Surveyors Insights

AI CIM Q&A

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This audio provides an independent, professional summary of the RICS global standard on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice, with a specific focus on residential surveyors and valuers. It explains how AI may be used to support activities such as data analysis, comparable selection, and report preparation, while reinforcing that professional judgement, accountabilit...

Building Regulations Part B focuses on fire safety and the protection of life. This episode explains how the regulations aim to prevent fire spread, ensure safe escape routes, support firefighting operations, and reduce risks through building design and materials. We explore the key concepts of fire resistance, compartmentation, means of escape, and warning systems, helping listeners understand ho...

Building Regulations Part A sets out the requirements that ensure buildings are structurally safe and stable. In this episode, we break down the key principles behind structural integrity, load-bearing elements, foundations, and how buildings are designed to safely resist forces such as weight, wind, and movement. This podcast explains Part A in clear, practical terms, making it easier to understa...

Building movement is rarely about the bricks; it’s about the earth they sit on. Settlement & Stress is a forensic podcast dedicated to the physics of foundations. We analyze the "Perfect Storms"—where 19th-century masonry meets 21st-century environmental shifts. We deconstruct Jurin’s Law , Clay Desiccation , and the "Wicking Effect" of lime mortar in moving structures. If...

Building movement is rarely about the bricks; it’s about the earth they sit on. Settlement & Stress is a forensic podcast dedicated to the physics of foundations. We analyze the "Perfect Storms"—where 19th-century masonry meets 21st-century environmental shifts. We deconstruct Jurin’s Law , Clay Desiccation , and the "Wicking Effect" of lime mortar in moving structures. If...

Question & Answer on various

This episode examines movement in buildings from a building pathology perspective, helping UK RICS students and surveyors understand why structures move and how that movement presents on inspection. It explores ground-related movement, material and thermal movement, and structural behaviour, with detailed discussion on cracking patterns, secondary symptoms, and how to distinguish historic movement...

This episode provides a comprehensive guide to insects that affect buildings in the UK, with a focus on those that damage timber and associated building elements. Aimed at RICS students and surveyors, it explains how to identify common timber-destroying insects, distinguish active infestations from historic attack, recognise visual and secondary symptoms, and assess the level of risk to structural...

This episode explores brickwork as a structural and environmental system, focusing on how and why masonry deteriorates over time. Aimed at UK RICS students and surveyors, it examines common brickwork defects including cracking, spalling, efflorescence, sulphate attack, mortar incompatibility, wall tie failure, and moisture-related decay. The episode teaches how to read brickwork on site, distingui...

In this episode, we lay the foundations of building pathology for UK surveyors and students. We explore how buildings fail, why visible defects are rarely the real problem, and how to follow evidence from symptoms back to root causes. The discussion covers moisture as the primary enabler of decay, movement mechanisms, material behaviour, structural load paths, and the critical skill of distinguish...

Episode 4 explores the core principles of building pathology from a UK surveying perspective. Aimed at RICS students and practising surveyors, this episode focuses on how buildings behave as dynamic systems, how defects develop over time, and how to interpret visible symptoms to identify underlying mechanisms. The discussion covers moisture, movement, material behaviour, structural load paths, and...

In this episode, we explore movement in buildings from a UK building pathology and RICS surveying perspective. Designed for student and practising surveyors, the episode examines why buildings move, how different movement mechanisms present on inspection, and how to distinguish normal, historic movement from progressive structural concern. Topics include thermal movement, settlement, subsidence, h...

n this episode, we take a deep dive into structural loads and load paths from a UK surveying perspective. Aimed at RICS students and practising surveyors, the episode explains how buildings transfer dead, live, wind, and roof loads through structural elements to the ground, and what happens when those load paths are altered by decay, movement, overloading, or alteration. The discussion focuses on...

In this episode, we take a detailed look at insect attack in residential buildings from a UK surveying perspective. Aimed at RICS students and practising surveyors, the discussion covers the most common timber-damaging insects found in UK properties, how to identify them on site, how to distinguish historic infestation from active attack, and when insect damage becomes a genuine structural concern...

This episode examines the principal mechanisms responsible for stone decay in traditional buildings, including salt crystallisation, delamination, granular disintegration, chemical weathering, and biological growth. Emphasis is placed on the role of moisture, stone orientation, and inappropriate repair methods, with practical guidance for surveyors on inspection, diagnosis, and reporting within th...

Brickwork is one of the most widely used construction materials in the UK, yet it is also one of the most frequently misunderstood during surveys.

Thermal movement is one of the most common but frequently misinterpreted causes of cracking in buildings. Because it can visually resemble structural movement, subsidence, or material failure, the surveyor must rely on pattern recognition, context, and process of elimination to diagnose it correctly.

This episode explores building movement from a building pathology perspective, aimed at UK surveyors and student surveyors. It explains why movement occurs in buildings, how to distinguish between normal and problematic movement, and how to identify the underlying mechanisms during inspection. The talk covers ground-related movement such as subsidence, heave, settlement, and landslip, explaining t...