RICS to promote CIWEM flood resilience training and register to surveyors

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will promote the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management's (CIWEM) property flood resilience training and Specialist Register to its members under a collaboration announced on 5 October.

RICS said it would also support the continued development of the training programme and the register, which cover property flood resilience (PFR).

Consumers will be able to use the RICS Find a Surveyor service to identify firms offering flooding-related services, RICS said. That includes firms whose professionals have completed the CIWEM training and joined the Specialist Register.

Nick Maclean, RICS President, said: "Through this collaboration with CIWEM, we want to help more surveyors develop recognised expertise in property flood resilience and make that expertise easier for property owners to find."

According to RICS, the collaboration aims to increase the number of surveyors with recognised PFR competence and to improve consistency in how resilience measures are assessed, designed and delivered.

John Curtin, CIWEM President, said: "By working with RICS, we can help property owners and businesses identify professionals who have recognised, independently assessed expertise in Property Flood Resilience."

Emma Hardy, Minister of State for Water and Flooding, said the government was pleased to support the collaboration as it invests £10.5bn by March 2036 towards new flood schemes.

What the register requires

CIWEM's Specialist Register certifies professionals against the industry Code of Practice for PFR. According to CIWEM, it also requires them to show applied knowledge and experience of end-to-end PFR delivery.

Applicants must have completed recognised training aligned with the code of practice within the last year, CIWEM's register guidance says.

They then present a technical report and are questioned on it by two independent professional assessors in a Professional Review Interview.

Background to the scheme

The code of practice for PFR was developed in 2021 and sets a benchmark for those installing or constructing PFR, according to CIWEM.

CIWEM said it developed its training programme in 2023, aligned with the technical standards of the code. The institution won an Environment Agency project to design, develop and deliver accredited PFR training, and RICS said the programme was developed with the agency.

The Specialist Register followed in spring 2025. CIWEM described it as an independent, recognised benchmark of competency for those delivering PFR measures.

In April 2025 CIWEM said 6.3 million properties in England were at risk of flooding, citing the government's National Flood Risk Assessment.

The FloodReady review

RICS said the collaboration supports recommendations in the FloodReady Action Plan on awareness, competence and professional assurance. Those include closer engagement with RICS on training, competency frameworks and professional standards.

The Environment Agency commissioned Professor Peter Bonfield to review property flood resilience. The resulting FloodReady report, published on GOV.UK, sets out six strategic themes supported by 22 recommendations, backed by an action plan.

Government funding

The government said in March 2026 that at least £10.5bn would be invested between 2024 and 2036 to protect homes, businesses and critical infrastructure from flooding.

It said £7.9bn of capital investment would benefit 840,000 properties.