As he kicks off his Presidential Year, Gordon Heath’s first months are a frenzy of activity :
Dear reader,
Having taken over as President in Telford at the end of the awards dinner, it seemed a bit of an anti-climax until I discovered my new “celebrity status” attracted requests to be photographed with me! It was probably just the wine, but I was glad that everyone was enjoying the evening.
The next day, my first duty was to attend the meeting of the IRRV Association Representatives. I assured them that I will try to attend every Association AGM and dinner, but they need to check with Rachel at HQ who keeps the Presidential diary. Also, this was my first opportunity to explain that my theme for the year is to set out the Institute’s policies across all aspects of our work. Only then can we set out our strategy for promoting positive changes to make valuation, local revenue collection and related benefits fit for the 21st century. If you have any thoughts on policy, please contact me.
Then things briefly went quiet while my diary was filled with engagements over the coming year and Chief Executive David Magor explained more of my duties.
The first major event was the The European Group of Valuers’ Associations (TEGoVA) General Assembly in Marseille at the end of October. I suspect that most IRRV members are unaware of our involvement and the financial benefit we have derived from it. TEGoVA is an organisation comprising 71 valuers’ associations from 37 countries across Europe and a few from further away. There are eight members of the TEGoVA Board of Directors, including IRRV Council member and Past President Roger Messenger. The Chairman is Krzysztof “Chris” Grzesik, who holds the IRRV (Hons) qualification, having worked in London for 20 years before returning to his roots in Poland. He now splits his time between the UK and Poland.
TEGoVA has published the European Valuation Standards (EVS), known as the “Blue Book”, since the early 1980s. Interestingly the introduction was written by another IRRV (Hons) member, John Hockey, who is Chairman of the European Valuation Standards Board and editor of the Blue Book.
The status of Recognised European Valuer (REV) can be awarded to suitably qualified individuals by full TEGoVA member organisations, including the IRRV, and our own Roger Messenger is Chairman of its Recognition Committee.
The hot topic at the General Assembly was automated valuation models (AVMs). Following a debate which looked like the United Nations, with everyone sitting behind a plaque showing their national flag and organisation, it was decided to adopt a new European Valuation Standard on AVMs. On a less controversial note, TEGoVA welcomed four new member organisations and one of the Russian members proudly presented the Chairman with a copy of the Blue Book translated into Russian.
Afterwards I attended a meeting of the REVASE (Resources for European Valuation Standards in Europe) project. This is a project to develop learning material to be used both in training and as a guide for professional practice. The project is led by the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) from Ireland, working closely with the IRRV, TEGoVA and partners from Latvia and Poland. It was financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and the IRRV is remunerated for doing a substantial proportion of the work involved.
Following on immediately from Marseille, the next meeting was the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Research Symposium in Madrid. The IAAO is an organisation based in the USA and as the title suggests this was more of an academic conference, with a mixture of practical and theoretical papers.
Once again, the hot topic was AVMs, but papers covered a wide spectrum from mass appraisal systems to valuing theme parks. David Magor presented a paper on fraud, corruption and evasion. Speakers came from the USA, UK, Spain, Lithuania and the Netherlands. Not only was it an interesting event but it was an opportunity to build more contacts, particularly with the IAAO, who are new “observer” members of TEGoVA.
The next IAAO symposium will be in Prague in March 2018, where I have volunteered to present a paper on valuation appeals - sometimes you have to sing for your supper!
Returning to the UK, the next evening was the Rating Surveyors’ Association dinner in London. The after dinner speaker, Colin Bell, was interesting, witty, amusing and spoke for 40 minutes, which was impressive because he is 97 and still working! He served in the RAF during the war, flying over Berlin in a Mosquito, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his exploits.
My diary for the next few weeks looks full but the venues are somewhat closer to home. So far so good!
Yours,
Gordon
