“Help! I can’t see the relevance”
“Algebra? When will I use this? How does this relate to anything else? Why on earth am I learning this?” Or so goes the perennial cry from countless school pupils. You then tell yourself: “At least when I start university, I know that everything I learn will be relevant to my future career.” However, you may be surprised at how often property students question this assertion.
It is mid-November in the first year at university and your studies are intensifying. Around this time you expect to start to truly comprehend the content of your degree and appreciate its relevance to your chosen career, as well as understand how all the various material interconnects. For some students, this may be true; for others, it will not be.
In fact, many property students discover that it is not the neat and tidy “mental picture” they had envisaged it to be; instead, it can appear more like a haphazard collection of unrelated topics, many of which seem to have little or no bearing on their chosen degree’s subject. The question is: how much truth is there behind these thoughts and feelings?
At the beginning of each new academic year, trying to force connections between different modules may be less effective than letting a few pieces fall into place in order to build up a relatively simple picture of what makes up your degree. It can be difficult (initially) to appreciate the cause-and-effect nature of one subject area over another but this understanding develops over time, and it does not always matter that things don’t click immediately. Admittedly, this aspect of studying can be frustrating or disappointing, especially during the first year at university. However, as the months and years pass and the material becomes more complex, links between modules start to emerge naturally.
As a property surveying graduate, like others on the various property surveying courses, I questioned the relevance of lectures, seminars and sometimes entire modules!
The construction module
To provide an example of this scepticism, many of those on my course challenged the relevance of the “construction” module. We did not understand why we were learning about the constituent parts of a traditionally built house or why we were being taught how to draw them.
We were budding agents or property developers and we felt we did not need to learn about subjects that were for building surveying students. We were not interested in cavity walls, cold roofs or raft foundations; in practice, we would just leave all that “stuff” to the architect and the contractor, wouldn’t we? On face value, the answer could be “yes”, but for the astute developer (and property professional, in general) the answer is a resounding “no”.
Without a basic knowledge of construction, how can you double-check that the foundations proposed, at the very least, appear to be appropriate for the site’s ground conditions? How would you be able to question whether a building’s design is overspecified and therefore would be detrimental to viability and a project’s ultimate success? On the other hand, how would you know if a building is underspecified or is inappropriate altogether? In this situation, you might be left with a product that is difficult to let or dispose of, or – worse still – a poor design followed by building failure that could leave you liable for a negligence claim/compensation pay-out.
Although this is an oversimplified scenario, it highlights how construction, development, valuation, property management and agency specialisms can become entwined. This interlinked nature is also seen when providing reports to clients. Not only are surveyors dealing with the main questions and queries behind an instruction, they are anticipating how the information they supply could affect other stakeholders and key decisions within a project. Implementing a “silo-thinking” mind-set is not the way to become a successful surveyor – and is not the way to approach a degree either. A degree should be viewed holistically in the context of other property specialisms.
The above examples emphasise the importance of acquiring, and appreciating the need for, a broad knowledge of the property industry, even if some aspects of a degree seem unimportant or even irrelevant.
Delivering value
Developing the theme of the built environment’s interconnected nature a little further, let us think about the primary goal that surveyors often seek to achieve in a professional capacity: value. Regardless of the chosen discipline, the industry as a whole is about identifying and then delivering value, be it personal, monetary or social.
In order to achieve any or all of these, imagine the following example: you have been instructed to undertake a valuation of a property portfolio. Not only will this need agents’ property market and disposal advice, it will probably require a fund manager’s advice on their appetite for such a portfolio as well as the current risk premium. Alternatively, you could be managing the same portfolio and need a building surveyor to carry out a dilapidations survey or advise on a historic building’s condition in advance of a refurbishment scheme.
These scenarios emphasise the need for property professionals to have a broad knowledge of the industry precisely because it will often be necessary to interpret reports provided by other professionals to provide a client with appropriate solutions and good-quality advice. Ultimately, these examples highlight that the consideration and delivery of value is not achieved in isolation: they help explain why those studying building surveying learn about agency or why property finance and investment students learn about the planning system.
The question to tutors “What on earth am I learning this for?” is thus the most positive question that can be posed.
When you challenge the relevance of how particular subjects relate to your degree’s grand scheme, this shows that you want to uncover and understand the connections. Surely this is a much better approach than taking a piece of material at face value or simply dismissing it altogether because it doesn’t appear to “fit in”? Do not be afraid to ask: “What on earth have x, y and z got to do with my degree?” You will almost certainly be pleasantly surprised by the response.
In the words of Leonardo Da Vinci, “Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else.”
Michael Halston graduated with a first‑class degree and has secured a job with Nottingham City Council.
Mainly for Students is edited by Paul Collins of Nottingham Trent University. He is also an external examiner at other universities and an RICS APC assessor. Paul welcomes suggestions for the column and can be contacted at paul.collins@ntu.ac.uk