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All members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors鈥� (RICS) standards and regulation board (SRB) have resigned.

RICS president Ann Gray said she had accepted a letter of resignation from SRB chair Janet Paraskeva 鈥渋n the last few days鈥� and the SRB鈥檚 nine other members had all since followed suit.

It is understood the members had walked after it emerged the RICS鈥� governing council planned to break up the board and transfer responsibilities for technical standards to the newly established knowledge and practice committee. 

The departed SRB members included Turner & Townsend director Bruce Haswell, EY partner Leigh Miller, surveyor Richard Waterhouse and Lionheart global ambassador Dele Oyekanmi, along with five non-executives.

Gray said the RICS had begun the search for a replacement interim chair and board members and 鈥渓ooks forward to working with them to drive forward RICS鈥� transformation programme鈥�.

The governing council is now looking to halve the number of SRB members from 10 to five on a short term basis, consisting of one chair, two RICS members and two independent members.

The resignations come just days after the institution announced the appointment of its new permanent chief executive, former Knight Frank chief operating officer Justin Young, on 20 June.

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In a Q&A posted on its website, the RICS said Paraskeva was invited to a meeting on 23 June to discuss 鈥渁 number of significant matters鈥�, including reports from third parties that assurances she had given to the governing council 鈥漨ay have been at odds with those being discussed elsewhere鈥�.

鈥淭his would have been an opportunity for Dame Janet to respond to the matters that had been raised but shortly before the meeting was due to take place, she decided to tender her resignation instead.

鈥淪ubsequently her Board also tendered their individual resignations,鈥� the RICS added.

Asked if there had been an intentional campaign to remove Paraskeva, the RICS said 鈥渁bsolutely not鈥�.

It added the governing council had given Paraskeva 鈥渆very opportunity to convey concerns and to discuss issues relating to operational changes RICS was making鈥�.

The creation of a knowledge and practice committee was recommended in Michael Bichard鈥檚 independent review of the RICS, which was ordered after a governance scandal in 2021 led to the resignations of four senior leaders including former chief executive Sean Tompkins.

Asked if transferring powers to the new committee contradicted the Bichard review, the RICS said 鈥渢here are different ways to operationalise鈥� the recommendations.

It said the governing council had accepted this would require the reallocation of a 鈥渟mall number鈥� of technical staff and resources from the SRB to the knowledge and practice committee but had agreed the move was in line with the Bichard review.

The institution added that its governing body had 鈥渄etermined that it was most appropriate that the team who develop technical standards but also do wider work on practice information and professional development, should directly support the work of the Knowledge and Practice Committee鈥�. 

The SRB will retain the authority to approve all professional standards under the changes, including technical surveying standards developed by the knowledge and practice committee.

Gray said: 鈥淩ICS passionately believes in robust self-regulation in the public interest. We thank Dame Janet and her colleagues on the SRB for their service to RICS - their contributions have been immensely valuable across numerous areas including the new Rules of Conduct, fire safety and valuation.鈥�