisms, all career stages, and stories that show the human side of surveying. If someone outside the profession listens, and I’ve already have people with feedback on my first episode who are not surveyors who are enjoying the episodes and learning, I want people to finally understand what surveyors do, what it’s really like on the ground. What are the challenges? If someone inside the profession listens, I want them to feel seen. So what’s the story behind all of this? Surveying matters, and the people behind it matter even more. If this resonates with you, please do follow this podcast and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Next week I’ve got another guest episode, and I’m looking forward to sharing that with you. But thank you for listening. We’ve just started out, I’ve just started out, should I say, with this podcast, and I’m really enjoying it. If you are interested in being a guest on the show, get in touch with me. I’m always open to listening and hearing from new guests across all types of surveying, all career stages, and also professionals that work with them. And finally, a big shout out for the new community, the surveying room, the heart of the Surveyors UK platform. We’ve only been going a matter of weeks, and we already have hundreds of surveyors and students joining from all areas of surveying. And it’s incredible. People are already finding mentors, we’re sharing events, people are talking about tech, giving advice, drones, etc. So do join and remember it’s free. If you head over to www.surveyors-uk.com and register, click on the surveying room, and please join us. I look forward to seeing you inside the room. I’ll catch you later. Okay, thank you. Bye for now, and I’ll speak to you next week. Thank you for listening to this is Surveying. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. It really helps more people discover the podcast and supports the work we’re doing to raise awareness of the profession. You can also join the Surveying Room, the free and independent community from Surveys UK, bringing surveyors together, breaking down silos, and of course making surveying visible. Just head over to surveyors UK.com to learn more and join today. All the links discussed in today’s episode are included in the show notes.