← All insights

Good morning, Steven, thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience as a Quantity Surveyor (to use the UK title of the role). I know you are from the UK but is that where you grew up and where you were educated?

Yes, I was born in Hove on the Sussex coast (next door to Brighton – for football fans!) and I grew up there, went to school in Hove and started my first job at the age of 19 in a small QS practice in the town. After a number of years, I moved to London (to seek my fame and fortune – but still waiting!) and joined other QS firms in the capital.

Picture taken in the city of Bath with Poultney Bridge in the background – apparently only one of a few remaining bridges in Europe with operational shops on the bridge itself!

CEEC: Delegate since 2016

Name: Steven Thompson

Born: Hove, UK

Education: Knoll School for Boys and Hove Grammar School (secondary) followed by BSc in surveying at South Bank Polytechnic (now University), London and MBA at The Open University (distance learning Masters level degree) Company: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Current position: Senior Specialist, Construction Standards

Country: UK, https://www.rics.org/RICS

What first attracted you to construction and quantity surveying?

With school careers advice, the usual starting point is to ask, ‘What are you good at?’ to which my answer was driven by the fact that I was ‘Good with numbers.’ It was then suggested that becoming a Quantity Surveyor would be a good career route, not that I had ever heard of such a job! I suppose that I should be grateful that my ‘love of numbers’ did not result in me becoming an accountant, although I suspect that I really should have become an architect!

Where did this take you next in your career, Steven?

Having worked in a couple of QS firms in London in the 1980s and 1990s, I tended to find that once you are involved in one particular industry sector you stay with it. This was true for me in that I worked as a QS and a Project Manager on global pharmaceutical projects, both for manufacturing facilities and research laboratories. Somewhere along the way I became an equity partner in my practice and so I must have been doing something right!

With that experience, I joined Currie & Brown (the global QS and PM consultancy) in the year 2000 and continued to work on pharma projects until I was persuaded to join a property outsourcing company working across the BBC estate within the UK. Ten years later, in 2016, I joined RICS as a staff member within the Standards team.

Throughout my career I have increasingly been drawn to the use of construction contracts and advising Clients on contract selection and strategy. Flowing from this was membership of the drafting team for the JCT suite of contracts (used extensively within the UK market) which involves revising existing and drafting new forms of contract.

Was there a stand-out project you worked on?

If I am allowed two projects, then both of these stand out in my career and which I am particularly proud of being involved in, each of which are quite different.

Firstly, back in the 1980s, I was involved as a young Quantity Surveyor on the restoration project for Christ Church Spitalfields (a City of London church designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and originally built in the 1720s). It had been ‘improved’ by the Victorians in the 1850s and was now being restored to its original condition and appearance but with account taken of modern building codes.

I had the privilege of being involved for a few years as the QS (in what was a bigger 30+ years project) with the procurement of the replacement leadwork to the portico, the replacement stonework around the windows, introduction of new windows to the nave, new street railings and the clearing of the crypt (full of 18th century burials). The projects drawings were all in imperial (the British measure using feet and inches) and many were full size drawings (1:1) but it was a real joy to be working with traditional materials and craftsmen whilst restoring a famous church. The project was finally completed a few years ago (long after I left the project and moved on) and I am pleased to say that there is now a thriving congregation using the restored building.

The other project that I am still quite proud of was the new build construction (some 20 years ago now of an Independent fee paying school on a green-field site with a project value of some £30 million – with 18 months on site and acting in the role of Developer’s representative with an unamended JCT Design and Build form of contract.

That meant being responsible for the processing of payments of some £2 million each month and all within 14 days of the issue of the Payment Certificate – it was finished on time and to budget and before the start of the new school year – one very satisfied Client who then had the privilege of seeing the new school being officially opened in 2008 by Queen Elizabeth II!

Aerial view of completed school project – completed in 2008.

Interestingly, one historic footnote to the school project, is that the original school buildings which had been situated in the centre of Leicester and very near to the place that the remains of King Richard III were recently discovered. It had subsequently become a car park with the body of the King having been buried in a church that was on the site in 1485. The body has now been re-buried in Leicester Cathedral.

Do you ever have a typical day at work Steven?

Much of my day is taken up with the ‘core’ task of the planning and preparation of construction and QS standards for RICS members (and others) globally – much of this effort involves the commissioning of technical authors and the recruitment of Expert Groups to assist and advise on content. The particular focus at present is on updating the RICS QS body of knowledge and giving consideration to the preparation of guidance on accounting for and advising Clients on the carbon footprint for their project.

Historically, QSs have advised Clients on the capital (build) cost of a project and more recently the whole life (maintenance) cost of the asset over its life, but now there is a pressing need to also provide advice on the carbon footprint of the proposed building – and to assist with option appraisal between all three aspects.

What made you decide to take up the invitation to join CEEC?

Clearly, I can see the very real benefits of a network of like-minded QSs and cost engineers from across Europe (and beyond) being able to share knowledge and insight with each other. The opportunity to build lasting friendships across borders (notwithstanding the UK’s decision to leave the EU recently) it is good to see that you are still talking to us which has been extremely beneficial.

I’d like to add that it’s been a privilege to serve recently as a Vice President for four years and to support Board members in the vision, strategy and work of CEEC.

Finally, Steven, what would you say are the biggest challenges to our profession today?

The pressing need is to ensure that QSs and cost engineers remain relevant in the advice that they offer to their Clients whilst at the same time overcoming the challenge of attracting the next generation of surveyors to consider the industry as an attractive choice of career.

We already have a skills shortage across industry within the UK and this will be the same in other European markets as well, with this crisis only likely to get worse if new entrants fail to arrive in sufficient numbers, particularly with the upturn in the volume of work that has been signposted by the UK Government.

The other huge challenge for the profession is the advent of AI and machine learning – skill shortage as before, overlaid with the need to ensure that the surveyors that are working have the right skill set when this new tech can be seen as a threat whereas it should be considered an opportunity – discuss! Challenging days indeed as I come to retirement!

Steven, thank you so much for your time and I look forward to travelling with you to the next CEEC (https://ceecorg.eu/) conference in Zadar, Croatia in May 2026.

The European Council of Construction Economists (CEEC) will hold its 93rd General Assembly from 7–9 May 2026 in Zadar, Croatia. The Assembly will be organised locally by Egemen Çam. Set on the Adriatic coast, the General Assembly will provide a focused setting for strategic exchange on construction economics, resilient infrastructure and climate adaptation.

Send us an email

This interview first appeared in CEEC Inside, March 2026. Read the original edition →